Exit Blog


Some would say that ,the journey through different philosophies and poetic articles has finally come to an end. but i say that the journey just began. Things learnt and endured during this particular course and semester has taught us a lot in terms of architecture, design and human behaviors as well. It has made us a more mature and person whole in whole. who knew that looking at architecture from a different perspective would make simple things and simple behaviors so much more enhanced and more interesting. well i can proudly say that this course has taught me to look at architecture from a totally different and more intriguing perspective, it has taught me to become a better thinker and a better designer, it has taught me how to apply different philosophies and thinking so as to make a space more meaningful and alive. This course has also provided us with memories such as the kellies castle trip, an out door learning field trip and environment that made this course even more interesting in its own ways.

Every designer have their own way of expressing their philosophies or their selves in their own designs. learning from this past designers and their tantalizing and amazing philosophies we young designers can now follow in their foot steps and produce designs that have meaning and life. and are now also capable of coming up with our own philosophies with consideration and interest at hand.

every course each semester has brought upon happiness and sadness as well, it depends on us students on how we look at the things endured and gained from it. I could say that the best moments for this particular course was the trip to Kellies castle which brought upon joy , past knowledges and friendships. Trips like this are not often considered for unfortunate people, we consider ourselves fortunate enough to have a memory such as this during this semester and appreciate the concern made by the lecturers as well. The sad and worst moments would be not able to submit submissions or not being able to blog at the right time at times due to the overload of assignments from other subjects as well. That pretty much sums up the moments of this semester.

As mentioned before, every designer has their own philosophy and thinking which enhances design in a complete different manner, my own thinking about architecture is spaces that portray feelings, spaces that bring nature into existence, spaces that relate back to nature, because nature is something that has been there forever, it is an element that links us to the past, present and future. by using this elements and considering it in a design it would bring nature and human closer and create a coexisting environment. A hybrid of nature an architecture creates a different dimension, a dimension with flawless harmony between living elements and creatures.

Taboo and Transgression: Architecture and Desire









Pleasure often escapes the framework of culture because it is a difficult experience.pleasure may not only be experienced as frivolous fun and joy within the limits of cultural codes, but also as a transgressive bliss that is non-cultural, unspeakable and lethal for the subject. 


Pleasure is all too often associated with consumption, something the advertisement industry is keen to exploit. By following one's own desires and tastes, the consumer experiences a freedom that does not have to give any justification whatsoever, as the striving for pleasure is the only aim. 


Nowadays, we are overwhelmed with terms referring to happiness and fun. This turn to enjoyment is, in the cultural world, practically inescapable.


"People often fall in love with people with qualities they respect but don't have themselves: The intellectual gets together with the practical person, or the practical person gets together with the spiritual person. People try to balance themselves out. And some of the same thing goes on with architecture: People who are feeling chaotic inside will be drawn to very calm environments. So you can tell a lot about what's missing about people by looking at the styles of architecture and design they love."


n 1978 Bernard Tschumi published an essay The Pleasure of Architecture in which he used sex as a characterizing analogy for architecture. He claimed that architecture by nature is fundamentally useless, setting it apart from "building". He demands a glorification of architectural uselessness in which the chaos of sensuality and the order of purity combine to form structures that evoke the space in which they are built. He distinguishes between the forming of knowledge and the knowledge of form, contending that architecture is too often dismissed as the latter when it can often be used as the former. (http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-et-happiness11oct11,0,4017629.story)


"Our sensitivity to our surroundings,may be traced to a troubling feature of human psychology: to the way we harbour within us many different selves, not all of which feel equally like 'us.' " Each setting draws out a different self, some better and some worse, "We turn to wallpaper, benches, paintings and streets to staunch the disappearance of our true selves." (http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-et-happiness11oct11,0,4017629.story)


It's an almost Proustian way of considering what a room or building does to us. It's a way of looking at architecture from a very psychological point of view , and asking, 'What is it that, ultimately, we're looking for in a satisfying environment?' I suppose there are analogies to be drawn as to what we're looking for in a satisfying personal relationship. In some senses, what we're looking for is a confirmation of things we aspire to but don't necessarily have all the time.


