Architecture In The Modern Age

Architecture in the modern age has completely reformed itself. The meaning of

architecture in today’s urban planned world has become too obvious and it sometimes

shouts out the purpose for which it is built. A building no longer, not only serves the

basic necessary requirements that it is meant to but instead it goes overboard on to add

many extra elements which are maybe not required in the first place. Architects build

and design today not to emphasize on the basic functions an purposes of the building,

but to show the world how a simple building can be made so much more complex with

extra design.

The core of a building, its basic form, structure, function, purpose etc. seem to

have taken a back seat. Emphasis is laid more

He says “Details express what the basic idea of the design requires at

the relevant point in the object: belonging or separation, tension or lightness, friction ,

solidity and fragility...”

Architecture, he believes, should complete the landscape in which it exists.It is

important for it to merge into its surroundings and still retain its own self-evidence.

Because architecture that we create, gradually becomes a part history of the history of

its surrounding landscape. Architecture also takes the form and shape of an architect’s

mind. The design process is based on the passion and desire of the architect to create

something new, something unique. This desire brings out new ideas and new elements

to the design. Hence this “constant interplay of feeling and reason” is essential in the

whole design process. Every building has its own spatial characteristics that make them

unique. Space and architecture are two sides of the same coin. Hence the initial

drawings and diagrams of a building should be able to tell how exactly a particular

space would feel. All these characteristics should come together to form the particular

space. “What matters now is only this feeling of deep

Architecture is the best when it is concentrated . Buildings today, as

he says, are designed with a very good deal of effort to give them a special form.

Architects make it too obvious and sometimes that leads to the overdesign of a simple

space. “Good architecture should receive the human visitor, should enable him to

experience it but should not constantly talk at him.”

Case Study:

Peter Zumthor,

Therme Vals

Therme Vals creates a sensory experience utilizing bold materials and playful

light. Experiential enclosures derive from manipulation of phenomenal design features.

Zumthor illuminates this piece of architecture by poetically describing it as obtaining

“right from the start, a feeling... for darkness and light, for the reflection of light upon

water, for the diffusion of light though steam-filled air... for the ritual of bathing”. The

interplay between space, material and light is evident in their reliance on one another.

The stone material in this project evokes a sense of reality, the open and closed spaces

seduce circulation and the light transmits these sensations into an experience

highlighting their characteristics.

Light is a necessity for the functionality of architecture. Its consideration