HFC F2016: Lecture 6

HFC S2016: Lecture 6 Spatial Critique

Please respond to the following questions for this week's lecture under the blog comments:

1) Pick a space within the city and describe how it functions in terms of the types of space listed in the lecture. Describe the space and its functions in detail, be specific. Most spaces are made up a collection of the elements of the types of space - identify the primary 'type' of space that the city space you choose is, identify the characteristics that signify that it is this spatial 'type' and explain how they function.

2) Most spaces within the city interact with adjacent spaces and spatial types within the city, explain how the space you chose interacts with, affects, and is affected by an adjoining urban space.

3a) Describe a space in Philadelphia Describe using the vocabulary of the lecture describe a space and the qualities of spatial relationships which the event utilized. Be specific.

3b) Describe a space not in Philadelphia: Describe a large outdoor civic event you were present for, using the vocabulary of the lecture describe the space and qualities of spatial relationships utilized by the event. Be specific.

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HFC F2016: Lecture 5 Labor, Work, Action | Commodity, Firmness, Delight

One quadrant of the idealized Vitruvian City - note the similarity with the prior Lecture's image of the Vitruvian Man. This similarity is not by chance  - philosopher Vitruvius wanted his ideas to scale across the human scale, the scale of the city, and that of the universe.

Vitruvius,  Architecture + City 

As we begin to explore the concepts that formulated the early cities, there are some very clear distinctions that have to be made. Today, the way we interpret urban form is radically different than the manner in which urban form in the city in history was both formulated and interpreted. Today's city is a collage or mixture of multi-uses, and layers of previous uses. Housing, industry, commercial and recreation are closely intertwined, woven into one another as the city has evolved over time. Some neighborhoods have stayed the same, or completely changed in their tenor, or even gone full circle during their local history. There is very little distinction made between buildings and spaces that are special to our society and buildings and spaces that exist only for the purpose of function. There is little distinction between the sacred and the profane or the special buildings versus the ordinary buildings. However, in the earliest cities this distinction was very clear and defined. The cities for example in ancient Greece were almost always delineated by an imaginary line which segregated the sacred part of the city from the profane segment. The distinction between the sacred and the profane was a powerful organizing device in conceptualizing the form of the city.
In order to understand the distinctions between the sacred and the profane and why these distinctions were so important in the earliest cities, we must first understand how and why such distinctions were made.

Various idealized city plan-forms that take design cues from Vitruvian ideals.

The theorist, Hannah Arendt, designated three activities that were critical in human activity. These three activities are: 

• Labor 
• Work 
• Action 

Arendt assigned particular meanings to each of these terms; the two terms which have the most correlation to the form of cities are defined as:

• Labor is the activity which corresponds to the biological process of the human body whose spontaneous growth, metabolism and eventual decay are bound to the vital necessities produced and fed into the life process by labor. 
• Work is the activity which corresponds to the unnaturalness of human existence which is not imbedded in, and whose mortality is not compensated by the species ever recurring life cycle. 
• Action  - a more nuanced approach that modifies the prior two.

In the context of these definitions and their relationship to urban form, labor is viewed as a constantly changing process, a necessity for survival and produces, in the context of architecture, buildings that are impermanent and synonymous with the private realm. Work, on the other hand, is an activity which produces elements that are permanent and are viewed as synonymous with the public realm. Early man viewed human energy in the context of labor and work. In the action of labor, man built structures which were essential for his survival and for the survival of the collective whole. These structures were impermanent and were not meant to be buildings that would become the artifacts of history for later generations to interpret. The erection of cells or the units of housing emerged through the activity of labor, the process of biological survival; housing dominates much of the urban fabric today and in the city of the past. Work for early man was a much more thoughtful process, and a process that relied on developing a collective mythology that would spiritually unite a society; in the context of architecture this collective mythology would evolve in the creation of buildings that embodied the spirit of this belief. These buildings become the "work of architecture", or the sacred buildings of a society.

In examining the many definitions of architecture through history, a common definition derived from antiquity through Vitriuvius is that architecture or "fine buildings" should have three things:

• Commodity (function) 
• Firmness (structural soundness) 
• Delight (visual appeal) 

The dictionary offers two significantly different definitions for the word. The Greek word "architecton" meaning constructor, is defined firstly as the art or science of constructing edifices for human use and secondly as the action and process of building. In the context of Arendt's terms, the first definition is quote the "work" of architecture; the second definition is the "labor" of architecture. The term, "edifice" is a term which describes buildings that are stately and signify collective culturally views of a society. The building of an edifice is not essential for a society to survive physically. An edifice is a piece of art in the built fabric. The second definition of architecture is as stated above the "labor" of architecture or the building process that is essential for a society to survive. In the context of architecture, this process does not result in edifices but in the shelters that protect us from the natural elements. The Vitriuvian definition of architecture, that "fine buildings" should have commodity, firmness and delight is a definition which describes the "work" or "art" of architecture.

Ideals might not always be put into practice perfectly, but nonetheless they influence the form, shape, and personality the city grows into. Above, and image of an idealized plan for a Roman City (left) and the realized actual city (right)

The earliest cities frequently made a sharp distinction in location within the city between the "work", the edifices of collective mythology and the "labor", the shelters necessary for survival. Later in the semester, we will explore Greek cities in antiquity in which the delineation between the sacred buildings (the work of architecture)and the profane buildings (the labor of architecture) is absolutely clear.

Many cities are easily discernible by their unique street plans. This style of map - called a Nolli Map - shows available and useable public space (streets sidewalks, open areas, parks) as void white spaces and private space as shaded black.

Visualize a city that is very familiar to you. How would this city appear if this principle were applied - answer using the following questions. 

Please respond to the following questions for this week's lecture under the blog comments:

1. DUE MONDAY: Pick a space within the city (Philadelphia or another city that you name) and describe how it functions in terms of the types of space listed in the lecture. Describe the space and its functions in detail, be specific. Most spaces are made up a collection of the elements of the types of space - identify the primary 'type' of space that the city space you choose is, identify the characteristics that signify that it is this spatial 'type' and explain how they function.
2. DUE MONDAY: Most spaces within the city interact with adjacent spaces and spatial types within the city, explain how the space you chose interacts with, affects, and is affected by an adjoining urban space.
3. DUE WEDNESDAY: Select one of the city spaces described by one of your classmates and write a brief critique of the space, their application of the types of space. Be critical in augmenting or reinforcing, or deconstructing their argument.

Questions 1 + 2 are due by by Monday

Question 3 is due by Wednesday