The pleasure of architecture can also be called as the architecture of happiness, and seduction , Architecture takes different forms and disguises also known as masking, as a tool of seduction. Architecture uses facades structural elements e.t..c as disguise for their play in the game of seduction. a good example would be, shopping malls and regular shops , with attractive displays of their products, or by using attractive means of architecture such as aesthetic finishes and forms , this disguise creates desire's of certain types in a person, the desire to buy what is being displayed.






Architecture is also known as the profession where architects create dreams into spaces. creates environments that are at once destinations and a means of transport to new worlds, new experiences.  Architects are known for crafting a vital form of vernacular architecture and design, one that crackles with the kinetic energy of the avant-garde, the shimmer of Hollywood, the sensual mystery of a far off, yet somehow familiar, place. Some architects have garnered accolades for a signature design strategy that seduces, entertains, informs, and inspires.







Many architectural theorists eroticise buildings. The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, from 1499, takes the Renaissance metaphor between buildings and bodies to its ultimate conclusion, and depicts characters admiring and fondling buildings as though they were lovers. Already indigenous builders had viewed columns as phalluses, and doorways as vaginas, but it was the Renaissance metaphor that opened the way for the countless erotic analogies that theorists of architecture have espoused since. A selection of these are brought to bear in the analysis of Andrew Blake’s(a porn movie director) work, to
demonstrate: 1. that architectural history and theory can inform our understanding of the workings of adult films, and 2. that adult films, strange as it seems, are an especially suitable medium through which to articulate architecture’s sexual dimension.(http://www.beeldend.be/unknownpleasures.html)







The architectural theorist Aaron Betsky coined the term “queer space” to classify a type of space that is fundamentally geared toward (homosexual) orgasm. “The goal of queer space is orgasm,” Betsky writes. It is the space in which your body dissolves into the world and your senses smooth all reality into continuous waves of pleasure. It is an unreal space with no endurance, and yet is very real. 









Buildings have always been ready sponges for meanings their designers would not have intended. It would be absurd to imagine the first Ionic column being fashioned by an Ionian builder with it in his mind to create a feminine order to answer the masculine order of preceding Doric style temples. A lag of centuries existed between the creation of the Doric and Ionic orders and them acquiring their genders, ostensibly via Vitruvius’s writings. Likewise, the Latin Cross church plan was already well established before Francesco di Giorgio demonstrated its likeness to the shape of the body. Jacques Lacan makes a similar point with his famous illustration depicting a pair of toilet doors that are identical in every respect, except for
their labels, “ladies” and “gentlemen”. Gender is a cultural construct that our imaginations project upon toilets, just as we project the image of Christ’s body upon the plan of a church, or penis-like attributes onto an obelisk when it is filmed alongside a masturbating women in an Andrew Blake film.



Baroque and Rococo style buildings are synonymous with exuberance. Art history has traditionally treated each as a debasement of Classicism. It is thus noteworthy that buildings in these styles are commonly used for fetishistic and sadomasochistic scenes in some porn movies.



Architecture can seem like a puritanical field, populated by wowsers, serving equally worserish patrons. If that were exclusively true, then the literate use of architecture to pornographic ends, would be plainly blasphemous. However, if we disregard for a moment the profession’s practitioners - who, in fairness, are usually pressured into conservatism because of the public nature of their art, and by the fact that even more conservative lenders are usually involved in its financing - and look solely at the discipline’s theorists, we find a number of individuals who are far less restrained.
According to one, Catherine Ingraham, “it is precisely the absence of sexuality in traditional conceptions of architectural space that gives us the first clue to its presence.”11 Architects have pretended, she argues, that their art form is purely concerned with technological and economical matters, when all the while things that are taken for granted, like the placement of doorknobs at roughly the height of the genitals, betray a sexual dimension to the way humans design and interact with their buildings.





