Show How a Proportional System Might Be Used in Deconstruction Essay Example

theory of human proportion by the Invention of Vitruvian Man which was adopted by Leonardo Da Vlncl. The theory of human proportion has been proven through mathematics and Is used by many great architects Including Le Corbusier. Modulor - scss. tcd.

le Modulor - scss. tcd. le Vitruvian Man world-mysteries. com Proportional system is fundamental to architecture for a very long time.

Architect, since ancient year, has used the proportional system in creating a building onstruction. They used the system to build a correct measurement for the all aspect of the building, but not really concern about the human scale relation. Le Corbusier along with his deep interest in Classicism architecture creates his own proportional system focusing on the human body. He used the ideas and theory from Vitruvius and several others philosophers that has similar ideas of proportion such as Leonardo and Alberti.The development of his personal proportional system has led him to an establishment of new modernize unique system called modulor system. The general ideas behind this system are proportion, harmony and balance.

He said that his system is the range of measurement that balances the human scale with architecture and mechanical things which result in harmony of scale (Le Corbusier, 1991, pg 17). In this system, Corbusier carefully calculate the human body scale and proportion to create harmony and balance in every single activity that has to be done inside a building.The modulor system is now widely used as a guide to many architects in creating and constructing a building, both for the outside and the inside. Furthermore, the golden ratio also has significant role in shaping architecture in term of proportional system.

The principle of golden ratio is translated spatially into five most basic shapes of an object known as the platonic solids. These platonic solids are: the tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, icosahedron and the dodecahedron, which each refers to the elements of fire, earth, air, water and the universe.All of these solids are bound by the principle of proportion derived from the golden ratio. It is due to the fact that each solid could be constrained by a sphere. These solids are widely known as the most basic shapes which later be used by many architect to develop various form of solids.

Solids - kheper. net Solids - kheper. net Kepler Solar - en. wikipedia.

org Deconstruction Deconstruction is an idea that emerges at the time of friction between modernism, post-modernism, post Avant-grade, and post structuralism.Derrida (1993) explains that "deconstruction is neither a comprehensive theory, nor is a systematic fabric of theories or ideas". He conveys that deconstruction is a strategy of appreciating philosophical or literal text. Deconstruction is not concerned about the existing structure from outside but rather focused on the inside. It is not permitted to remove particular atom or elements but to make use of all the strategic, subversive, and economic tool of the old structure.

So it works from inside and break open.Open House, Malibu - imageandnarrative. be Open House, Malibu - imageandnarrative. be Attic Conversion - kmtspace. com In the Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought, the well-known British deconstructivist philosopher, Christopher Norris, stated that deconstruction is a technique associated with Jacques Derrida.

Derrida showed that, by taking the unspoken or unformed propositions of a text literally, the text can be shown to

be saying something quite other than what it appears to be saying.He explains that the aim and importance of deconstruction is to demonstrate that almost anything including text, tradition, beliefs, societies and practices, do not have one definite meanings and purpose. It always has another purpose and meaning (Norris, 1977). According to Tom Loveday, what deconstruction reveals cannot be attributed to individual motivation but it is a kind of cultural impetus. It is a fundamental aspect of iterally reading, however the outcomes may be variable.

Daniel Libeskind -Jewish Museum in Berlin One of the famous examples of deconstruction architecture is Jewish Museum in Berlin by Daniel Libeskind. The idea of deconstruction is used as a strategy to go beyond boundaries and to convey something that is not obvious. This can be seen clearly in the Jewish Museum. The shape of the building it-self is the result of exaggerating and manipulating the simple form of straight lines.

Moreover, form of the space conveys the devastated reality and the pain that Jewish people had gone hrough back then.Daniel Libeskind said that it is impossible to understand the meaning of the spaces inside the museum without knowing the history of the Jewish people in Berlin. Libeskind also stated that the initial idea of the museum is derived from irrational thinking, putting together information from three different dimensions of idea; the architectonic dimension, musical dimension, text dimension that than combined to creating the overall form of the museum (Noever, 1991).The lecture stated that the geometry in deconstructivist style can be translated literally and also contain some massage subliminally. The Jewish Museum is also said to treat geometry both literally and

metaphorically as a tool to convey a massage.

