Reading 2 Questions

1. As the technique of detailing changed from the hands of the craftsman to the tools of the architect, how has the resulting construction of details changed? Explain in terms of scale, material and cost.

When architects used to prepare drawings there was little detail. This was because the detail was already known by the craftsman. It was laid out for them in Diderot and D’Almabert Encyclopedie. The architect expected the craftsman to have common knowledge of the detail. The scale in these times had specific dimensions. For example there were four typical columns Ionic, Doric, Corinthian, and Composite the detail were already laid out and the proportions were passed on a mathematical system that could all be found in Diderot’s encyclopedia. There was also a limit on what type of buildings materials used during this time which allowed for less knowledge about the detail because there are only so many proper ways to join a material. Material at this time was also chosen as to what was available and cheap. Eventually a problem occurred where the craftsman could not tell construction in the line drawling. At this point in time craftsman’s were replaced by draftsman.

Detail changed drastically in the industrial revolution. There are machines that mass produce them that came from the industrial revolution. This process cut out the craftsman and now architect may do their own details if they wish. However it is more cost and time efficient to get your details mass produced in a machine.

2. How does "geometrical relationship" of individual details provide an understanding of the whole building if "indirect vision" localizes the viewer and "habit determines to a large extent even optical reception"?

By having geometrical relationships of individual details one is understanding the whole building. This is because a detail will express every feature of the superstructure. In order to understand the whole building the placing of detail needs to by where a person would notice. Therefore, when a person walks through a building the visual images they see will give them through indirect vision the dimensions, forms, and location.

3. Carlo Scarp's details are a "result of an intellectual game" where the Open City buildings are constructed from an act of poetry. Describe what role the detail plays to "tell-the-tale" in each of these environments.

Carlos Scarp’s details are in the construction of parts. His details are a “result of an intellectual game” that is found in is “working drawings”. His drawings show the real construction and the transformation of one system to another. In Scarp’s work the details inform the space. He has an intense relationship with detail where the detail is about the geometry, material used, and juxtaposition of materials together that reference a reagal quality. Scrap tells the tale of the detail by the construction of objects; the structural detail. An example of this type of construction would be Louis Kahn’s Exeter Library and how the concrete is treated, how concrete meets concrete, and how concrete meets brick. There is great structural detail in his building.

In Open City the detail in the “tell-the-tale” is completely different than Carlo Scarp. Open City buildings detail in the sensory experience where the structural detail is irrelevant. Here the detail happens in larger gestures and it is about the site and the senses. For example in the building called Hospederia de la Entrada the site is formed by the orientation of the sea. There are no windows overlooking the sea. By concealing the ocean view it opens up the sense of hearing the sea and only memories of the sea. The detail of Open City is a poetic act that is expressed through the site and the sensory experience.

4. Pendleton-Jullian writes about the Open City as emerging from and being in the landscape. Does allowing landscape to initiate "the configuration of territory and space" challenge Western building notions, and how so?

In Western building it is difficult to have “the configuration of territory and space” dictate the landscape. Architects today usually manipulate their landscapes to fit their design. Sometime the site is not even considered until after the design is complete. Flat plane landscapes are the ideal landscape to work with since they are level. On unique sites I believe it would be good to consider the site and let it have an influence on the space of the building.

5. Describe some detail conditions of the Open City that convey "lightness" as Pendleton-Jullian refers to.

The lightness found in Open City is formal and conceptual. There is a lightness in the buildings with their edges illusive and there physical centers because the way the buildings have changed over time and how the town has expanded. You can physically tell the lightness mainly by the choice of the material and the open gaps that are shown in the roofs.