Sculpture of about "give and take"

One Three Nine...

Architecture should produce interfaces that weave people and nature.

Architects should design spaces that emulate and give back to nature. Nature is what provides architects with the necessary resources and tools for creating sustainable designs. Coherently this process of give and take is productive for both human and nature.

People and nature can be woven together architecturally to form a strong and healthy environment. There should be a process of give and take between these two subject matters. For example, everything that people obtain and use from nature should be put back in a better and improved fashion. This includes the use of clean energy sources. People should refrain from using resources that are harmful to nature. Nature is what provides people with all the necessary elements that are needed to create energy producing architecture, Energy being everything from the literal to theoretical sense of the term. It is about creating spaces that feed people natural elements such as natural lighting which is conductive forgiving people energy. Architects need to create spaces that the people can relate to. Architecture serves as the common boundary that makes and forms an interconnection between people and nature

Summer Life

My name is Aviel Suarez and I just wanted to provide everyone with the things that I did this summer. this summer I was fortunate enough to spend a month with Professor Andrew Thurlow and several colleagues of mine in the Netherlands. The Netherlands provided me with an unforgettable experience that I will never forget. All of the Dutch Modern architecture that I was lucky enough to experience was inspiring in every sense of the term. This trip to the Netherlands also provided me with many ideas and thoughts for my thesis. For the remainder of my summer I spent working for my father's general contracting company doing anything from hands on labor and estimates to CAD drawings and a little design work. During my free time which wasn't to often I enjoyed going to the beach, cycling, surfing, and even just relaxing at home.

A Personal Manifesto on Architecture

Ar·chi·tec·ture

According to the Webster dictionary, Ar·chi·tec·ture /ˈɑrkɪˌtɛktʃər/ Pronunciation Key[ahr-ki-tek-cher], is the profession of designing buildings, open areas, communities, and other artificial constructions and environments, usually with some regard to aesthetic effect. Architecture often includes design or selection of furnishings and decorations, supervision of construction work, and the examination, restoration, or remodeling of existing buildings.

Arguably I and any other people who have any knowledge about architecture would most likely say that this is an extremely dry definition of what architecture truly is. After my 4 continuous years of education on architecture I have realized that architecture can be related to a vast variety of issues [literally and metaphorically]. An architect and critic Jonathan Hale wrote an article titled “Paradigms” which metaphorically related architecture to the automobile, which shared some of similar aspects and characteristics that I believe architecture should have and withhold.

After Hale introduces the reader to the concept of paradigms and how they can change with the use of cars. Hale then proceeds from cars to architecture by basically relating the two and saying that “a house is a machine for living.”

Architecture develops in a balance between love and hate. Love being everything you like about architecture such as the things that produce positive energy, give back to the environment, successfully serve its function, are economical, evoke some kind of emotion. And hate being all the things…that break down, that annoy you, that cannot be changed, and that are unhealthy, hazardous, and polluting.

ARCHITECTURE should not be…

COSUMING_ should not take something without giving back

DECORATIVE_ should not have decoration as an element superimposed on architecture. It takes the purity away from the architecture.

STANDARDIZED_ should not be the same as another because each problem has a different solution.

CONFUSING_ architecture should have a sense of clarity and understanding.

DULL_ architecture should evoke some kind of emotion and reaction from people.

ARCHITECTURE should have…

UNITY_ When referring to architecture you must inevitably think holistically. All the aspects of what you believe architecture should be should be thought of simultaneously.

VALUES_ Should be the basis of your intentions and design moves.

ECOLOGY_ Ecology is defined as the relationship between the organism and its environment. Our relationship with our environment, each other, and things. The starting point is an examination of our social and biological requirements. Only through a deep understanding of ourselves as human beings and our biological needs can we understand how to live in unity with our environment. Man developed from ape to prehistoric man in approx. 10 million years. The development from prehistoric man to modern man took a mere 200,000 years. Up until 100 years ago, the majority of people lived outdoors for most of their working time. It is biologically necessary to reproduce the natural qualities that the human body requires. We need to move, change position, talk, relax, switch off, switch on. Outdoor qualities such as daylight, the sound of a water fountain, fresh air as in a garden, aroma. For example daylight strengthens our immune system; we become less sleepy and more alive. We need to develop skills in creation of interfaces that interact and cooperate with nature without harming the environment and something that could provide comfort without wasting resources. All architecture must give back to the earth. Whatever you take must be put back in a better and improved fashion.

