Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemRefutations and conjectures: prolegomena to the study of architectonic themes( 1995)An examination, in two parts, of aspects of contemporary architecture concerned with issues of history, meaning and the practice of architecture as a form of intellectual discipline. The first part investigates the work of Italian born American architect, Romaldo Giurgola, one of the last architects in the lineage of Louis Kahn still abiding by many of the latter architect's architectural philosophy. The range of his works, built and unbuilt, are examined and seen to take up important theoretical and social themes in American architectural culture originating from the Jeffersonian era. Through an analysis of Giurgola's writings and theoretical statements on a range of issues his work is shown to contribute to a continuation of the tradition of modern architecture. The viability of this tradition is questioned, in the light of both theoretical and socio-political deficiences. Four Questions is an ontological interrogation of the meaning of a series of thematic terrains held to be significant for the formulation of a viable contemporary practice of architecture: the Public, The City, The House and Theory. Through an analysis of these themes, the study highlights what is seen to be a major shortcoming in the discourse of contemporary architectural culture- a lack of awareness of its acutely historical situation. Each section theorizes issues of architectural representation and relates these back to a condition of modernity. On this basis, those current trends which aim to locate the meaning of architectural work either in the field of social commitment, in the formulation of new urbanities or in new domestic typologies are criticized for insufficient awareness of the conditional and problematical nature of such pursuits. The last section, an excursus on architectural theory, indicates that an important species of contemporary architectural theory- Deconstruction- is indicative of a general trend that seeks to put aside the difficult conditionality of architectural production in the contemporary situation. Architectural theory which aims to share ground with philosophical discourses is argued to have become too abstract. As an alternative, it is suggested that the responsibility of the architectural theorist and the practitioner alike towards a discursive endeavour is located in a search for an engagement of architecture with reality which does not, however, sacrifice intellectual probity or transgress the limits of an architectonic definition of this reality. The projects included in the folio explore the small margin still allowable within a practice of architecture that seeks to explore the full range of architectural expression whilst maintaining the above described conditions of intellectual probity.
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ItemAn eclectic approach: rational eclecticism( 1997)This thesis was written for the Master of Architecture (By Design) course at the University of Melbourne. The course consisted of a Major and Minor Portfolio. The Minor Portfolio was done on the assumption that a collective architectural project existed. After completing the Minor Portfolio it became clear that such a collective project did not exist. An examination of the Minor Portfolio showed that the designs were eclectic and followed a particular pattern which could be called rational. Therefore rational eclecticism became the topic of investigation of this thesis. The result of this study is a statement of a rational eclectic architectural position in the Major Portfolio design projects and in the conclusions drawn in this written dissertation. The designs for the Master of Architecture (By Design) Major Portfolio (International Visitors' Centre and the Cardigan Street Housing) were produced by selecting ideas and forms as models for each design. In this design process, eclecticism was identified as the means by which forms or ideas are selected, and rationalism was identified as the development of an independent approach to design. The design process was organised as a syncretic project in which ideas and forms are associated by similarities rather than formed into a logically consistent system. An examination of recent examples of eclectic architecture showed that the value of eclecticism is in the insight that it offers to particular architectural questions, rather than in the development of a system of ideas or forms. These ideas were developed in the Major Portfolio designs. In the International Visitors' Centre design (Major Portfolio project 1), form was either the result, and representation of, an abstract idea distilled from an eclectic range of sources. In contrast, the Cardigan Street Housing (Major Portfolio project 2) design solution was free in its direct and literal use of forms based on an eclectic selection of architectural precedents. The rationality of the projects was a result of the way the precedents for the designs were abstracted to separate them from the authority of the systems they derived from. The conclusion of this thesis is that rational eclecticism is a design process suited to times when clear directions are not apparent. The opportunity for an eclectic designer in such times is to find the advantages of this lack of commonly accepted ideas. When an eclectic approach does take these opportunities it is an accepted and natural, though not encouraged or prominent, part of a pluralist architectural culture. Therefore, to have an eclectic position, it could be argued, is to hold a transitional position. However, a rational eclectic position that favours research so that the transition between positions results in a familiarity with, and ability to analyse, a wide range of other positions. It is this familiarity that is the strength of eclecticism since architectural pluralism is accepted as a success, rather than the cause of crisis.