My perception of ARCHITECTURAL IDENTITY is the different stages a place/country goes through depending on the different influences that it goes through as long as they have something to show for these changes.
What would you describe as the architectural identity of a place/country?
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use of local matterial with craft and response to local climate gives identity to architecture of a place /country.
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Yes, in theory, the crafts & locals materials would make the identity but does this happen in reality?
Modernism has taken over most places that local materials and crafts are ignored.
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Janelle, Modernism is really about the universal availability of cheap concrete as opposed to the higher cost of traditional construction.
Many if not most clients simply want a functional building and paying more for quality of workmanship or for quality of design is not high on the design agenda. I can remember working on drawing for a "design and build" office block and little by little the design was watered down from an aesthetic design with deep set windows to a design with flat elevations and without any design flair.
And the reason for the change, was because the client thought that the estimated floor area was what he would get and when he "lost" floor area due to the thickness of wall plaster and skirting boards, the design had to be changed to ensure the floor area.
All I can say is that a thorough study of homegrown architecture in your own country should give you a feel for the environmental, cultural and social factors which influenced such design.
Then from that base, you should be able to select and put at least one or more vernacular features into any design to give a flavour of your land. :)))
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@ Frank, I don't support the fact that vernacular construction techniques costs more than a modern concrete and steel building does. (in terms of a common dwelling unit)
Yes, I support the statement Janelle made about the Architectural Identity. Architectural AUTHENTICITY may depend on the prevailing climatic conditions, but the Architectural IDENTITY depends essentially on the prevailing political and economical conditions.
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Architecture Identity:
After having travelled India ,China and south Korea we felt that there is a strong influence of western culture on the Architecture and dress of these countries, but one can still eat the local food and enjoy the difference, and that is what gives that place the identity. Why can’t the similar identity remain in the architecture of that city? Which is what will attract more tourists and which will maintain the identity of that place.
-----Ashlesha Kale
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Why the architects think about the IDENTITY as local material and techniques? This concept is very old.
Where nowadays, the industry of building material enables us to use any material we want in any where (if it can be used in the right place and installed with the right way and specification).
The term IDENTITY can be applied on the unique and attractive design which fulfills the requirements of the users, and good architecture (regardless the architectural style) mean comfort, durable and aesthetic.
Where a lot of designers these days add a lot of vernacular components on the façades thinking its enough to imitate the identity of local architecture, regardless the compatibility with the design principles (harmony, scale, rhythm…..etc.). This is what postmodern architecture affects on design thinking, may be, it is the easiest way to guide the architectural design.
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Wissam, "Identity" means and implies something unique, but unique within the parameters of culture, environment and climate. Therefore it is possible to have a new design using old materials, or an old design using new materials and thus retain an element of continuity.
But, to design and build something using both new design and new materials breaks the continuity of culture, environment and climate.
Furthermore, anything with new design and new materials, almost alays can be plonked down anywhere on the planet and for me such is not architecture but sculpture and to reinforce this pereception, such design once the novelty has worn off are usually not useable by humans in the longterm.
Architectural design must have the element of continuity, or it is simply a slap in the face for the people and the culture who have to live with it.
Prime examples of such banal sculptures in central London are the (Rodgers) Lloyds building which looks like something nasty from an oil-refinery and "The Gerkin", the latest eyesore which looks like a comic book spaceship from one hundred years ago stuck vertically in the ground.
This "rebranding" of London as a 21st centuary city is sheer nonsense.
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Hi
I agree with u that Architectural Identity can b perceived by certain Identifiable architectural Features that give consistency and maintain an identity of what it was, though it goes through some changes due to external influences over a period of time.
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