Each of the spaces in the building itself has special meaning and aim. The dead end corridor, the long straight stairs, the narrow void, each of these spaces contain a historical value as well as aesthetic value which has to be interpreted with knowledge before it can be underst ood.Although it is evident that Jewish Museum embodied the notion of deconstruction, the building itself has several factor that incorporate the proportional system. The overall form and shape of the museum can be considered as abstract and random due to the zigzag shapes. Nevertheless, no matter how complex and abstract a form may look like, it must have been derived from a simple basic shapes which then be developed to a more complex shapes.

Libeskind stated that he started the form of the museum by plotting a simple hexagonal figure (Noever, 1991).A hexagon is basically a shape that has six same ength of sides which obviously constructed by using the proportional system. Even though the end result of the museum is not clearly present the shapes of a hexagon, the architect has used simple proportional figures in creating the form. Hence, we can confidently state that in the deconstruction, proportional system is existed and functioned in a subtle way through the process of thinking or designing. Peter Eisenman - Wexner Center Peter Einsenman is widely known as one of the deconstructivist architect.According to Culler, the Wexner Centre which located in Ohio State University is the most uitable examples to represent his style of deconstruction architecture.

He also stated that the museum has many displacement of notion in every

aspect of the building. The style is not categorized as modernism or post-modernism; the structure is post-structural and more importantly it is moving back and forth between abstraction and figuration (Culler, 2003). This suggested that Wexner Centre is moving away from the traditional way of thinking.It means that through the building, Einsenman want to clarify that architecture does not have to looks like what it should be.

When Einsenman builded the Wexner Centre, he transformed the traditional customs to an exact opposite. He also stated that it is true that a building should be functional and be able to stand. Nonetheless he argued that the design does not have to be as functional as it looks (Noever, 1991). This kind of way of thinking makes Peter Einsenman one of the deconstructivisim architects and based of this notion the Wexner Centre can be categorized as deconstruction architecture.Entrance grid - columbus.

world-guides. com Entrance grid - columbus. world-guides. com Wexner Centre - rootsweb. ncestry.

com Nevertheless, in the Wexner Centre there are some evidences that demonstrated the used of proportional system. Although the architect never stated that he used proportional system in his building, it is clear that the structure of the entrance embodied the proportional system through the overall pattern of the grid. Even a building that has been created by the notion of deconstruction used the proportional system in the construction and shapes of one or more aspect of the building.According to Noever, Einsenman agreed with the ideas from the Vitruvius that uggested proportional system in order to create a building that has utility, firmness and pleasingness in it (Noever, 1991). This highlights that a

deconstructivisim architect such as Peter Einsenman incorporate the notion of proportional system in his building, even though in a very delicate way.

Zaha Hadid - Moonsoon Restaurant The most subtle used of proportional system in deconstruction architecture is portrayed in Zaha Hadid's Monsoon Restaurant in Saporo.The overall shapes of the building is asymmetrical, anti-logical and asymmetric, which is a clear opposite from he proportional system. The use of sharp angles, curved lines and random shapes highlights the fact that the restaurant is the example of deconstruction architecture. Furthermore, the concept and the ideas of the outside contradict with the inside.

And, the inside itself breaks into two completely different theme. This is evident that the thinking process of designing the restaurant is deconstructivist way of thinking.The outer shell of the building considers is static meanwhile the inside is more dynamic through the curves element. The inside it-self shows two different ontradicting character of fire and water split in the different levels. "Ice" - imaginethese. blogspot.

com "Ice" - imaginethese. blogspot. com "Fire" - imaginethese. logspot.

com On the surface, Moonsoon Restaurant seems to be a perfect example of deconstruction architecture and has no relationship with proportion at all.