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house21
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 7
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 Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject: Big is beautiful? |
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I believe that most sensational designs are using too much 'the big factor'.
A big building is bound to make an impresion, either good or bad it will make an impression on us.
I wonder if you take the best design and build them at a small scale ,will that have the same effect?
Any examples of good design at small scale?
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phansford
Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 556
Location: SW Ohio
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| Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 6:42 pm Post subject: |
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This is an age-old discussion. Quality over Quantity.
We request that all of our clients read The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. |
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house21
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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It looks to me that Not so big house is still 'too big' to relate to an urban place where people live in small flats.
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Last edited by house21 on Wed May 09, 2007 10:05 am; edited 1 time in total |
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phansford
Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 556
Location: SW Ohio
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| Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 4:51 am Post subject: |
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| house21 wrote: | | It looks to me that Not so big house is still 'to big' to relate to an urban place where people live in small flats. |
You need to be clear. There are houses and then there is Housing. Houses are single-family detached units. Housing typically refers to multi-family. If you are concerned with designing flats (which we refer to as a single level unit in a multi-family building) then your entire question needs to be restated.
Are you looking at the building as an urban element or simply the single interior unit.
You still should read the book, if its available in the UK. While Susanka is an American Architect and most of her designs are suburban/rural and single-family in nature, the issues she presents are easily transferable to multi-family housing. The idea of designing quality over quantity. Read the book and I think you will be able to find ideas transferable to the single unit of a multi-family building. She talks about reducing duplicity of space functions (formal dining room, breakfast nook, and stool at the kitchen counter- just create one space that functions for both causal and formal dinning.). She is influenced by ship builders who create a space for everything and in tight quarters. |
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house21
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 10:25 am Post subject: |
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Well , the point I am trying to make is that most architects might argue that they are fully aware of the space available to work with, they still go ‘big’. When I say urban , I think its fair to think of flats. I am not sure how big the flats are in USA, but in Europe most flats are rather small.
Up to this moment, I believe that no architect has come up with a valid design that has passed the test of time. There has been some poor attempts to create a ‘ micro-flat’ and that is all.
Using ship building as an inspiration for architecture is flirting with interior design, rather than architecture.
Let’s keep in mind that a ship is a close environment which means that an architect is confined to work within.
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mx2
millennium club
Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Posts: 1968
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 1:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | ..most sensational designs are using too much 'the big factor'.
A big building is bound to make an impresion...
...if you take the best design and build them at a small scale, will that have the same effect?
...most architects...are fully aware of the space available to work with, they still go ‘big’.
...no architect has come up with a valid design that has passed the test of time.
There has been some poor attempts to create a ‘ micro-flat’ and that is all. |
It's not the size that counts, but what you do with it? Of course.
But then again, size is relative. I think far more critical to good design at any "size" is scale and proportion. Buildings forst and foremost must relate to the human body and that relationship is intrinsic and fundamental. The Modern movement gave way to the limitations of gravity-born construction and the cantilever gave us new frontiers to explore...however that frontier has never been defined. So now we are faced with limitless goobs and gobs of various contortions with a door and a window that we call buildings. Bigger seems to follow suit of the social values we've adopted in the 1st world (as opposed to the 3rd world who just want to eat)...big trucks are driven to big buildings to eat big MACS and drink big sodas and create big garbage. The bigger the more everyone can see how big IT is. BLING!
And architects often are consumers themselves but even worse, they are designed to please their clients...
mx2.5
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*Art of Architecture: The conscious use of skill and creative imagination in the production of an aesthetic building.
*Science of Architecture: The calculated use of technical skill and knowledge in the construction of a functional building. |
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lekizz
millennium club
Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 1073
Location: UK
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| Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 12:01 am Post subject: |
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It would help if you gave a few examples, house21. I see you are based in London, which is almost completely atypical of the rest of the UK. Generally the blocks of flats and apartments I have seen have been located in converted office buildings, or old industrial warehouses etc. Though there are a few places, Manchester and Leeds for example, where development and land prices have encouraged a new high-rise skyline (they are even building a new high rise residential block in Swansea, of all places!).
