Reading Detail & Poetry Questions

1.   As the technique of detailing changed from the hands of the craftsman to the tools of the architect, how has the resulting construction of details changed? Explain in terms of scale, material and cost.

          The technique of detailing changed from the craftsman to the tools of the architect as details became more important. The knowledge of knowing the intricacies of how things worked and how they could be resolved began. Architects also began using detailing techniques to create a language that could either be read or visually seen in technical drawings. These tools that were once held only by craftsman allowed architects to communicate their ideas. As details became more important and architecture could be “great” by thinking threw details, they became more important and costly. Like the craftsman the architect uses detailing to create a manual that allowed anyone to use and build with.

2.   How does "geometrical relationship" of individual details provide an understanding of the whole building if "indirect vision" localizes the viewer and "habit determines to a large extent even optical reception"?

Geometrical relationship of individual details allows the viewer to understand the whole building in sections. Because indirect vision localizes the viewer the use of geometrical relationships does not allow the viewer to see the building in relationship to site but rather in basic geometry and its relationship to one another.

3.   Carlo Scarp's details are a "result of an intellectual game" where the Open City buildings are constructed from an act of poetry. Describe what role the detail plays to "tell-the-tale" in each of these environments.

The details of the open city are poetic representations of the site and what function it serves. They tell the tale of the site and its poetic relationship to the users through the experience created.

4.   Pendleton-Julian writes about the Open City as emerging from and being in the landscape. Does allowing landscape to initiate "the configuration of territory and space" challenge Western building notions, and how so?

Pendleton-Julian’s writing about allowing landscape to initiate “the configuration of territory and space” differ drastically from Western building notions. Western building notions view land as merely a marketable business, there is no open land for anyone to just build on especially the desirable pieces of lands. Land in Western building connotations is much more material value driven than what actually sits on the site and how the site merges with the structure.

5.   Describe some detail conditions of the Open City that convey "lightness" as Pendleton-Jullian refers to.

Pendleton refers to the Open Cities conveying lightness through the use of material and its simplicity. The use of basic building techniques such as post and lintel allow the open city to seem very nomadic and almost temporary, rather than seeing a massive structure that seems buried in the site. The use of these materials and building techniques allow the Open City to be viewed as a compilation of light buildings that are part of the site but do not intend on harming it.