Architecture has evolved from ancient time to now in many different forms and functions. One thing we have to understand that they all come from a simple understanding of ‘space’.

As New Year had just passed, which is also a form of Roman culture invested in our life, festivities are bound to take place on all earth surface; fireworks, parties, heavy conjunctions, shopping activities and so on. So, what’s this got to do with architect as a profession?

As an architect in this era, our responsibilities mounted as high as a mountain, we are the core development on earth. We need to look back in history as a reminder on Roman Architecture, which is profoundly shaping the urban scape in many cities of the world. Whether we see it as a facade on a house, a building with functions, the roman style has been implemented as classical style that is easily to  be detected; massive structure of columns, heavy and bulky forms, and high ceiling. In contrast with this form, we now have high demands to meet special requirements such as: Eco-friendly architecture.

In some parts of the world this type of roman style is not needed, they would look strange and astray in totally different culture. Although so, heritage of the old colonial time in Indonesia, has left us many Dutch architecture which has a root on Roman style in some ways. They now stand as marks, but ridiculously there are some examples that try to imitate this style in totally new buildings. These inconsiderate moves will create foreign and fake feeling to the surrounding. We should know better, than recreating a Disney world into our own culture. What would be my advice to young architects out there, use your creativity to meet the clients request, without leaving out your own culture.

Happy New Year 2009!!!

May this year will bring happiness, good lucks, and success to all of us.

Which one comes first, “form follows function”, or “function follows form”? This is just like how we can compare between egg and chicken, which one comes first, egg, or chicken?

Form follows function is a principle associated with modern architecture and industrial design in the 20th Century, which states that the shape of a building or object should be predicated by or based upon its intended function or purpose [wikipedia.org], and the other one is by the opposite. It doesn’t means as form follows function is the best answer for this, although an architect usually do the design process by creating the lay-out of the room and the arrangement first, and later designing the form of the building. Mies van der Rohe says that he did not stand against the form, but he think that form is a goal of the designing process. Rohe thinks that function follows form always end up with formalism, satisfied the building’s appearance from outside view, but we don’t know what will be happen inside.

But, many architects also do their design by not doing the same step, they design the form of the building first, and later design the lay-out next to be mixed up with that. Yes the building became magnificent, superb, and iconic, its appearance will looks like a sculpture. Tom Wright, one of the Atkin’s architect whom designed Burj Al Arab, said: “if you can draw a building with a few sweeps of the pen, and everyone recognizes not only structure but also associates it with a place on earth, you have gone a long way towards creating something iconic”. This is one of the examples of “function follows form” architect.

Another example of “function follows form” architect is Frank Gehry. Look at his work at MIT Strata Center. Iconic building with deconstructs style. But what happen next, MIT Sued Gehry much for that design. They said that accumulations of snow and ice have fallen dangerously from window boxes and other areas of its roofs, blocking emergency exits and causing damage. Totally disaster! Gehry did not follow the rule here, as Rohe already said above, we don’t know what will be happen inside.

I myself also do both of these designs process, following my clients’ order. I put one of the examples above, I called it: “The maestro’s house”. I like this one; it looks like an iconic building. Yes I think all of you know that it comes from the idea of a grand piano’s form. How bout you?

Andie Wicaksono

Architect, Urban Designer.

Konsep “Kota dalam Kota” di Kota Semarang

The old concept about “garden city” (Ebenezer Howard, town planner and English parliamentary member) that stated that city for living, city for working, should be held between commercial areas, is just an ancient theory, and cannot be implemented today because of it has cast a lot of problems. Thus because of this concept was already developed in many cities, including organic cities.

We can see this garden city impact in many places. Sub-urban concentrate in surrounding areas, divided by streets and junctions, while the generator of people movement always held in city centers.

Traffic jam, pollution, accident potentials, and stress potential happen because of those traffic crowd makes psychological impact happen when there are public mass movement toward the downtown area to go to the activity places in the morning and in the evening (usually happen at 6:30am to 9:00am and 3:30pm to 6:00pm). This is the impact of “garden city”.

The solution of this problem is not only can be done with arrangement of streets as public movements, but also we should re-arrange the concept of this urban design in our city. Traffic signages, dispatch polices, traffic light countdown timer, and rapid public transportation only can minimize the impact, but not solving the problem.

The city itself needs to be divided into smaller groups, so that this idea is called: “re-thinking the garden city, creating city in the city”. The idea comes from the rationale to develop more downtown facilities in every center of these sub-urban areas. Sub-urban have to be the main generator of city’s development. It means, neighborhood can be used as inter connected cities.

Design and develop more shopping centers, entertainment places, commercial places, offices, and other services near of these sub-urban areas, while continuing the city beautification concept. So that people can go work, do their business, enjoy the entertainments and the atmosphere in these places. If we can stay near by our offices, or even live on the same building core, it can cut off our times, and of course, it can minimizes the gasoline expenditure.

This “city in the city” is the solution of these problems. Government sector can see this concept as one of good solutions, entrepreneurs can use it as a chance to develop their business, and of course, citizens enjoy the option to go to the nearest public services in each field of sectors, closest to their residential areas.

Andie Wicaksono

Architect, writer, and city observer.

Related article: Garden City and City Beautiful Movement Theory.

The Garden City Movement and a Scientific Approach

In his influential book Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Social Reform (1898), Ebenezer Howard, an English parliamentary stenographer, showed how workable and livable towns could be formed within the capitalist framework.

Permanent green space would separate the city and towns, serving as a horizontal fence of farmland. Rails and roads would link the towns, which would have their own industries, the nearby farms supplying fresh foods. All increases in land values would accrue to the town and its “stockholders,” the townspeople.

Howard’s proposal was accompanied by diagrams showing the attractions of the town, the country, and then of both, when ideally combined. The functional relations between the central city and its concept of a garden city and its internal lay out. Howard’s detailed thinking was not limited to physical design or to studies of optimum population sizes. He also made a precise financial analysis of what it would cost to build a garden city and now its operating costs would be met. Therein lay the strength of his proposal. He showed how it could be accomplished.

Howard’s analytical approach was an indication of the almost scientific study that modern city building requires. The city is so large and its operations so complex that is proper understanding can only be gained by the full application of precise analysis.

The City Beautiful Movement

In 1901 the AIA held a national conference on city beautification in Washington, D.C. The McMillan Commission was then formed to prepare a plan for the improvement of central Washington.

They toured Europe for inspiration and returned to propose a grand classical concept of landscape architecture with axes, mall, focal points, and pools–in effect reviving the original L’Enfant plan for the city. This, together with the example of the world’s fairs, initiated a country-wide program of civic improvement efforts: “the City Beautiful Era”. The City Beautiful Era was by no means limited to civic centers or fine public buildings. There was considerable activity in the creation of planned residential communities.

From the urban design book: “The Architecture of Town and Cities”, Paul Spreiregen, AIA

Permukiman sebagai tempat (sarana) hidup manusia dapat digolongkan dalam 2 skala yaitu: 1) Permukiman (Skala makro) Human Settlement, dan 2) Perumahan (Skala Mikro) Housing

Unsur Permukiman

Unsur permukiman itu sendiri yaitu antara lain berupa wadah, tanah / lahan yang digunakan, dan pengisi, penghuni yang terdiri dari makhluk hidup dan benda tak hidup. Permukiman dapat dibedakan menjadi tiga karakter yaitu: 1) More agriculture (traditional countries), dengan ciri pertanian menjadi mata pencarian utama (Irian jaya), 2) Development (berkembang), daerah yang sedang giat membangun (Kalimantan, Sumatra) dan 3) More industrial (maju), banyak industri skala besar, banyak muncul usaha jasa dan pelayanan, tingkat kepadatan tinggi.

Syarat Permukiman

Syarat-syarat yang mendukung terciptanya sebuah permukiman yang layak yaitu: 1) wisma : tempat tinggal, 2) Karya : tempat berkarya dan berusaha, 3) Marga : jaringan tempat mobilitas masyarakat dan barang berlangsung, 4) Suka : tempat masyarakat berekreasi, bersantai dan memperoleh hiburan, dan 5) Penyempurna : pelayanan penunjang bagi masyarakat seperti Pendidikan, Peribadatan, dan Utilitas umum.

D/H and W/D Proportions of the Townscape

An important aspect of townscape composition depends on the ratio of street width to building height. These proportions, using D for the distance between buildings on both sides of the street, and H for the height of the adjacent buildings.

When D/H < 1, the space grows crowded and cramped

When D/H = 1, a balance is achieved between height and distance

As D/H grows larger, the space becomes more open

Bird’s-Eye Views and Curvilinear Landscape

One of the charms of a city landscape is its overlooks and the opportunities they provide for panoramic views. In his research on visual perception, Henry Dreyfuss measured the angle of depression for a person standing is 10 degrees and for a person sitting 15 degrees. The upper boundary of the field of vision is 50 to 55 degrees, and the lower is 70 to 80 degrees.

Tadahiko Higuchi found that persons standing at both the 150-and 250-meter lookout points felt an angle of from 8 to 10 degrees to be the most comfortable.

Concave and convex

In the case of a concave, curved landscape, the water circumscribed by the shoreline and the manmade landscape of a city or port both enter the field of vision, augmenting the aesthetic appeal of the scene.

In a convex landscape the land juts out into a body of water, and there is no boundary circumscribing the water that surrounds it, so the line of vision is continually directed outward, diminishing the sense of intermingled natural and manmade landscape.

from the book of “ Aesthetic Townscape“ (MIT Press, 1984), also read related article about The Aesthetic Townscape Theory

• It creates an atmosphere. A bright color scheme for a building tends express gaiety and excitement; a quiet scheme may express dignity and repose.

• It suggests either unity or diversity. A uniform color scheme contributes a sense of unity, while a varied color scheme gives a feeling of diversity.

• It expresses the character of materials. If a building has a red tile roof, gray stone walls, and brown wood trim, the essential character of each material is clearly stated. If these have the same color, the building looks like a clay model.

• It defines form. A line, a two-dimensional surface, or a three-dimensional volume is defined if its color contrasts with its surroundings.

• It affects proportions. Materials with contrasting colors laid in horizontal lines tend to emphasize a feeling of breadth. If laid in vertical lines, they promote the sense of height.

also, color can describe as:

• It brings out scale. A building made up of elements of uniform color looks like a monolith. Its scale is difficult to judge at a distance. If, however, its elements (including openings) are of contrasting colors, the scale of the building is more easily conveyed.

• It gives a sense of weight. Elements in dark colors look heavy; those in light colors look light in weight. For this reason the color of tall structures is sometimes graduated from dark at the bottom to light at the top.

From the book Architecture and Color, Waldron Faulkner, F.A.I.A. (John Wiley & Sons Inc 1972)

Figure Ground Theory

The city as a clearly defined system of solids and voids. The building coverage is denser than the exterior space, thereby giving shape to the public openings. (1) Figure-ground theory: In this approach, the starting point for an understanding of urban form is the analysis of relationships between building mass and open space. Figure-ground analyses are powerful tools for identifying the textures and patterns of the urban fabric as well as problems in its spatial order, but can lead to a static and two-dimensional conception of space.

Linkage Theory

The linkage theory involves the organization of lines that connect the parts of the city and the design of a spatial datum from these lines relate buildings to space. (2) Linkage theory: In this approach dynamics of circulation become the generators of urban form. The emphasis on connection and movement is a significant contribution, but the need for spatial definition is sometimes undervalued.

Place Theory

Place theory represent the third category of urban-design theories. The essence of place theory in spatial design lies in understanding the cultural and human characteristics of physical space. If in abstract, physical terms, space is a bounded or purposeful void with the potential of physically linking things, it only becomes place when it is given a contextual meaning derived from cultural or regional content.

(3) Place theory: Designers have increasingly become aware of the importance of historic, cultural, and social values in urban open space. Contextualists have argued strongly against the tendency of the Functionalists to impose abstract designs from the outside.

From the book “ Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design “ (Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated, 1986)

Lost Space

Lost space is the leftover unstructured landscape at the base of high-rise towers or the unused sunken plaza away from the flow of pedestrian activity in the city. Lost spaces are the surface parking lost that ring the urban core of almost all American cities and sever the connection between the commercial center and residential areas. Lost spaces are also the abandoned waterfronts, train yards, vacated military sites, and industrial complexes that have moved out to the suburbs for easier access and perhaps lower taxes.

The Causes

There are five major factors that have contributed to lost space in our cities: (1) an increased dependence on the automobile; (2) the attitude of architects of the Modern Movement toward open space; (3) zoning and land-use policies of the urban-renewal period that divided the city; (4) anunwillingness on the part of contemporary institutions–public and private–to assume responsibility for the public urban environment; and (5) an abandonment of industrial, military, or transportation sites in the inner core of the city.

Hard Space

One of the most important factors in hard space is the creation of enclosure. A review of precedents reveals three important components of successful hard urban space: (1) the three-dimensional frame; (2) the two-dimensional pattern; and (3) the placement of objects in space.

Soft Space

Although the architectural approach of a continuous void with hard walls is one approach to urban design, we must also explore natural, soft space in the central city for what it can offer as a contrast to the dense urban environment. As a means of understanding the nature of space and the physical and psychological dimensions of the exterior void, we must expand the discourse into areas beyond specific urban spaces to include the larger context within which they exist. In order to evaluate space in this broader context, two factors must be considered: (1) the meaning of a space based on its use and purpose as defined by the psychological and social needs of the individual; and (2) the relationship between a particular space or group of spaces and their regional characteristics, including history and local traditions.

From the book “ Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design “ (Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated, 1986)

Serial Vision

Serial Vision is to walk from one end of the plan to another, at a uniform pace, will provide a sequence of revelations which are suggested in the serial drawings opposite, reading from left to right.

Place

Place description is in a world of black and white the roads are for movement and the buildings for social and business purposes.

Content

Content concerned with the intrinsic quality of the various subdivisions of the environment, and start with the great landscape categories of metropolis, town, arcadia, park, industrial, arable and wild nature.

Focal Point

Focal point is the idea of the town as a place of assembly, of social intercourse, of meeting, was taken for granted throughout the whole of human civilization up to the twentieth century.

Closure

Closure, may be differentiated from Enclosure, by contrasting ‘travel’ with ‘arrival’. Closure is the cutting up of the linear town system (streets, passages, etc.) into visually digestible and coherent amounts whilst retaining the sense of progression. Enclosure on the other hand provides a complete private world which is inward looking, static and self-sufficient.

Street Lighting

Here we are concerned with the impact of a modern public lighting installation on towns and not, primarily, with the design of fittings. Naturally it is impossible to disassociate the two since, as in all townscape, we are concerned with two aspects: first, intrinsic design and second, the relationship or putting together of things designed.

Outdoor Publicity

One contribution to modern townscape, startlingly conspicuous everywhere you look, but almost entirely ignored by the town planner, is street outdoor publicity. This is the most characteristic, and, potentially, the most valuable, contribution of the twentieth century to urban scenery. At night it has created a new landscape of a kind never before seen in history.

Here and There

The practical result of so articulating the town into identifiable parts is that no sooner do we create a HERE than we have to admit a THERE, and it is precisely in the manipulation of these two spatial concepts that a large part of urban drama arises.

Man-made enclosure, if only of the simplest kind, divides the environment into HERE and THERE. On this side of the arch, in Ludlow, we are in the present, uncomplicated and direct world, our world. The other side is different, having in some small way a life of its own (a with-holding).

From the book “Concise Townscape”, (the architectural press, 1971)