Contrary to the well-defined modern
and industrialized experiments of the early twentieth century, architecture and
building in the latter half of the twentieth century can’t be characterized by
a coherent or specific influence. Consisting of a resilient modernist base, an impudent
figurative movement, a budding deconstructivist revolution, and a rising environmental
movement in reaction to the oil crisis, late and post-modern architecture and
building was no more than disparate. Within this disarray, architectural theory
oscillated between representation and criticism of the functionalism that
characterized the modern movement. The criticism of the modern movement proposed
a renewed understanding of dwelling as a coming together of individual and social
values. The Fordism of repetition was being replaced by a user-based theory.
The user-centric theories were to
bridge the distance that the modern abstract movement had seemingly excavated
between architecture and common building. The baby boom and the post war
economic recoveries contributed to an evolving understanding of this new
nucleus of dwellers. Architectural theory turned to individuality as a strategic
dwelling concept for housing. Structural systems and integrated building
systems offered the user a wide spectrum of options for the interior
personalisation of space and became the focal point of the era’s housing experiments.
Forbearers to mass customization and open building systems, these user-based
theories proposed architecture as a variable infrastructure.
Many of these building systems proposed
an inventive «plug and play» architecture. The
high-tech mega-structures of the era were articulated on this systemic flexibility.
This «open» infrastructure architecture was demonstrated in the «sistema verde» industrialized component
based system presented at the Milan Triennale in 1973. Researched by the
Italian Kartell modular furniture
company, the system included a sectional, modular and structural mechanical
duct system of air-changing, plumbing, and electrical distribution. The grid-based
plan was organized around two main components: a functional wet core for
kitchen and bath and the most innovative component, a double-skin green
space/vertical garden. This balcony element was promoted as a green interface
to the exterior, a flexible space that could be used as a winter garden or as
an interior/exterior eating space.
This completely integrated building
system illustrated a paradigm shift toward the rational use of standardization
within industrialization and open building systems combining personal
adaptability and variability in a collective architecture infrastructure.
 |
| «Sistema Verde» rendering from add in Lotus Architectural review 1973 no. 3 |
No comments:
Post a Comment