Tectonics in the Twenty-first Century

Download or read book Tectonics in the Twenty-first Century written by Christina Glasgow McCoy and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis is an exploration of the meaning of tectonics in contemporary architecture. The topic of tectonics can be approached as a relationship of an architectural structural concept with space/form, assembly, and surface. Recently, however, architectural historians and theorists such as Kenneth Frampton, with his 1990 essay, "Rappel à l'Ordre, the Case for the Tectonic," and his 2006 book Studies in Tectonic Culture: the Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture, have questioned the capacity of contemporary architectural design culture to fully integrate the notion of tectonics, which calls for a highly expressive relationship between structural force and form, into today's built projects. Is the notion of tectonic architecture fading? Or, is the view of tectonics held by Frampton and his followers incomplete, rendering them a partial understanding of tectonic presence in contemporary architecture? Or, lastly, is the notion of tectonics no longer relevant considering the vast, rapid changes during the recent half-century in the creation and perception of architecture? This thesis hopes to address these questions with a survey of the meaning of "tectonic" that considers the challenges to its understanding in current architectural discourse and practice. It aims to grasp the strengths and weaknesses of Frampton's position. Further, opportunities to expand the definition of tectonics are sought, so that it may be shown to be relevant to changing values, design sensibilities, and technologies. In addition, a series of case studies will be presented that merit a new (or, in some cases, renewed) notion of tectonics. These case studies are selected based on the premise that they stand for a position that offers a relationship between form, space, surface, and assembly to the poetics of construction, but also that addresses the conditions that Frampton feared would render tectonic culture's demise. The conclusive message urges architectural discourse to seek out tectonic expression as a means to convey forces beyond the statical, such as cultural, economic, and technological.