There are several examples of new key-worker housing in London which I would hardly describe as generously proportioned, but you get low prices by economies of scale - single detached houses in London will reach seven-figure prices!! |
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bubblyengineer
Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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Though a big house always makes an impression, it is not necessarily beautiful. Some big houses are empty and dull.
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house21
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 2:28 am Post subject: |
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Hi lekizz
I can give you a bad example, where you have a 1 bedroom flat and you feel that having a traffic light in the apartment might be a good idea ,if you have more one person living there.
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lekizz
millennium club
Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 1073
Location: UK
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 10:02 am Post subject: |
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I mean a specific example, or maybe you are just here to make general statements in order to advertise your website  |
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house21
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 10:39 am Post subject: |
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Thanks lekizz
I am trying to say that architects are not really trying to find a solution to small scale architecture and that they rather go for the big factor.
Now would like me draw something for you or should I say that my signature has no relevance to this forum, as it is a domestic building trade link, used to illustrate my background.I don't know about you ,but I don't really think that the people using the forum, could become my future customers.
regards |
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mx2
millennium club
Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Posts: 1968
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 10:48 am Post subject: |
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I think house21 is being too general simply out of his/her observation of a specific experience that is being translated incorrectly...in otherwords, s/he is just making a statement. It is the architects job to develop the best solution to a specific set of problems...whatever the criteria may be. But this is not to be confused with all the buildings in the world...a lot of "flats" are designed and built by developers not interested in the least with your comfort but rather how much profit can be made in real estate. Try these books, for your pleasure:
Living Large in Small Spaces: Expressing Personal Style in 100 to 1,000 Square Feet by Marisa Bartolucci
One Space Living by Cynthia Inions
Studios and Lofts: One Room Living by Marcos Nastaras
Compact Living by Jane Graining
Small Apartments by Alejandro Bahamon
Small Spaces for Modern Living: Making the Most of Your Indoor Space by Caroline Atkins
Living Big in Small Apartments by James Grayson Trulove
Big Ideas for Small Spaces by David Lansing
mx2.5
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*Art of Architecture: The conscious use of skill and creative imagination in the production of an aesthetic building.
*Science of Architecture: The calculated use of technical skill and knowledge in the construction of a functional building. |
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phansford
Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 556
Location: SW Ohio
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| Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 10:39 am Post subject: |
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| house21 wrote: | Thanks lekizz
I am trying to say that architects are not really trying to find a solution to small scale architecture and that they rather go for the big factor.
Now would like me draw something for you or should I say that my signature has no relevance to this forum, as it is a domestic building trade link, used to illustrate my background.I don't know about you ,but I don't really think that the people using the forum, could become my future customers.
regards |
You keep bouncing around...... are you talking urban buildings, single unit flats, single-family houses?
Why do you feel that Architects are required to develop a solution for "small scale' architecture (as you call it)?
I would typically go to the effort of providing links to architects (both past and present) doing residential work, usually low-income/moderate income, that are attempting to address the issue of providing quality design in a small package, but you don't seem open to any ideas. You only seem to want to bang on architects...... so let me "cut to the chase" for you.
Architects are bad. We are the sole reason the earth and western culture is in a tailspin. We are the cause of all cancers known to man..... we are bad people. Builders are good people and know everything because they know how to drive nails and use a screwdriver.
Personally, I would love to find a builder/developer who is willing to address low-income (small scale) housing and is willing to work with architects interested in the same issue. But the marketplace for BFH's (big effing house) is too lucrative to sway people with the capital to make an investment in social concerns.
If you truly feel that you can contribute to the effort of providing better shelter for people. Please... stop building and go to architecture school. Or actually search the UK for those architects interested in your "small scale" (and they exist) and team with them on projects. |
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The Architect
Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 184
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| Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:12 am Post subject: |
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House21, are you refering to the quality of what is being built - the quality of construction? Then yeah, okay, I agree with you - to a certain extent.
But 'general contracting', a.k.a. 'how something is built', has nothing to do with Architecture. Architecture is how you influence space - 'shape' space - you know, solids and space.
Do you want to rephrase your initial statement? You seem to me, to be, what we call in Canada one pissed off 'General Contractor'.
Take care... |
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