1. How does Peter Zumthor talk about the "Magic of the Real" and explain how this compares, in terms of the subtleties, to Michael Benedikt's "Architecture for Reality"?
Zumthor brings up the subject of “Magic of the Real” by questioning can you design experience in architecture, such as a Sunday afternoon spent enjoy friends’ company at a coffee shop. In a similar way Benedikt’s “Architecture of Reality” calls for a direct esthetic experience, which is architecture that not only encloses some form of space, but has its own presence, importance and emptiness. Both Zumthor and Benedikt believe that architecture needs to become a part of our lives through our interactions. For example Zumthor talks about the unique sound we attribute to spaces; we are familiar with the sounds because we have experienced them. Likewise Benedikt talks of the drawing effect certain rooms and spaces have; we are attracted to them for we feel a need to fill them, like the draw of a fire place. These places are real because they are experienced and thus interwoven in the lives of its inhabitants. They are not simple in existence.
2. Material Compatibility, Temperature of a Space and Levels of Intimacy are some conditions that both Peter Zumthor, in “Atmospheres”, and Richard Serra, in “Weight and Measure”, make a point of articulating when consider space. Where in their explanation of these overlapping conditions are they similar and where do they differ?
In “Weight and Measure” Serra talks about the need to work in full scale on site to help him feel the experience instead of assume a relationship. In the same way, Zumthor recognizes the usefulness of working on site in his section titled Material Compatibility—it wasn’t until he physically placed the cedar and concrete together that he realized they worked. Similarly, both Serra and Zumthor address unique qualities every member brings to a project. For example, Serra talks about the way using an octagon would create a pedestal condition in the galleries, or the way a circle would read more as a contextual condition than a space. These shapes had their own underlying implicities. In the same way, Zumthor brings up the fact that every material has its own temperature. Steel, for example, is cold, while a wooden deck would provide a relief from the present temperature. (It would be warm if cold and cool if hot.) These explanations differ only in the fact that one deals with special elements and form and the other with materials.
3. Zumthor looks towards experiential conditions when creating architecture, what are other methods architects use when generating architecture and what is the corresponding building?
One other methods of investigating architecture is a proportion, such as in classical architecture the Greek Orders were based on the proportions of the human male, female mother, and female virgin. Another investigation is the relationship between digital and physical, like Val Noges Feather Projects. Also there is an algorithmic approach to architecture, such as Tom Wiscombe’s Houlaing Architecture. Next, there is also a programmatic study of architecture—OMA’s Seattle Public Library, for example. Lastly, there is a purely formal architectural approach as well. For example, the rectangular forms that create series of roofed garden terraces by the Danish firm BIG.
4. To me, beauty in architecture is the revelation of craftsmanship, thought, time spent and a resulting natural appeal natural appeal. Nature naturally does this; it takes 9 months to create a baby. Trees grow slowly and sturdily. Things that grow fast are generally ugly, like fruit flies for example. In the man-made world a good examples is the gargoyle in Gothic architecture. Gargoyles are ugly creatures, but the skill of the sculptor and the thought and planning invested into the placement, and features create a natural appeal. In the same way, a complex line drawing with a strict system and a careful drafter will naturally carry a beauty because of the thought and time spent to generate clarity and cleanliness. With this definition, the simple as well as the complex, the monochrome as well as polychrome, the man made as well as the natural made.
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