References :http://www.beeldend.be/unknownpleasures.html
                  http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-et-happiness11oct11,0,4017629.story
                  http://www.redroom.com/publishedwork/pleasure-the-architecture-and-design-rockwell-group-               
                  http://archipreneur.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
                  http://www.eroticarchitecture.com/
                

AESTHETICS,RUINS & SPACE


Kellies Castle, (or Kelly's Castle as it is sometimes wrongly spelled) some kilometers out of Batu Gajah, Ipoh is a great tourist attraction. And the story about the castle is as impressive as the castle itself.



For many years, Kellies Castle has been shrouded in mystery. Today it's nicely restored and easy to reach from Ipoh.
Kellie's Castle is located in Batuh Gajah. The castle is not as famous as the Taj Mahal in Agra, India but there are some similarities, both in architecture as in the story of its building.

Kellies Castle is symbol of love, like the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. And in the architecture, there is definitely some moghul influence visible.

Kellie's Castle was built by a Scottish planter called William Kellie Smith. He built the castle for his wife. Smith himself was from a little town in Scotland: Kellas. He built the castle for the same reason as Shah Jahan a few centuries earlier the Taj Mahal: Love.

Shah Jahan built the Taj as a monument for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. The original idea was to build a black and a white Taj on both sites of the river. Shah Jahan didn't come further then the known white Taj. Smith however, never had the idea of building two castles. But Smiths' reasons were no different. He loved his wife, adored her.


Smith started planning to build a castle which he wanted to call Kellas House, after his hometown in Scotland.
Smith was fascinated by the Hindu culture. His plans were to build his house with similar architecture features as in south India, Madras. For the building he imported bricks and tiles from India. He even employed even Indian workers to keep his house Indian.

The costs of material, brought from India and the Indian workers made the house fascinating for locals and foreigners. But there were other intriguing things on the house. Smith wanted to have am elevator. And he build an elevator in the castle, the first one in Malaya.

Soon after Smith started the construction of the house, some tragedies started to happen. First it was the "Spanish flu" which killed many workers in the Kellas Estate. The flu had easily spread from Europe to Asia. Soon another 70 workers became victim of the flu.

Smith had spend already a fortune in his new house but now he lost now even more money because of this. The First World War slowed the process of building. The result was that Kellas House was never completed.


Kellies Castle was never to be finished after smith's death due to pneumonia. It became a ruine with many legends. Legend of the ghost of Smith wandering through the ruins. Other legends were off secret underground tunnels. But apart of the two known tunnels, none were ever found.
However, after over eighty years, the Malaysian government refurbished the house in 2000. It had been a tourist attraction but now it became an even bigger attraction and easy accessible.



The architecture of the castle in its setting is quite interesting and beauautiful, the surroundings is what makes its beauty even more appealing, the ruins and its story creates feelings in the spaces through architecture, light ,shadows and other interesting elements.









although the path or the setting to which  someone approaches this magnificent heritage its not so impressive, considering this castle is an old heritage and famous for its stories, the shop's at the entrance and the parking lot, spoil the whole mood, interest and the castles magnificence. and the wall notes or info pasted on the walls are unattractive and does not go with its story and setting.


But all in all, the castle of love an tragedy, has its own sense of architecture and essence, its a heritage and a story to be remembered for generations to come, if maintained and cared for.


reference:http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/Kellies-Castle.html
             :http://www.mymesra.net.my/index.php?topic=2719.0

AN ARCHITECTURE OF THE SEVEN SENSES


“Instead of experiencing our being in the world, we behold it from outside as spectators of images projected on the surface of the retina.” Juhani Pallasmaa.

Is architecture turning into a purely visual sport? Will it be just like video games, except that it won’t have all those crashing noises?

