mechanics and meaning in architecture

[...]... specified by drawings are primarily the fora building domain of architecture The calculations of the engineer cannot be seen to be either xv INTRODUCTION inappropriate or unnecessary to an architectural understanding of technology, but neither do they, in and of themselves, provide an inclusive and satisfying definition of the role of technology in architectural design Architectural drawings increase the... way in which human beings understand their circumstances by ignoring major components of how people think and feel THE PROBLEM OF RECONCILIATION If we agree that the metaphoric meaning of my experience of a winter morning window and the measurement of its mechanics are both necessary to understanding it as a technology, then architecture is left with a difficult problem How do these two understandings... assume in buildings as weather envelopes, structural frames, and windows Mechanics allow the way in which tasks are performed by building technologies to be quantified Each wooden stud in the walls of my winter window room can be calculated to assume a portion of the structural loads that this wall must bear for the building to remain standing An infrared photograph of the exterior wall and window of... technology in architectural design, to reclaim the world of natural force for meaningful interpretation in the design of buildings xix This page intentionally left blank Parti The Reconciliation of Mechanics and Meaning in Architectural Thought This page intentionally left blank 1 A Technology of Habitation When you understand all about the sun and all about the moon and all about the atmosphere and all... proposes the use of habitational technologies in buildings In the small and ordinary illustration of my morning window lie the seeds of what makes understanding these technologies a rich, complex, and difficult architectural construct This window produces both a literal and a metaphorical understanding of the nature that we inhabit Portions of this understanding cannot be mathematically measured As quality... window This experience has physical characteristics in that it modifies the way in which heat and light are allowed to enter and leave my room Without this technology, I wouldn't be sitting in a bright—but ten-degree-below-zero— morning in my bathrobe My body and mind easily register this physical difference But there is more to inhabiting this technology than might be defined by the flow of heat and. .. as the primary definition of what is technological about buildings Privileging a definition of technology as measurable action over that of material form presents a problem for architecture The calculations employed to measure technological performance in buildings are primarily the domain of engineering The manipulations of the form of columns, walls, and windows of these buildings Initial sketch of... HABITATION My window on a winter morning the dynamic physical characteristics of the environment that I am inhabiting MECHANICS AND MEANING IN AN ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY OF HABITATION Measurement gives birth to thought about architectural technology as mechanics Interpretation of human experience of the tangible form of these technologies gives birth to thought of architectural technology as meaning Both... this commonality with other human beings, and not the inculcated values of the profession of architecture at any given time, that allows architects to understand the meaning of what it is to inhabit a place The profession attempts to place this understanding outside the normal domain of other human beings because that is how architecture comes to have a special power in society There is much to recommend... visions The following discussion seeks to illuminate the conditions necessary to understand architectural technology as both measured action and interpreted value by examining the oldest, most fundamental, and least machinelike of these technologies This is an exploration of the qualities of walls, floors, and ceilings as weather envelopes, of columns and beams as structural frames, and of windows as transmitters . alt="" Mechanics and Meaning in  Architecture This page intentionally left blank Mechanics and Meaning in Architecture Lance La Vine M IN NE SO TA University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis . mechanics and meaning. 2 Architecture& apos;s Loss of a Distinct Technological Voice 17 The rise of engineering in the building professions; architectural incorporation of engineering. working definition of architectural technology. Part I The Reconciliation of Mechanics and Meaning in Architectural Thought 1 A Technology of Habitation 3 My winter morning window