The Architectural Imagination [Part-3]

How the beginnings of architecture could influence and help conceptualize architecture practices in the present?

Gottfried Semper

Architect and historian Gottfried Semper's primary interest was to study the very beginnings of architecture.

To study those beginning he visited the great exhibition of 1851, in London, housed in the Crystal Palace.

There he saw a full-scale replica of a primitive hut from the Carribean Islands.

Elevation of the hut

Plan of the hut

The empirical fact of this primordial shelter exhibited the most advanced building of that time and it sort of prompted Semper to turn to a kind of materialist but also an anthropological model of architecture's beginnings, and a kind of model of how architecture could move from those beginnings to the present.

The four elements of a building that he devised were-

1. Fire (Ceramics,Metal)- It is a social and cultural equipment that provides both a formal centering device, but also the warmth. The protection that the group can gather around and form itself. Form like a bowl, a pot or a hearth is required to contain the fire. 
2. Base/Stereotomy (Masonry)- To hold this material a base is required. It has an inherent weight, a kind of inherent attachment to the Earth which bears on the Earth with compressive forces. 
3. Tectonics (Carpentry)- It a system composed of walls and the roof considered as an elastic frame. These elements have tensile strength connected by a knot or by tying the elements together.
4. Enclosure (Weaving)- Cloth, tapestry or some sort of woven material varying in thickness to accomplish different needs.

Frisky Fridays [Dynamic Tower]

Rotating Skyscraper

Proposed Rotating Skyscraper

Another skyscraper project in Dubai (city of future) is trying to break the records by being the

#1 Rotating Skyscraper in the world 
#1 Pre-Fabricated Skyscraper

Ar. David Fischer

Architect David Fischer Proposed an idea for this sustainable tower in 2008, however it never became a reality because of many hindrances. The project kick-starts in 2017 and is predicted to be completed by 2020.

Dynamic Architecture is the firm responsible for designing this project.

Site area- 27.5 acres

Accomodation floor

Villa floor

What are the aspects-

• This building is projected to reach 80 floors reaching a height of 420 meters. These floors will be further divided into retail space, hotels, accommodation, and luxury villa.
• The floors will turn independently using voice recognition.
• The installation of photo-voltaic cells and wind turbines will provide power. Production of the energy will be more than enough. (German technology)
• The parts are pre-fabricated being put together in a factory in Southern Italy.

Section

According to the architect, it will be "the first building designed in four dimensions"

(click here to see the 3 minute documentary by discovery science)