Continuing on modernism study, this week we focused on Mies Van De Rohe. One of the most famous work of Mies is the Barcelona Pavilion. The pure simple structure reminds me of a building called Azuma House in japan (Tadao Ando) from my architectural design class. Some of the sameness found in the two buildings is firstly the modern vocabulary embedded. They both have a simple geometric structure. Barcelona pavilion has straight lines and cubic forms with no curves. Azuma house also, no curves has straight lines and a rectangular form.
The two buildings, one for exhibition and another a s a residential unit, make use of walls. For Mies, the walls direct visitor movement , creating continuous turnabouts, not a straight line circulation. They are used to create narrower and wider space for people to experience. While for Azuma house, Ando believed that the walls are one of the very powerful tool of division. They are used to divide space and for that sake only.
The main difference of the two buildings is the materials. Barcelona Pavilion uses exotic luxurious materials like marbles and travertine. They are well-polished. The patterns on those materials are used as spatial divider and help with directing movement. In contrast, Azuma house uses a cheap manufactured material like pre-fabricated concrete, not polished to present what they truly are (real nature of material). So if it is to conclude, the materials for the pavilion are used mainly to direct people whereas for Azuma they are used to present the concept of getting in touch to the real nature. However, the two purposes are under the same modernist idea of using the materials themselves as ornaments (beautiful patterns- Barcelona Pavilion and natural beauty-Azuma).
Furthermore, for the overall sense of openness, Barcelona pavilion is a vast open space while Azuma is an enclosed space(concrete box) which create a sense of privacy for residents who live in the busy town. The Barcelona pavilion looks as simplest as it can be with that minimal design of no enclosed wall or a clear hole for entrance. Azuma in the other hand, although the whole site is surrounded by thick concrete box, in the inside the selection of materials, together with the natural lighting effect, wider and emptier space is created (illusion to the eyes).
Lastly. the two building have similar kind of peaceful atmosphere they want to create using natural elements as tools. The Barcelona Pavilion uses water and stone to help create an ideal zone of tranquility. Azuma House uses natural materials like slate and stone along with the open courtyard design to have people get close r to nature which would eventually make them realize the hard ship of life and have a zen mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment