Seminar
Organizer: Titular Professor's Chair Moravánszky
Lecturers : Prof. Dr. A. Moravanszky, Dr. K. Kegler, S. Stich
Time : Fridays, 13:00 – 15.00
Location : HIL D 10.2
Disturbed Order -- Ideals, Standards and Contamination in Architecture
Order is an ambivalent term. It can either be connected with clarity and rationality or with forced and schematic demands. Seen from a position of pure rationality the variation of once clearly ordered structures looks like a disturbing interference or contamination. But distortions of preconceived schemes may even open free spaces for alternative paths of development. Perfect order, however, is rather an exception in the real world. Social changes, new scales or programmes, the special features of building sites and also shifts of the architectural canon of forms and values trigger the ongoing adaptation of deliberate planning schemes to unforeseen circumstances.
The concept of an ideal order is closely linked with the notion of standards. Standards are not just deriving from technical necessities alone, but are produced as a consensus within expert communities. Such constructions of the normal and normative can become a serious issue if they are not just refering to technical artifacts but apply to the coexistence and the way of life of human beings. Definitely, this is true for architecture and urbanism. In this very context order and disorder may even become terms that may be used or exploited for politcal reasons.
An example: "functionalist" architecture of the 1920s promoted a break with the historically evolved shapes of urban space. Mass production and standardization in industry were powerful influences for architecture and urbanism to use the principles of serial order as master-tool in the quest of efficient modernization. The design of urban space such became subordinate to the production of housing that was optimized in regards of its exposition to "light, air and sun," the traditional patterns of a well-defined urban space became obsolete. A closer look, however, reveals that even followers of "Neues Bauen" contaminated their idealized standards of geometric efficiency in search of the re-establishent of well definded urban spaces.
Organizer: Titular Professor's Chair Moravánszky
Lecturers : Prof. Dr. A. Moravanszky, Dr. K. Kegler, S. Stich
Time : Fridays, 13:00 – 15.00
Location : HIL D 10.2
Disturbed Order -- Ideals, Standards and Contamination in Architecture
Order is an ambivalent term. It can either be connected with clarity and rationality or with forced and schematic demands. Seen from a position of pure rationality the variation of once clearly ordered structures looks like a disturbing interference or contamination. But distortions of preconceived schemes may even open free spaces for alternative paths of development. Perfect order, however, is rather an exception in the real world. Social changes, new scales or programmes, the special features of building sites and also shifts of the architectural canon of forms and values trigger the ongoing adaptation of deliberate planning schemes to unforeseen circumstances.
The concept of an ideal order is closely linked with the notion of standards. Standards are not just deriving from technical necessities alone, but are produced as a consensus within expert communities. Such constructions of the normal and normative can become a serious issue if they are not just refering to technical artifacts but apply to the coexistence and the way of life of human beings. Definitely, this is true for architecture and urbanism. In this very context order and disorder may even become terms that may be used or exploited for politcal reasons.
An example: "functionalist" architecture of the 1920s promoted a break with the historically evolved shapes of urban space. Mass production and standardization in industry were powerful influences for architecture and urbanism to use the principles of serial order as master-tool in the quest of efficient modernization. The design of urban space such became subordinate to the production of housing that was optimized in regards of its exposition to "light, air and sun," the traditional patterns of a well-defined urban space became obsolete. A closer look, however, reveals that even followers of "Neues Bauen" contaminated their idealized standards of geometric efficiency in search of the re-establishent of well definded urban spaces.