Ten ways to explore and understand a building

Prévia do material em texto

TEN WAYS TO EXPLORE AND UNDERSTAND A BUILDING 
 
How do you learn to see places and sense spaces? Let me suggest ten ways to explore and understand 
a building. 
 
FIRST, as you begin to experience a building, try to learn why it was built and what its function in the 
community was and is now, so you can understand it socially before you begin your physical 
understanding. Note, too, how it relates to its neighbors— the buildings and activities around it. 
SECOND, raise your normal view and look up as you walk around. Much of the architect’s effort is 
above eye level. See how the light hits the surfaces. Notice the shape of the shadows. Notice the 
number of layers in the façade, starting with the layers of mass closest to you and receding to the 
window glass. Focus, in turn, on color, form, texture, proportion, rhythm, silhouette, mass. Look only 
for form for a bit, then look only for proportion, then the other elements of design—each in its own 
time. 
THIRD, sense the space by the size and shape of the spaces, how they sound as you speak, and how 
the light slides in and bounces around. Sense the space formed by the building outside, and, as you go 
inside, see also how the spaces relate to each other and transition from one to another. Architecture 
being the art of space, it cannot be fully communicated in pictures, drawings, or words but must be 
sensed to be fully appreciated. You can’t hold architecture like a book in your lap. You need to 
experience it full size. But when you can’t travel to the building and must rely on pictures and words, 
take time to let your imagination make it real to you. 
FOURTH, train your eye to understand the structure of the building you are seeing. How is gravity 
pulling down on the building? How is the structure itself keeping the materials in place? 
FIFTH, determine how the materials are working. Are they in compression (pressing down) or tension 
(pulling apart like cables)? Heavy and massive? Light and airy? Are the materials hard or soft? Rough 
or smooth? Opaque or transparent? Solid or void? Reflective or dull? Man-made or natural? Warm or 
cold? Are they local or exotic? What colors are they? What texture? What ideas do they conjure up for 
you? Are they permanent or transient? Fragile or strong? Common or extraordinary? 
SIXTH, determine how the building was constructed. Is it steel frame or concrete frame? Stone masonry 
laid by hand or precast concrete panels installed by machine? Wood framing with thin masonry veneer 
or thick, load-bearing masonry? Metal or glass panels? Exposed structure with curtain walls or a solid 
mass? Was the building just well built or was it, in fact, exactingly crafted—that is, did individual 
craftsmen lavish their special art on the building? 
SEVENTH, examine the historical precedents of the architecture you are seeing. This fascinating 
question, the subject of entire libraries, is the basis of an important academic discipline in itself. You 
will find that history is the source, whether you are going to look only at this century, as is the wont of 
Modernists, or at the eight thousand years of humans’ efforts at creating habitat. Historic architecture 
was eliminated from the academic design studio after World War II, but, as you will find, architectural 
history gives design its direction and meaning—gives us the cultural antecedents of the building’s form, 
the materials and techniques, as well as the decorative arts. A whole world of architectural history and 
anthropology is ours to learn from, even though many designers have avoided it. 
EIGHTH, analyze the composition, the proportions, the rhythms of what you’re seeing. What relates to 
what? What lines up? What vectors of force do you see in the composition? Is it a classical composition 
having a well-defined bottom, middle, and top? What are the colors and textures doing to each other? 
What are the qualities of light and shadow? What spaces have been formed? How do they feel to you 
as you move through them? Do they give delight? 
NINTH, observe the appropriateness of the building in terms of its setting. Does it complement that 
which is around it, be it natural landscape or urban form? It had to take the place of something. Is it as 
good as what was there before? Has it improved the beauty or meaning of the setting? 
TENTH, analyze what makes this building special. Beyond seeing and understanding the architecture, 
visit some construction sites and see how architecture is built. You will see that it’s a rather primitive 
operation, not like a manufacturing plant turning out repetitive products with machines. Each building 
is unique. The joys of construction are many. One is the thrill of seeing the space you have imagined 
that’s just been created by the structure and how the sun hits it. Another is the interaction with the 
many workmen and craftsmen actually doing the construction. Fine workmanship may offer the most 
satisfaction for you, the client, and the craftsman. I once asked an elderly carpenter laying a hardwood 
floor to help me make the transition between two rooms really special and gave him a rather complex 
integrating pattern of inlays within a rectangle to visually connect the two rooms. He took my drawing 
home to work on it, and when I saw the design installed I was as thrilled with his execution as he was. 
It was a handsome addition to the building. Some months later I received a letter from his wife saying 
that he had died but that he was pleased that he had built one beautiful thing in his life. 
 
 
BOX, Hal. Think like an architect. University of Texas Press. 1st ed., 2009.