Some recent designs are terrific in their own way. But they’re scary in what they portend for the future of architecture. Of our five, six, or seven senses (depends how you count), they appeal to only one.


some examples of this type of architecture:-

A banner in the breeze
This is the work of Boston architects Elkus/Manfredi. It’s a huge, wordless billboard that wraps a new Neiman Marcus department store in the suburb of Natick. It’s 40 feet tall and as long as two football fields. It looks like an enormous banner whipping in the breeze. It’s made of stainless steel in three colors—“bronze, champagne, and silver”—that are supposed to remind you of the high-fashion women’s clothes inside. The thin steel plates are like the patches in a quilt. Their colors are distributed in such a manner as to make the whole thing look like a translucent, layered fabric that the wind is blowing through. Like Isadora Duncan, maybe, twirling in her sweeping robes.
Purely as architecture, Neiman’s is a knockout. But it’s architecture reduced to two dimensions and one sense, the visual. As with the WGBH mural, this is architecture to look at, preferably from a car. It’s like an extra-wide screen at a drive-in, showing the flag while the national anthem plays.
Computers are part of the enemy here. They tend to make every building design look as if it’s made of translucent, colored, weightless plastic. It’s hard to remember, when you’re sitting at a screen, that there’s more to the world than the visual.
Maybe someday, architecture won’t be up to the architects at all. Driving along in our bean-sprout-fueled cars, we’ll simply flip a switch to create our own environment.
refernce:-


Architecture can be experienced and percieved in all 7 senses if people would know the true meaning behind architecture, before i started  studying architecture, i was pretty much the same as any other person who only appreciates the visual aesthetics of an architectural master piece, but after becoming an architecture student i learnt how to feel a space, to sense the very soul of a space, to recognize or point out the distinct sounds , pleasant and unpleasant smells , the touch and feel of different materials and the meaning behind using such materials. that concludes many theories mentioned by Juhani Pallasma in his article about an architecture of the seven senses.

“The hands want to see, the eyes want to caress.
- GOETHE, J.W. von (1)
In architecture all senses are important, but the sense of sight is very dominant. The other senses are underappreciated in architecture. We could pay more attention to the other senses, as the combined perception of all the senses gives us our total experience of a space. We leave so much of our spatial experience to chance if we leave the other senses untouched during the design process. Pallasmaa says about this: “[…] 
modern design at large has housed the intellect and the eye, but has left the body and the other senses, as well as our memories, imaginations and dreams, homeless.” (3)
The other senses also have powerful influence on our experience of a space. Below are examples of hearing and smell to illustrate this influence.

Hearing
Sounds reflect in a space, and that way it gives us an impression of its form and material. Steven Holl wrote on the subject of sound: 
“The live reflections of echo and re-echo within a stone cathedral increases our awareness of the vastness, geometry and material of its space. Imagine the same space with carpet and acoustically softened… a spatial and experiential dimension of the architecture is lost. We could redefine space by shifting our attention from the visual to how it is shaped by resonant sounds, vibrations of materials and textures.” (4)“Human being still enjoys variety, including variety of sound.”
- RASMUSSEN, S.E. (1962) Experiencing Architecture (5)

Smell
“A particular smell makes us unknowingly re-enter a space completely forgotten by the retinal memory; the nostrils awaken a forgotten image, and we are enticed to enter a vivid daydream. The nose makes the eyes remember.” (6)
reference :-
http://experiencingarchitecture.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/architectural-means

I'll end with a few excerpts from 
Juhani Pallasma eloquent essay.

How materials tell us not only about place but also time: “Natural material expresses its age and history as well as the tale of its birth and human use. The patina of wear adds the enriching experience of time; matter exists in the continuum of time.”

How silence is imaginary sound: “After the clutter of building has ceased and the shouting of workers has died away, the building becomes a museum of a waiting, patient silence. In Egyptian temples we encounter the silence of the pharaohs, in the silence of a Gothic cathedral we are reminded of the last dying note of a Gregorian chant, and the echo of Roman footsteps has just faded on the walls of the Pantheon.”

How we socialize with buildings, not just look at them: “A building is encountered—it is approached, confronted, encountered, related to one’s body, moved about, utilized as a condition for other things, etc. … We are in constant dialogue and interaction with the environment, to the degree that it is impossible to detach the image of the Self from its spatial and situational existence.”

Architecture affects the very soul of our senses, we just don't pay attention