Abstract Idea through Modern Architecture.

Since when that people start to look at thing more truth, the shape become more flat and geometric, less ornamental on things and buildings, or to say is ‘Minimalizing’.

1905 the beginning of WWII and also the transition from the Fauvism to Cubism era, where everything(the truth) is rendered visible at once to the viewer. An artist turns their ideas around, seeing multiple sides at the same time and dematerialize into geometric form. It’s the first time when people become abstract by making number into statistic form.

These development in architecture can be easily illustrate by an architect “Le courbusier”, it’s in his name. He objectified himself “Le courbusier” artistic everyman.  By making himself to an object, he believe he could build every man home. He approach the mass productions in architecture, when he keep classical style, also involve in context of surrounding. The MASS+SURFACE of houses he build, is telling themselves as they are, the purity of form consists only line and color in painting.

OMA - ‘roadmap 2050: a practical guide to a prosperous, low-carbon europe’

The major character of his work:

1. Square and Rectangle – an accentuation of form, consists of plane and grid with no bearing wall. These because he wants to keep the pureness of form and to keep the space as open as possible. The outside-in space.
2. He fascinate by the hole in the form, aperture. And also bring art into Architecture.
3. Basic individual need, put people in Grid – He came up with the system of human measurement by abstract himself into one same space similar to Utopian Idea of human is the perfect scale for everything. He compare his idea to automobile in “Toward New Architecture”

Le Corbusier – Villa Savoye, Paris 1928-1931

Here’s one major example that effect the style of our house nowadays, Villa Savoye is a master piece from 19th century. The open space below intend to spend as much of out door time due to activities that happen by technology (e.g. people spend time in car and office more). Flat roof provides space instead space lost under the building. It has no bearing wall and no load bearing facade. And Horizontal window called “Ribbon window” founded by Corbusier, provides more even illumination to whole floor. However, due to the window of his was found it’s not always true, proves by late modernist. Stair influence by mass production of car, airplane, ships.

ANTHROPOMORPHISM – The human proportion that he uses as a build system, he start with doing an everyman statistic, and solution is Vitruvian man which same proportion as the Golden Section. He believes that mass produce individual, mass could produce the basic need for individual like-ness.

How is this idea impact an Architects thought nowadays?

Here look at the example of one of the great young architects, his building according from the statistic and abstract the writing into geometric form similar to what Le Courbusier did.

Introduce to an architect “Joshua Prince-Ramus” (born august 11, 1969, United States), he is an American architects also the principal of REX, an internationally acclaimed architecture and design firm based in New York City. He is an young influential architects during this time which the press compare him to Bill Gates of Microsoft. I brought this up as an Post-modernism example compare to the modernist idea of Courbusier.

Visualization of the library’s “Programs” – Joshua Prince Ramus

“This is the visual slight-of-hand that transposes material books into a “program.” Other programs are: operations, parking, hq, reading, attraction, living room. As groups of functionality and processes, they are very much like computer programs. The metaphor extends to the separation and containment of like programs in five different platforms with “trading floor” areas in between. Again this reveals a database aesthetic rather than a narrative aesthetic — the chart is vertical, not horizontal, not linear, but hierarchical. It is not the linear processes themselves that are depicted but their (database) classification.

The transformation of the original bar of colors, put together by the library’s staff, to OMA’s “program reshuffled” chart very closely resembles the visual feedback of computer disc utility software defragmenting a hard drive. Clearly this is what OMA intends: they have optimized the hard drive that is the Library.

The underlying peculiarity is that the chart gives its programs which, as sets of processes, are not themselves material, a materiality by assigning them square footage. How the program-to-square-footage was formulated is a mystery.”    

– From architectureinmedia.worldpress.com.

Seattle Central Library – Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince OMA

"The stacks, arranged along a continuous spiral ramp contained within a four-story 
slab,reinforce a sense of a world organized with machine-like precision." 

– Nicolai Ouroussoff
Los Angeles Times

These abstract of information into statistic become necessary in design and very much in architecture area. ‘Diagram’ often uses to explain the idea of the designer to other persons. We abstract our thought into visual media in express the context of the site and concepts. For instance, These Rem’ Seattle Library massing was the product of the program diagram derived from the interpretation of change in program due to change in time.