Posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
THE RHYTHM OF ARCHITECTURE
The Product of Architecture and Construction
By Maxwell Maida
Whatever separates space is built in the environment. This means the environment is the home for all the building envelopes. The buildings house people with different activities. Never shall we forget that the environment is also for living creatures as much as humans are also part of them. The construction of imported and designed buildings should also adhere to the above fact with consideration to the common two set of rules namely; location, location and location and Vitruvius’ firmitatis, utilitatis, venustatis which literally means durability, utility and beauty. The above rules are mandatory yet optional for some architects in practice as much as history can tell us.
The historical designers and creators of the built environment have had two faces on the conservation of the environment. Some of them such as Brunelleschi, Alberti and Michelangelo, other than beauty and function illustrated no need in their designs for compensation to the damage done to the environment mainly maybe because the land was covered by bush in their times and issues of global warming were not in sight. However we also see some in history like the cerebrated French architect Le Corbusier and American Frank Lloyd Wright being the pioneers of environmental stewardship. Le Corbusier propagated the idea of leaving almost 95% of a building space free. This was achieved by raising his buildings on pilasters. Lloyd is the man behind the most beautiful house in history; the Fallingwater, which is a typical example of how houses and any other building can blend with nature. The house has a river flowing through it and gives a beautiful view from the outside to visitors.
Good and well designed buildings should go beyond the function, durability and beauty aspect but be environmentally friendly. The building thus will leave the owners happy, healthy and comfortable. One of Frank Lloyd’s buildings for the giant Johnstone Wax Company is said to have increased the output of the workers by almost 25%. Workers never wanted to leave for their homes but work in the world class building. The building is a set of factory and office structures with created natural cooling pools which flow all year round. Wright brought nature in the building.
The aspect of having a beautiful house, factory or office building rests in the client by briefing the designer on the need for a building. The designer, most of the times the architect, interprets and manufactures the brief into a working building. This is where good designers are separated from bad ones. The Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, designed by British architect Norman Foster commissioned by Commerzbank is one art of a building with nature in it as it is called the most green skyscraper in the world. It has 4 storey height gardens and every office room has an operable window to the outside despite the cooling and heating technology of recent times. The use of natural ventilation and lighting reduces energy costs by 25%.
The mandatory submission of proposed land developments to the local town planning committees in the assemblies like to the Blantyre City Assembly is for the developer’s good. The planning committee scrutinises the proposal for sustainability and basic comfort needs in a house like warmth by assuring that all constructions have a damp proof membrane. Thus the planning team will look into issues that a property developer may not be well conversant with but the designer hence ensuring that the design is adhering to standards like climate responsiveness on behalf of the client. Buildings are supposed to be designed in reference to the macro and micro climates of the site, some of which include the building’s orientation and materials used.
The design process gives the building a home in the environment other than just adopting and importing from an area which has a different climate Thus the compensation to the environment is done right on the drawing board other than as a remedy on the consequences as the building is being planted or in use. On the other hand, there is no harm in mitigating the damage done by existing buildings if little or no consideration was done to make them environmental friendly. Imported imposing buildings are prone to doing more harm to the environment. The mitigation would involve planting flowers around homes and office parks which in sometimes landscape designers could be involved for better results.
Now that the world population soared to above 6.4 billion compared to 1990’s 5.3 billion, this has lead to a huge increase in energy consumption by the masses. The need to lessen the impacts of the energy by-products such as carbon dioxide rests in reduction of emissions such as in buildings and power plants. Property owners should consider the cost of lighting and heating in their buildings before they conclude that they have perfect buildings because if they are high, revision would be in their best interest for their own cause and the environment.
Malawi is in the tropics, a region with a climate blessed with vegetation and good landform. Landscapes give character and diversity to the Earth’s surface and form the physical framework within which human societies exist. Human activities are continually modifying the landscape. For large areas of the world humans are an important factor in manipulating the landscapes we see. What matters most is what kind of manipulation because there are two things involved, destroying or conserving.
Utilising the landscapes and landforms would render space for relaxing and escaping from reality because homes would be equally appealing to be at other than on a beach only. Such haven would be good to the environment with frame structures consisting of colonnades or posts with a latticework roof, designed to support climbing plants called pergolas and parks for green architecture in a green climate. One stares and starts blaming one’s planners for lack of green public recreational parks and public squares in our country’s towns and cities while abundant in Iraq where rain is as scares as 10 storey buildings in Malawi.
Lest we forget the environmental challenges such as global warming, then we are going to be careless by ignoring the basic energy saving methods in designing and construction with compensation to the environment through our buildings. Everyone’s house can be a nature blended art with flowers all-round to show stewardship to the environment we are supposed to be responsible for.
I guess good architecture is written and continues to be written for our reference and is practised by the visionary designers. In addition to that, the best methods of construction are laid up though we sometimes choose the alternatives which are never the best.
.
Le Corbusier’s Architecture Museum in Chandigarh, India: supported on pilasters
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
