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eBook details

• Title: Architecture: Some Musings on the State of the Art.
• Author : Journal of the Southwest
• Release Date : January 22, 2003
• Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
• Pages : * pages
• Size : 172 KB

Description

This special double issue of the Journal of the Southwest, with architecture as its theme, arrives at a period when the theory and practice of that discipline is in an extremely exciting, as well as critical, phase. Not since the early part of the last century has the field of architecture been poised at such a threshold of new possibilities. Design processes, aided and sometimes immensely informed by digital technology, are producing architectural forms with seldom-seen or nonexistent precedents. Through research, architects are exploring the use of new materials, as well as new uses for traditional materials. Similarly, investigations into fabrication processes, assemblies, and new products are providing new models for architectural practice. In the same spirit of creative inquiry, the transfer of technologies and processes from other industries--such as the automobile, the aerospace, and even the world of racing yachts--is providing the tools for architects to improve the art and craft of their projects. These changes are happening at an exponential rate, both in practice and in schools of architecture. More than ever before, practice and education influence each other in this period of charged experimentation. The signature of the architect changes with each project. With only a few exceptions, it is impossible to predict what an architect will devise from project to project, since each program and site is different, and the designer has an immense array of resources available, from the research potential of the Internet to the opportunities afforded by computer-generated modeling and fabrication. Of course, within this spectrum of possibilities, the principal and eternal task of the architect has not changed; that is, to make habitable places within graceful spaces. Another area of architecture that is experiencing significant activity is historic preservation. Actually, removing the word historic from the term would imply a more accurate signification, as it is not only historic buildings that are being preserved, but also almost any building that offers the potential for renewed service. The adaptive and creative reuse of existing structures has become a proven method of assisting in the continued viability and the revitalization of urban areas, and at the same time, a successful means to material and land conservation. Downtown Pasadena and the Third Street Mall in Santa Monica, both in California, and Magazine Street and Nob Hill in New Orleans and Albuquerque respectively are successful examples of this activity. It is interesting that in Europe, where rehabilitation of older buildings has been happening for centuries, the word conservation is used in lieu of preservation. Also in Europe, even in socially conservative countries, new construction within the context of older or historic districts is far more adventurous than the more timid approach that usually occurs here in the United States. It is time for the definition of contextualism to be expanded, and for architects and clients to be bolder in their approach both to the rehabilitation of existing buildings and to new infill construction.

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