Meeting 05 + Possible Museum design

Today's meeting focused on our designs. Richard said that there are many possible arrangments for my museum. It could be that it's spherical, that it has a rotating center where you stand in the middle and go into certain areas that surrounds. Or it could be a long corridoor that takes you through a confusing maze....and he said that perhaps the big idea in my design is that fighting for beauty is stupid, thus an architecture that conveys that emptiness through out it. He also asked about the form and the look of this building and he seemed happy with the idea that it takes no specific form, that it's different from every view, ambigious. However since that talk, i came up with another idea. Here is a part of my email to him:


AFter the research so far, i've discovered that beauty is constantly changing at the rate that we're changing, no matter if its artistic beauty, an act of human skill, natural, human figure beauty- it all depends on where the person or the human race is in time, it's usually whatever we lack, whatever we don't have, whatever that makes us curious, whatever makes us feel at peace- so it's all about contrast. [ the thesis writing would be to investigate this theory through the research on the types of beauty and the types of reasons for those beauty- so the design is like the solution rather than the 3D visualized version i previously said]

So Beauty is not  visual, it's when something embodies a quality. THe visual is for taking in the formatted image, and to recognize it as beautiful  means you are aware of yourself and what you need and who you are. [this is a good explaination for evolution's sexual selection 'theory' but also for things like why do we appreciate a well painted painting? If i know that i could also paint the exact same effect- would i still find it as beautiful?]

So i guess my point is that is that i need to create a place much like Weixin's isolated place- but instead of reconnecting to the sea, it's reconnecting to ourselves- for self awareness, to be taken away from this world into another where you are able to see all the images and challenge one's perception of who they may be- and only then will they be able to understand the reasons as to why they find certain things beautiful and understand what is beautiful.

So like i said today, i want to create a place where one could dwell imaginatively within another dimension or realm- a place one could go to feel a certain way about the world and to better understand it.  So what if i found a site where the buildings and other things on it displays the different types of beauty [human skill, artistic, natural, human faces...] then pull these spaces underground and while keeping them in a way that the person can recognize their real self above ground but stil change them to create the space i desire? So it's like using existing and physical places of beauty rather than creating them within the museum. Im intereted in underground because it's like a placelessness realm that doesn't belong to the surface yet it is an image of the things above. A contrasting theme which seems to be running through my research at the moment.

So i would create a place which takes no exterior form- at least none that the observor could tell and it's thus all about the experience. It doesn't really take place in the real world, at least not in the day-to-day visual world. I will leave it as that for now and wait for his reply. In the meantime i need to do my brief and search up more ideas of the self? so lost

Meeting 04 Richard Goldie + Design proposal

I Did not meet with him last week, that's why there's no Meeting 03. 
In this weeks meeting, i elaborated on the subjectivity of beauty, what it means for people when they see beautiful houses and so on. [the idea of wanting to be something, to resemble or to claim something that one lacks] Richard was very pleased with my research, he said that i'm really on top of it and i hope to keep us this elvel of work and research.
He suggests that i now need to look at the science and history of it all [which i sort of already have] and tie it together to my current research. 
The problem now is that next week i have to have my design brief. That's not even plausible.  I don't know what to do, Richard is keen on the idea of a museum that exhibits beauty. BUt that sounds incredibly lame to me. What i wanted was a place that represents the ideal beauty for me- after doing small designs of ideal beauty for certain audience etc. ARGH!


Nevertheless, keywords for this weeks research derived from meeting:
- Science of perception
-Christopher Alexander
-Museum and beauty
-'Body memory architecture'


also
research why the golden ratio is no real- so that i can disregard it in my research.

Meeting 02

In this meeting i elaborated on the book i currently finished : architecture inside out. [which i will write a blog review about so i can keep a list of books]


Richard:
- does not agree much with the architecture inside out book- the main issue of architects who do not pay enough attention to the functional and internal needs of the occupants.
- feel that there are two types of architecture, one that is built by demand and the other by mass production. 
- agrees with the issues of the body and seeing the body as both an object and a subject, that we are not bound by our skin.




for the design:
-he's fine with me having no clue as to where i want to build it, or what i want to build. 
-he suggested a museum of beauty, that beauty is the object in the museum to be shown- then there are rooms of certain beauty? 
-I suggested a selection of beautiful designs, because of the bigness of this subject, i said perhaps i could build a whole lot of things along the way, rather than one design.
-Perhaps i could design numerous random spaces and do three prototypes of each space, one that is viewed to be beautiful based on culture for example, then one based on purpely psychological then a joint one. 


key ideas that emerged:
Alvo Alto
Humanist branch of modernism
Architect's experience is different than that of a man down the street
existential senses
connecting the nodes of existence
POETRY
deconstructivist
TYPOLOGY OF BEAUTY

Meeting with Richard Goldie 01 + New proposal

I met with Richard Goldie last thursday morning with Weixin and Joe. 
He was pleased with my proposal but suggested i clarify it. 
I think his main concern is how i plan to tackle such a big and old topic like beauty. I think i may be confusing myself. What i want to do is examine what makes people enjoy buildings- i used the word beauty because of it's vagueness and bigness.
He was displeased with weixins and very happy with Joes.
I'm really worried about my actual design project. it feels like everyone [including the thesis i read] had a very clear idea of what they wish to build then researched into how to build it successfully. I'm taking a route which is technically ideal [from how i understood Goldie]- it's not knowing what the outcome will be and suprising yourself through your research. But that's just risky.
He did say that site picking will be a very crucial part of the investigation...
The design and location of my thesis will be developed through understanding and revealing the topic.

From the first day I was introduced to Architecture I have denied the idea of aesthetics & the need for beautiful architecture, after seeing function and basic sustainability methods being sacrificed for aesthetics I began to lose hope in Architectural buildings. This thesis will challenge my long-term stubborn belief and access how the human brain identifies what 'beauty' is in architecture and how does a ‘beautiful’ architecture form impact our emotions and life. 

This thesis will

- investigate the individual ideas of 'beauty' as understood by numerous famous architects throughout time.

-explore the various intellectual and different cultural movements that inform how people create and look at architecture

-Attempt to understand neurology and psychology- determine how we, as humans, really identify the complex and personal concept of beauty.

Architecture is a multisensory art and requires to be understood on more than just visual terms, it must not only take into account of the other senses but also the effects of being human. Through an understanding of the neurology and psychology, I will attempt to use and manipulate the essence of being human, i.e. emotions, memory, compassion, personality & spirituality within architecture to create a personified, multisensory architectural form with the capacity to affect and reflect the deepest reaches of my existence. 

Critical Question of your thesis      Aesthetically successful architecture often follows certain rules of beauty which have been taught to us over time, but can architecture be challenged to evolve our emotional connections with our surroundings if we understood the neural basis that triggers feelings of appreciation, joy and happiness, i.e. ‘beautiful’ architectural spaces?

Major architectural and architectonic ideas you will be investigating

-        The impact of beautiful architecture on human (The importance of beautiful aesthetics )

-        How architecture speaks to us

-        The culture cause of our understanding and perception of ‘beauty’

-        The scientific cause of our understanding and perception of ‘beauty’

-        Individuality in the perception of architecture

-        How understanding psychology and neurology we are able to design ‘beautiful’ architecture and spaces for the unique individual

-        The definition of beauty