The ineptitude of our urban fabric stems from the obsolescent belief that architects in general, and planners and urban designers in particular, are tasked with the innocuous derivative function of imparting order and establishing a supposed system to the anarchy of sprawl. Thusly, the resultant plan using the classic paradigm would envision the space in situ as either a gridiron applied against an otherwise organic site of nuances and elements, or of grandstanding organic forms enforced on an inherently interesting locale. Logic would preclude that both methodologies occur as an oversimplification of the spatial dimension. Order will never be achieved by geometry and abstraction. Gaudi (that mad-genius hailing from Catalan, Spain) phrased it eloquently in saying that the straight line is to man, as the curve is divine. Yet recent masterplanning trends are evident of a lack of respect to nature and geography, subverting these parameters as simply inspirational in effect.
As planners, we are tasked to understand the space not as lines drafted across the screen or on the printed page, but a space unencumbered by walls. Master-planning would thus entail a masterful planning of the site, a programme that can never be deduced to uni-dimensionality that aggrandizing schemes vend. One cannot enforce order in the poetic chaos of nature, nor genuinely claim to be Gaia-inspired by the superficial application of superfluous sinuosity. Form is not the resultant of an effective masterplan. Function is. No organic form can ever be natural by the mere innovation of adapting without reason, or worse on a planar sense of conceptual gimmickry. But a masterplan that affords the functions to operate in synchronicity, with enough agile and tactility to adapt and evolve as habitation progresses, is one that truly works. Effective in that it achieves its purpose, a plan. Yet flexible enough to respect that the human condition is one replete with change and transgressions, identity-building and idolatry.
When a site presents itself bare and uneventful, let climate, geography and geology be the yardstick by which we measure our proposals. Let culture be the catalyst that will paint the fabric of the place. Let the users define the identity.
It is not the abstract line that instills value into the masterplan. It is the inspired distillation of the datum that nature provides us, filtered through the creative analysis of a disciplined practice, that gives that very line meaning. It is that honest acknowledgment that the Earth provides us well enough, to be favored the capacity to mold it. Because originality means returning to the origin.
Masterplanning is revisiting the site, and uncovering its latent sense of place. The genius loci that we beg our skillful hands may find cadence to compose. That inspired moment when nature enlivens our lines, and meaning is equitable to value. When creation converges with care, and the mind melds with the soil. A return to what is true.
Genius is in the genuine.
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The Fallacy of Form is a new serial contemplating on issues of design, aesthetics, the creative process and identity.
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15 redmarks:
Wow. Wow.
I am not an expert on architecture, but I am a sucker for aesthetics, quality ones at that.
I am amazed with how you were able to effectively and sensibly fuse architecture into the important aspects of the human condition - your deep respect for its dynamism, its tendency towards chaos, its need for meaning.
And the assured way you say things, the quite confidence in your words, as if proclaiming: "This is not opinion. This is Truth."
I love, love, love this post. Excellent.
@Manech Thanks. Good to know that someone appreciates aesthetics as I do, and that you saw through the bigger issues I was expounding on subconsciously. I'm blushing from being complimented, especially from someone so brilliant. =)
reason and aesthetics. cool :D
me thinks, let's all therefore go back and live in the jungle where functionality and beauty interplay in perfect harmony. uh-oh, that makes me sound unforgivably irreverent. pardon my oversimplyfying of things aesthetic. but i agree that architecture is a metaphysical art, unlike other forms of immaginative art, like painting that imitates nature, deals with balance of form, direction of lines and the abstract qualities of proportion. then again, lets face the fact that not many of us care much about structure and planning. everything simply boils down to 'taste' (either we like or don't like the 'design'). sadly, most people don't even know what they are looking for in a design. and this is a big hurdle for the designer as he spends endless nights on the drawing board and wasting paper and ink trying to fuse 'taste', functionality and cost efficiency into one harmonous piece. however, this tedius exercise can serve as sifting mechanism but a bad economy can sometimes turn good architects to mere draughtsmen who simply parrot their client's 'taste'. sadness hehe.
@Elias Jayson Thanks. Thanks as well for visiting. :)
@COLORBLIND The problem with merely defining architecture as art is it ignores the fact that architecture, and masterplanning in this particular case, has a human dimension. It is never viewed, but rather experienced. The sooner designers realize this, the sooner the absolutist notion of aesthetics can give way to the value of meaning and genius loci. Economics do play a part in shortchanging our talent, and sadly this is very evident in our brain drain. We as design professionals are tasked with the herculean challenge of interpreting a client's superficial dispositions to a space with meaning and reason. The obvious being appealing to their taste, the intangible being solving the problem of function and habitation.
i love it that this post is making me think really, really hard. a little too hard. the thought process behind how things are designed have never really occured to me. it's apparently very interesting.
@Nyl Thanks. The creative process is always present in our exceedingly designed consciousness. But sadly, few people discuss it with much relevance and depth. In the design industry it is generally taboo to criticize or evaluate another designer's work. This series is merely touching the iceberg of design dialectics. I'm glad the entry inspired you to look at the process in a new light.
but also, let us not forget the very intention of art which is to stimulate thoughts and emotions. the designer or the person appreciating a certain architectural design like plans and perspectives on paper must both have the capacity to think rationaly in terms of the design's forms, balance and function and in its relation to a particular environment, while at the same time explore his emotion as he goes through the different phases of the design. what i meant by 'architecture is a metaphysical art', it's the trancendental exeprience based on logic and reason which makes the design in particular and the whole experience in general a real.
Yes art has that ancillary purpose, yet the primary objective of all mediums is expression. It is this inherent function of emotional channeling that I find troublesome in masterplanning. You see, design in its truest form is always a question of solution generation. Answer to a need. And the emotional or artistic license a designer employs is a mere secondary resultant of this. That is why design is most poetic when one is able to transcend the function into an expression of genius, making the solution almost self-apparent. Logic becomes an illusion, and the output moving in every sense of the word.
no one can negate the fact as embodied in the very definition that 'architecture' is the art and science of designing buildings and other physical structures. a particular design strives to achieve an common end which is practical, functional, economical and artistic. negating the 'artistic' component of the design of the structure equates an architecture's design output to that of an engineering design that generally employs the manipulation of materials and forms using mathematical and scientific principles. case in point is the design of our house. evident is the lack of architect's touch hahaha.
I am not negating architecture as art here. But do be reminded that the dialectic is on masterplanning. I am merely placing its merit as an artform secondary to the goals of masterplanning. Peace. :)
there must be an interplay of art and function in any design (call it masterplanning) and as such, priorities (be it art over function or function over art) is a personal choice. however, a perfect balance is always the goal.
@COLORBLIND Amen to that!
ang galing niyo sir. ang sarap basahin ng inyong mga salita :) astegh~ it's the first time i've read of this Fallacy of Form. i've got some serious serial contemplating to do :)
@Nowitzki Tramonto Oh, you're too generous. I just felt that the type of topics I'd like to discuss weren't being discussed elsewhere, so I might as well do it here.
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