MK
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UPVC windows are not enviornmentally friendly. The industrial processes involved in the production of PVCs are highly toxic, with very harmful waste products.
The also look absolutely terrible & yellow under U.V. light, i.e. sunlight.Alternatives are timber, maybe rationel, expensive but hardwearing.
Aluminium, some pyntha-pulvin coated aluminium windows can look really well and are virtually maintenance free and inexpensive.Whats most important for your new windows is the overall proportions of the windows and the sizes and proportions of the opening sections.Steer clear of windows with small top hung opening sections and you should be safe enough.
The quote comes from
Vers une architecutre, 1923, Le Corbusier.‘You employ stone, wood and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces: that is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say: ‘This is beautiful. That is Architecture. Art enters in……’
And so on, construction versus architecture as described by a master.
Architecture is not about providing basic needs, thats construction, thats basically a complete misconception. Le Corbusier made a nice little speech along the same lines, the heart soaring from a feeling, etc.,etc, but finding the quote is hardly worth the effort.
We all know that in design, if we are always bound by the chains of physical improbability, the design process may be undermined,(exceptions to the rule, Rationalists and the like need not get their backs out of joint). In the virtual world, anything goes. Designers are not constrained by the limitations of todays physical construction methods. It is a free for all utopia for the seeding of ideas. This is how progress in the architectural, not construction world can be achieved. In the Virtual world, physics can defy itself, solid becomes plastic, impossible becomes achievable.
Why must architecture be built before it can be real? When you design, is the unbuilt form not clear in your mind? Is a piece of architecture not finished before the first hole is dug on site. Have you not decided the finish and detail of everything before the first block is laid. In essence, the building is finished before anyone even agrees to build it. The built form is merely the proof of the pudding.
Most student work is never built. By the logic I have seen here I can only deduce that none of their work is architecture, it does not exist in the real world, so how can it be architecture.
Not true, this is obvious.Alan, Hadid is primarily an artist, i.e., real paint and brushes, just the way you traditionalists like it.
Gehry (seemingly so) works out his concepts through physical models, & then the points of the model are mapped into the virtual world to calculate structure & structural sizing,(as in Guggenheim).
Neither of the above conceptualise in the virtual world & the computer model does not seem to be their choice mode of presentation. Has the penny dropped even further.Many people rely on the virtual world nowadays. Your friends may be virtual, business etc.etc. Why must architecture exist in the physical world before it is considered as architecture.
Whats the deal with talkitecture? Any competent architect should be able to talk an individual through a building. Alvaro Siza says himself that for him to clarify his concepts & distill them, the written word is the most effective method, basically talkitecture written down.Also, deepnote, some buildings are designed to fade with time. Buildings clad with untreated timber, or a skin of unpainted steel, will rust and rot and weather with time, appear differently in sun & rain, pale and matt, dark and shining. This all shows the passing of time and theres beauty in that also. Not all buildings are made to last forever, some can actually respond to the enviornment and age, just as we all do.
[This message has been edited by MK (edited 09 July 2001).]
A whole new world of architecture exists in the virtual world, most which will never be built nor was designed to be built. The ‘abstract’ 3D model is a new form of architectural & artistic expression, completely separate from the world of the hand drawing
Paul I noticed you mentioned the Carrolls building on Grand Parade, pity it was desecrated both inside & out. Shouldnt modernist buildings in Ireland now be protected structures
Yes, Paul Kelly and his buddies are creating a new civic plaza at the Ranalagh triangle.
Im sure all have noticed that Ranalagh triangle had become little more than a traffic thoroughfare, taxi stop & general cornerboy hangout (excuse the antiquated terminology). The new plaza, cafe, tourist info, toilets will bring new life(especially at night) to this important & well known spaceCover the whole thing in some sort of artificial plantlife supporting membrane, plant it all and create a vertical garden which becomes an industrial/ecological symbol of change
Nietzsche may have written that god was dead but that was only one of his hypothises in a sea of ideas. Philosophy is like maths in that it can prove by deduction in a rational fashion that, let us say, -1 = 0.This would lead us to see that although something can be rationally explained, it may not be true.
