Spaces In Architecture

Introduction

Architecture can be defined in terms of the complex and carefully structured make up of a building as well as the art or practice of design. For me, it is the thoughtful creation of spaces. It is often this unconscious experience that forms a significant part in our daily lives coming into contact with architecture. It’s the architects’ responsibility to design spaces that have a positive impact on the well-being of individuals. Their position is one where they have to make mindful decisions with regards to materials, space, flow, direction and light attentively in order to produce architecture that most importantly adds value.

Today the role of the architect can often be confused or misinterpreted by the general public. The

Yes, this is a solution but it emphasizes the notion of a consumerist culture. A store front in a mixed use building becomes the ultimate recyclable architecture. Its generic form makes it adaptable and easily flexible for a new tenant to occupy once the old business has gone bankrupt. A vacant lot where steers once was becomes as recyclable as the box you got your burger in.

‘Learning from Las Vegas’ by Robert Venturi. He focuses on two main different architectural typologies.

1) The decorated shed

2) The building as a duck

The decorated shed is located on the strip mall becomes a row of shops that is consumer driven, as one can keep on rebuilding and reinterpreting the space. To design a shed and attach a sign to it that tells you what activity is happening inside becomes architecture as a result of intense commercialism.

The building as a duck; when the shape takes on the form of the buildings purpose. “We don’t make monuments anymore. We make buildings and put a massive sign on it that declares it a monument”. Learning from Las Vegas- Robert

Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright had each attempted their own effort at the mass produced house and saw it as a way to bring architecture to the everyday person.

This enthusiasm started in the 1940’s at the end of WW2 which had resulted in a shortage of homes. It was believed that within a few years houses would be fully built on production lines and delivered as if they were cars from a dealership. This fortunately never came to be and remains an image that still haunts architects today.

Le Corbusier a French architect and arguably one of the most influential people of the 20th century had also set his vision on what it meant for mass produced homes. Early prototypes such as Villa la Roche, Villa Cook and Villa Savoye, along with the massive housing block Unite d'habitation all featured in his book ‘towards a new