a revised statement

The modernists believed that a building is perfect only after the construction process is complete, it then enters a downward spiral to deterioration due to inhabitation and weathering. Why dwell upon the solutions to avoid the effects of weathering when they will forever be inevitable? What if architecture can still provide shelter but simultaneously embrace and invite in environmental processes, controlling weathering and the resulting experienced space?

The experiential qualities of weathered spaces provide knowledge into the history of the space, giving them integrity. Materials involved in the space preserve their own experiences of phenomena that have occurred over time through their ability to be impressionable. These phenomena are weather, humans, animals and natural disasters; all inscriptions in materials create weathering. It is the discovery of prior inhabitants and occurrences in the space that create intrigue. Because of the material's ability to preserve environmental effects, a current inhabitant experiences the awareness of the accumulated history.

The weathered surfaces contribute to the experiential quality of the space, defining it through the receptive and responsive nature of the materials involved. A simple change in material or appliqué on a material can contribute to the definition of space, but it is this living, breathing nature, directly responsive to its environment that creates a space that is alive and growing.

Factors of orientation, location, porosity of material and overall climactic location are critical in causing particular kinds of weathering. Different levels of porosity, therefore, determine the preserving of more or less evidence on a material. Some materials can weather under any circumstance, those that are most porous, while others, those that lack porosity, require assistance through their relationship to another material.

carlo scarpa

ok back to scarpa. i looked to him in the initial stages of my project, but i did not explore him enough, nor did i take away what have now. he is a great precedent architect to study for me as he understands the effects of weathering enough to incorporate details that control surfaces that are to stain. Details foretell the specific locations that staining will occur over time. Not only does he intrinsically understand the effects of the environment, but his handling of materials, old and new, existing and current, are amazing, and to say the least, beautiful. Here are 3 examples: above, the Brion-vega cemetery in San Vito di Altivole, Italy; left, the Banco Populare di Verona; below, Museo Castelvecchio in Verona. Each project utilizes/controls weathering in a particular manner to a cultivated, expected and beneficial result. In addition, all appear old from the completion of the project, is this just a result of an adaptive reuse project? or does scarpa intentionally create this aesthetic? i know for sure he designs for the purpose of getting better with age.

now in need of revision

most recent statement iteration:

The modernists believed that a building is perfect and in its ideal state only after completion of construction it then enters a downward spiral to deterioration due to inhabitation and weathering. Why dwell upon solutions to avoid weathering and deterioration when they will forever be inevitable? What if a shelter could still perform as a shelter, but simultaneously embrace and invite in environmental processes?

All materials are impressionable. They gradually record the evidence of daily life, human and naturally made. Weathered surfaces contribute to their exterior spatial conditions, giving them a sense of character and integrity. Because surfaces are under the continual process of weathering, the spaces they define will only grow stronger in appeal and spatial character over time. The invitation for weathered evidence to come inside will then define interior space to a comparable integrity.

Some materials can weather under any circumstance, while others are more affected when assisted through their relationship to another material. Factors of orientation, placement, porosity of material and overall climactic location directly cause particular weatherings. The lack of porosity is a factor that will hinder weathering and require a “stainer”, or agent that stains. However, different compositions of porosity are critical in preserving more or less traces on any surface. The stainer must be formally related to the vehicle, a surface that transports effects, to the receiving surface. It is when a material demands the use of a stainer, vehicle and receiver that the definition of space is achieved. The impressioned material, as a surface condition, then becomes a distinctive spatial condition.

GOALS:
- define space
- direction to a more experiential,
vernacular driven,
space & surface relationship,
conceptual clarification project
- research photographer who manipulates photos, investigating surface creating space
- chill & reflect for 2 days

so i've created a blog to track my degree project process.