Zibaldone 11

Q: Why do we feel the need to "frame" views?

There isn't always a necessary need to always frame views. Sometimes windows are used only to allow light into the building. However in certain situations a window of a framed view in this case can reveal the site in a way never seen before. The building can make you pause it can make you notice what is already there. Maybe you would have never stopped to look at it if it wasn't framed. For the Salk institute, that view exists on both sides of the building but when you stand in the court yard it all that you see drawing you in. Other times maybe in a urban situation you have a view regardless just because you want to have windows. So instead of just making windows the views of other space can actually develop the shape of the building. Finally the site could be more important than the building itself so that, the buildings form literally becomes a landing trying to re-situate you in the site in a new way.

Zibaldone 11

Q: What holds a building up?

A: Traditionally, brick has been used in architecture as a structural element. The material is abundant, modular, economic, ecologic and incredibly strong in compression. However, in the example of the Tate Modern, designed by Herzog and De Meuron, brick is expressed as a permeable screen. So what holds the building up? In this case, a network of reinforced concrete columns and beams make up the ‘bones’ of the building. Precast concrete lintels and pins are also attached to the structure, allowing for windows and keeping the brick screen in place.

Zibaldone 11

Where do stairs begin and end?

It can be argued that stairs do not have a beginning or an end.  We can see an example of this in the etchings of Piranesi.  He creates stairs that seem to have no beginning or end; they just disappear off the page.  Then we have the reference from the movie, Inception when two of the characters are walking on a set of stairs continuously without noticing that they are at going anywhere.  But a much clearer way to answer this question is to say that stairs begin with a rise and end with a tread.  The tread that one who end with would be a floor or maybe even a landing if you think about it.

Zibaldone 10

Why does a building have to be  aesthetically pleasing?  Shouldn't a building just perform to the best of it capability and not worry about how it looks?

Zibaldone 11: What Holds A Building Up?

In the example of Burj Khalifa (the Dubai skyscraper) the structure that is used is the bundled tube design. The concept of a tube system is to resist lateral loads by designing a hollow cantilever that is perpendicular to the ground. This allows minimal structure inside the space as it is pushed to the exterior walls. The method of tube design is developed through reinforced concrete in this case. Special mixes of concrete were used  to withstand high pressures from the massive building weight. The site would ultimately determine the application of the concrete. The Persian Gulf temperatures would reach 122 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Most of the concrete was poured at night when the air is cooler and the humidity is higher. The cooler concrete mix cures evenly with a lower rick in it cracking. A bundled tube design through concrete would be my interpretation of how this building is held up.

Sampling- Zimbaldone Undici

The difference between architecture and hip hop sampling all comes down to the different ways of making a song or building. A song can be created using anything that makes a sound, and with any different pitch or combination of different instruments. Look at the new delta faucet commercial, featuring percussionist Glenn Kotche, he makes a song out of touch faucets and the water that it produces. Not only do we have hundreds of different instruments but more sounds are used in music every day.

                Let us contrast this to architecture, how many different building materials can you name? Can you name more building materials than things that produce sound? Music has copyright laws because of the infinite ways to make a melody, two songs that are identical without one sampling the other is unfathomable. Because there is a finite amount of architectural strategies, if they can be copyrighted, it won’t be long until new graduates have to literally re-invent the brick to make a career for themselves.  

Peter Cataldo - Zibaldone 11

Typically, when there is a noticeable seam between two buildings, it means that the buildings were constructed at different times. Some transitions between those buildings can be relatively smooth and not very noticeable, while other times the buildings contrast greatly and one of them may seem out of place.

One common way to connect two buildings is to use a party wall (one wall that is shared between two adjacent structures). One may notice that turning the corner on the upper levels of an adjacent building has not been thought about. The timeline of the surrounding construction plays a big role in answering how the building turns a corner (maybe originally the corners were not exposed).

Although some connections look funky and out of place, they can bring a certain texture to the landscape that enriches the surrounding culture.

Zibaldone 11

    Why do we continue to build homes the same way today that we did in the 18th century?

     I would like to interpret this question as asking why they follow the same guidelines when it comes to layout and purpose. Although reasoning has changed, it remains practical. When homes were first being constructed in the 18^th century, they served no other purpose than to provide shelter, gathering space, and a designated area for food preparation. Why? Because those were the three main services a household was to provide. Building supplies and workers were scarce which, I am assuming, determined the overall size of these structures.

     Today, contractors have the construction of a house from start to finish down to a science. Although there is an abundance of materials and builders, it now solely depends on cost and efficiency. Keeping simple layouts, not adding unnecessary rooms and keeping the square-footage to a minimum save money and time allowing for the construction of multiple homes to house the growing population.

Corey Gibbons - Zibaldone 11

Q:  How does a building meet another building?

A:  In certain situations, a building is built in a location where a building(s) already exists.  Therefore, the new construction must consider how it will meet the existing buildings.  Considering how this meeting occurs depends on the desired interaction between or among new and old.  At Cornell University’s Milstein Hall, by OMA, three existing university buildings border the site.  It was the intention of the project to directly connect to two of these buildings – Rand Hall and Sibley Hall – to create an interaction among the programs within the existing and new buildings.  In the space created by the four-story Rand and Sibley Hall OMA inserted a three-story ‘plate’.  However, they way that Milstein Hall meets the two existing buildings seems to lack delicacy or regard for their presence.  Unfortunately, Milstein Hall abruptly crashes into Rand and Sibley making it appear as though these two buildings are disrupting the formality of Milstein.  

Zimbaldone Diece

Why do we continue to build homes the same way today that we did in the 18th century? When every other building type has been updated, small homes continue to have the same properties that they did when the pilgrims built them

zibaldone 11 - basta cosi

Now, answer one of your colleagues' questions...150 words, image made not taken, due monday.

Zibaldone 10

What makes Architecture Art but Art not Architecture?

Zibaldone 10

What role does proportion play in contemporary architecture?

It cant be a coincidence that some of the more successful architecture, and one of the more successful albums both were some way related to the Vitruvian Man.

Peter Cataldo - Zibaldone 10

A lot of hip-hop music is based on sampling. Early DJ's would find a song's "break" (that funky part of a song that was a simple drum pattern and instrumental piece that focused more on the beat and rhythm of the song rather than the melody) and find ways to have it play longer so people could groove to it (this gave rise to break-dancing and rapping). Soon DJ's found ways to take sounds from multiple sources and put them together to create a new composition. This form of music was very progressive and had a lot of freedom...until it started making money. By this time lawyers of artists that were being sampled started suing these artists for copyright infringements. Since the mass media has been involved, most of the hip-hop music one hears today is not very progressive because it is so restricted.

Can Architecture be sampled? Can someone take elements of multiple buildings/projects and place them together in a cohesive way to create a new composition that would have never been thought of before? Or would it also be subject to lawsuits and copyright infringements? (I understand this discussion can be very long and has many directions that it could go. So, discussing this through text can be very difficult.)

Why do we feel the need to "frame" views?

Zibaldone 10

How does the floor meet the facade?

Corey Gibbons - Zibaldone 10

What holds a building up?