Lecture 08 Architecture as Assistive Devices

I feel that the beginning of this lecture really brought architecture back to a basic neccessity. Although at first it did seem a bit obvious, i feel it is important to really understand why we disign structures in the first place and have those basic neccessities reflected in our designs. Proctection from nature, people and danger is a very raw and animalist part of architecture but still the most important. The facilation of opportunities would be the next most import part of architecure. Although again obvious, it is interesting to reflect on the fact that the society fuctions inside architecture entities and that the spaces allow this to occur. Athough Yasuhiro mensions that we are not just designing shells or sculptural entities, we are actually house physical activities in built shells.

The idea of the intensity of an action inside a space as a way of defining a space was addressed by Yusa's example of how many books makes a library a library. If a library is digital, how much information is required to be accessed. If feel that this really forces me to think about each space and how it will function in the real world.  It also forces me to think about the bigger picture of the intensity of use, the furnature and the growth of the space. It also makes me think of how spaces caqn collaborate with each other to redifine their use and how they are percieved by the users.

The 'read' section of the lecture really hightlight the many ways that the simple action of 'reading' and 'library' can be transformed into physical entities. I feel that what really shows through in the first example 'sock face' expresses 'reading library' as the information contained in books, not so much the book it's self, but the information and knowledge that can be tacken away from understanding it. While the last example 'wall of books' expresses the physical qualities of a paper book, and knowalge that it's physical form can impart. Both ideas a very different, but i feel that they both capture the spirit of the 'library'

I feel that the 'Architecture as a Platform' section of the lecture draws strong parallels to Frank Lloyd Wright's 'Form and Function' deffinition from his writing. From the example given in the lecture it can be seen that a very pure design can come from looking at the most basic elements of an activity, enhancing them and producing a product that is an effiect built form reflection of the spirit and funtion of that activity.

'Architecture as an Instigator' makes me reflect on my own motives an architect. I am somewhat driven by the romantic idea that my architecture with gently lead someone to exprerience something that they would not have experienced had they not come into contact with my space. Although i am still interested in this, the piece of the lecture had me quistion how do I actually achievie this. Look at the examples shown in the lecture, i fell that people really tend to make any space there own, by attaching a whole lot of significance to that area. I think it would be very interesting if you could design in a way that invites people to make it their own.

Todays lecture provoced me to think about 2 important parts of my own architectural concept. The first being the people using my spaces and the second, people in my architectural documentation. Usually I imagine people wandering through and gazing into the space in awe. Everything is useally perfectly placed and manifucered.