BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURETHEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303/ARC2224)SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (AUGUST 2016) [10 MARKS]

NAME: Eunice Chan Yu Ming ID: 0315729LECTURER: Mr Nazmi TUTORIAL TIME: 4pm-6pmSYNOPSIS NO: 4 READER TITLE: Towards A Critical Regionalism

AUTHOR: Kenneth FramptonCritical regionalism is an approach to architecture in the twentieth century which involves

highlighting regional site and environmental conditions as attempts to combat the placelessness of

the universal and lack of identity of the international style architecture, it was a paradox between two

extreme movements: Modernism that return to the root of international style and a reaction to the

boringness: Post-Modernism. The basic goal was to find a middle ground between the two extremes.

Although Frampton seems to reject both movements as well as discard fanciful structure and

ornamentation of post-modern architecture, he seems to have more affinity towards modern

principles.

In the book “Towards A Critical Regionalism”, Frampton stated under the fifth point “Culture

Versus Nature” that Modernism often adopts approach of tabula rasa to clear and flatten the

typography of site thus making way for the rational layout of building. However, the elimination of

topography is often a motion resulting in placelessness. Consequently, critical regionalism would

rather embrace the topography as a manifestation of regions and agriculture history. With this in

mind, I could not agree more with the sentence “building the site” by Mario Botta as it refers to how

the building should restructure in various layers in supporting the idiosyncrasies to find their

expression without falling into sentimentality.

In addition, Frampton further emphasizes to validate the importance of architecture as

tectonic rather than the reduction of the built environment to a series of scenographic. It is apparent

that the uses of tactile surface has ability to make the whole building more legible with the example

of Alvar Aalto’s Saynatsalo Town Hall. As a matter of fact, the tactile is as much as the visual. It is

conscious that the setting can be experienced in various rather than sight alone. For instance, it is

delicate to complementary perceptions in few different stages of sensation and sounds given off by

different materials which cause the body to acknowledge instinctive vicissitudes in gait.

In a nutshell, it is important to truly consider the relationship of the site in response to the

context surrounding with not only the history, topography of existing landscape but also the individual

and communities before trying to modify it. It should not be opposed to the tendency in an age

dominated by media to the replacement of experience by information.

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Key points (2.5)

Appropriateness of

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Clarity in Opinions and

Reactions (2.5)

Logical Progression (2.5)

DATE: TOTAL MARK & GRADE

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