To deny Catholics the right to belive in their church and all its dogma is also undemocratic. Nazism, as some of you might say. Out of basic moral decency (lets not have an argument on the origins of morality please), we are obliged to respect the beliefs and cultures of all denominations. The Catholic church may refuse to accept the beliefs of others but that is not a day-to-day decision on the part of the Catholic individual. However, we still must respect their beliefs, and wrong as they may be (May be, I did not say that their beliefs ARE wrong), it is wrong of others to belittle their religous beliefs. Religion is very important and a source of inspiration and courage to many people. I find it in very bad taste Saint Jerome to knock the beliefs of others.
Apart from that, Catholic church & Co., get a grip, ‘Sacred Heart City’, for what purpose & to what end. If the faith is dying, do you seriously consider that an Urban Shrine is the solution? Believe what you may, but build with your own cash(no shortage their, 2001 years in business and still rolling), but dont destroy our countryside
Well aware,
I never denied the involvement of the pub in Irish culture, however, its role has been overrated. I dont understand where this idea of Irishness,i.e. the love of ‘the drink’, love of the craic, etc has come from, its like some source of pride for many. Why? ,its ridiculous.How about we say that the Catholic Church has been the single biggest influential institution in Irish culture for the past 1000 years(Christian also). How does the pub compare to that, attitude forming, life controlling effect on Irish society.
I dont believe for one second that the pub was a very important part of Irish history.
We received the idea of the pub from the English, where it has always been a dominant part of their culture, yet we dont hear the English reminscing about bygone days and the good old English pub.The impact of the pub on Irish culture is fabricated. The Guinness brewery was always and is an English company. What about our Brethan culture, the Normans, etc., etc.
The pub is a part of Irish culture, not a main fixing point. Then again, the good thing about history is that it can always be changed to suit the present.[This message has been edited by MK (edited 08 December 2000).]
I dont think it is rational to use the metaphor/comparision of genetic programming, i.e. discust at faeces, rotting material, snakes, the dark etc., to aesthetics. As to the cracks and dirt, nobody wants to be exposed to this, but we do live in the real world and it is inevitable. Baroque design is no less sterile than minimalism, however it is more complex. Sterility and complexity are not incompatible.
Aesthetics are a product of civilisation, prone to trends and populism, instinct is not.The conclusion that minimalism is best from such bizarre logic is a little naive.
Styles in Architecture are anything but meaningless. From Doric to Deconstructivism we can trace the architectural legacy of mankind and how it (we) have progressed(regressed for those of a pessemistic disposition). The names of the styles may be meaningless, new humanism, brutalism,bowelism etc., but what the represent is not. Each style represents the thinking and ideology of when it was built.
Post Modernism represents a retreat from modernism. Social conditions tend to determine the direction of architectural styles. This period was a protective mechanism against the public backlash to modernism. The theory behind post modernism may be sound but it is a little weak to be considered the ‘correct’ direction to take for any young architect.
Be aware of why PoMo really came about, study it and then shelve it.
Me too, Im actually stunned. I really believed that a school of architecture in the year 2000 would be bursting with entheusiam for the rejuvenation of the modern movement.
Venturi and Co.please stop right now. (PoMo is a pet hate of mine)What about a sense of place, or even a sense of space, of the subtlety of choice of material over the garish overuse and abuse of colour & texture. Purity over indulgance etc.
Cant agree with you there JL, you will find that ‘on average’ UK architects are more design oriented than there contemporaries here in Ireland. I think this is because of the large number of high quality architecture schools in the UK compared with Irelands 2 exercises in mediocrity.
MG, you took the words from my mouth. Dublin, not by any stretch of any imagination, can compete in the top league of European Architecture. The booming economy has done a great deal to damage architectural principals in Ireland (i.e. good design, innovation etc.). Is there any examples of groundbreaking design in the last 10 years in Dublin, Im not sure there are that many.
Most of what we percieve to be good design in Dublin is a ‘copy of a copy’,(always exceptions to the rule though)[This message has been edited by MK (edited 13 November 2000).]