INTEGRATION_ Not just adding things just for the sake of doing so. There needs to be more of a meaning behind it. For example just adding some solar panels to a building does not serve any justification. It needs to be an essential piece of the whole. It should be a combination and intellectual usage of essential components.

FUNCTIONALITY_ Architecture is a tool rather than an object. It is a place for people to inhabit. Various problems call for different uses of this so called “tool”. The function is only successful if it suits the needs of the people and the program that is being called for.

EXPERIENCE_ Architecture is something that needs to be experienced. It needs to be embraced using all senses. This experience should evoke some kind of emotion whether it be good, bad, or even both. Architectonic artistic quality is measured as experience through the senses. Things can be psychologically hot and cold, nice to the touch, pleasant to behold, and safe and secure. The ideal is a dynamic balance between calm harmony and a kind of dynamic disharmony.

DYNAMIC_ Architecture should be dynamic and should be capable of adapting to change and growth. It is about the present. A building should never limit the user’s development. Users should be able to change the building as the users change their life, and as the users are replaces with new users.

COMMUNICATION_ Architecture should communicate a new layer of history and ideas in order to display the growth of its context and history. It must also communicate identity, originality, meaning, and materials. NOT just a distinction between the old and the new. Communication is not for humans only. You can communicate with a computer and interactive computer games and you can communicate with architecture.

The famous architecture you travel to see on vacations obviously communicates to you. A test of architectural quality is that many people know about a building, the next test is the distance you traveled to see it, and the next test is that the experience in real life was even better than the virtual. The ultimate test is that you talk your friends into travelling to experience the building.

SCALE_ Architecture should solve problems at various scales [Culture >>> People]

[Concept >>> Detail]

POETRY_ Creating a form of ambience and coming up with a solution that displays some kind of harmony. Something that is light on its feet. Create architecture that touches the ground gently and gracefully. Also as Carlo Scarpa would say “Touch the old as lightly as possible”.

SIMPLICITY_ Solving a complex problem in a simple and elegant way for the people to clearly understand the architects intentions.

PERSPECTIVE_ Architecture must be looked at from various perspectives. [Contextual and design] [Conceptual, architect, people, and client]

PERFORMANCE_ How well it serves its purpose. Is it successful to the people? Does it serve its function? Is it a great place to inhabit? Is it a Ford Pinto or a Lamborghini Reventon?

FLEXIBILITY_ Architecture being able to adjust to changes in use, time, climate, etc.

PRODUCING_ Should be about producing new architecture. Architecture ought to give back to the environment. Should use the successful moves of the past and advance them forward, architecture should progress and advance as technology does.

LIFE_ Buildings should not be a dead thing. They should interact with the users. Users inhabiting a good environment are healthier, and more productive than those inhabiting in a bad environment. Architecture should bring life to spaces. “It’s alive”

The majority of good architecture is left open ended in order to allow for the individual’s own interpretation. This also allows for the individual to relate to the architecture. Being able to relate to the architecture is one of the key elements in understanding the intentions and the essence of what the architect had in mind. Architects make certain moves for certain reasons whether it be anything from functionality to aesthetics. Some moves happen for more obvious reasons than others, but even accidental moves happen for a reason.

We want architecture to understand and learn our way of living and inhabiting a space just like cars where the triptronic gear box learn to shift at high revs when the driver wants to do some sporty driving and at low revs for another driver who wants to do some economical driving. Some cars have installed computers to remember how each person wants the seat positions, rear mirror positions etc.

Architecture is a tool rather than an object. As architects we design space. The aim is to create a comfortable environment (space) for human life, participation, and interaction. Comfort depends on the individual.