Architecture

Architectural theory Architectural theory is the act of thinking, discussing, and writing about architecture. Architectural theory is taught in most architecture schools and is practiced by the world's leading architects. Some forms that architecture theory takes are the lecture or dialogue, the treatise or book, and the paper project or competition entry. History[edit] Antiquity[edit] There is little information or evidence about major architectural theory in antiquity, until the 1st century BCE, with the work of Vitruvius. Vitruvius was a Roman writer, architect, and engineer active in the 1st century BCE. Middle Ages[edit] Throughout the Middle Ages, architectural knowledge was passed by transcription, word of mouth and technically in master builders' lodges.[2] Due to the laborious nature of transcription, few examples of architectural theory were penned in this time period. Renaissance[edit] Enlightenment[edit] 19th century[edit] 20th century[edit] Contemporary[edit]

History of architecture The Architect's Dream by Thomas Cole (1840) shows a vision of buildings in the historical styles of the Western tradition, from Ancient Egypt through to Classical Revival A view of Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan showing buildings of a modern Asian city, ranging from the medieval Osaka Castle to skyscrapers The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions, regiões, overarching stylistic trends, and dates. Neolithic architecture[edit] The neolithic people in the Levant, Anatolia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and Central Asia were great builders, utilizing mud-brick to construct houses and villages. In Europe, long houses built from wattle and daub were constructed. Ancient Near East Africa and Mediterranean[edit] Ancient Mesopotamia[edit] Ancient Egyptian architecture[edit] Ancient architecture is characterized by this tension between the divine and mortal world. Greek Architecture[edit] Roman Architecture[edit] Examples of key Roman architectural forms

Architecture criticism Architecture criticism is a confused topic. Everyday criticism relates to published or broadcast critiques of buildings, whether completed or not, both in terms of news and other criteria. In many cases, criticism amounts to an assessment of the architect's success in meeting his or her own aims and objectives and those of others. The assessment may consider the subject from the perspective of some wider context, which may involve planning, social or aesthetic issues. Criticism is also a branch of academic study, practised not by architectural journalists but by architects and scholars. Criteria[edit] The critic's task is to assess how successful the architect and others involved with the project have been in meeting both the criteria the project set out to meet and those that the critic himself feels to be important. Architectural journalists[edit] Contemporary critics working for major newspapers include: Specialist periodicals[edit] List of architecture magazines See also[edit]

SANAA: Falling Upwards On first glance the eye rushes to analyze, it strives to comprehend objects, composition and meaning. In the foray into visual ordering and synaptic response the eye is lead astray. Look again; objects disappear, expand, melt, figures are juxtaposed as objects; recognizable elements are left indescribable, rendered multiple and disoriented. The eye is left to contemplate a rich fabric of improbabilities and sequential alternations. At the point of recognition, the composition is thrust into a state of destabilized visual flux. In many of the works of the Belgian artist René Magritte, the ideas of disorientation, ambiguity and illogic are intertwined, complicating a question of representation. Top and above: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, 2009, Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA. Rolex Learning Center, 2010, Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA. At one point, however, the ceiling was the devilish cad, the trickster of Modernism.

of this we are sure Annie weighs in with an astute observation on the work of SANAA: Nishizawa used the term 'atmosphere' over and over again. Maybe it was just a coincidence of misaligned translation, but between his use of that term and the inescapable figure of the bubble in every project I couldn't help but think about Peter Sloterdijk's whole the-future-of-architecture-is-foam position. To extend this observation, the materiality of the recent SANAA, Nishizawa, and Sejima projects enforces a 'connected-isolation' in some subtle ways. When not literally foaming in plan like the Toledo Pavilion or bubbling in elevation such as Zollervein, cells of space are made ambiguous through the use of material and light to dissolve spatial boundaries. House A in Tokyo uses a combination of loose curtains and taut, scrim-like curtains to allow the inhabitants of the house to parcel the space according to their whims. The buildings of SANAA are the cap of a bone-dry cappuccino: foam existing without its progenitor.

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