TAKURE TARIRO M.

N0182348D
FACULTY OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES (HONS.) DEGREE – PART III
CONTEMPORARY HISTORY AND THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE I
COURSE CODE BAR 3104
PREREQUISITE COURSES AAR 1203 HISTORY II
LECTURER MR. C. MANYEPA

QUESTION
Students are tasked to read two given articles, and to define architecture from the various analogical
approaches, giving relevant examples to those definitions. Relevant Sketches or images are expected
of the examples of specific architectural works, outlining their Location, the Architect, and Year of
Construction. Discuss the extent to which you find the approach meritable.
• Include one (1) local case study or one (1) regional case study, and any other international, for each
of your analogies.
• Your answer should be not more than 10 pages of written text and scanned hand sketches as well as
photographs.
• Times New Roman 12 Font 1.5 line spacing
• Use the Harvard system of citation
• The work is to be carried out individually

ANALOGICAL APPROACHES

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An analogy is one of the most important concepts of architecture. It identifies or establishes a literal
relationship between different things. In this concept, a thing that possesses desired characters and
qualities is considered as the role model for other projects (Holoak J.K, 1995). Analogy approaches
are theories about what architecture is concerned about, for instance space, structure or social
processes in terms of which buildings should be seen or evaluated. Goldschmidt (2003),

1.MATHEMATIC APPROACH The theory is based on the use of numbers and geometry to provide
an important basis for the decision making in architecture. This approach makes use of the ratio, in
architectural terms, this ratio generally takes the form of the golden rectangle – any shape that can be
wholly divided into up into a square and a rectangle that, when combined, establishes a ratio,
approximately equating to 1:1.618. The ratio follows the Fibonacci sequence, a pattern of numbers
that are created by adding the current number in the sequence to the one previous, which then creates
the following number in the pattern. The sequence begins as follows:1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 etc.

International Case study

Building: UN Secretariat building, Architect: Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier. Year of

Construction:1947, Location: Manhattan NY.

Four years prior to its construction, Le Corbusier had devised his Modular system in 1943,
describing it as a “range of harmonious measurements to suit the human scale, universally applicable
to architecture and to mechanical things.”

Structure :505ft (154m) tall,39 Floors

Dividing 505ft by an irrational number like the golden ratio is not without its difficulties.

The 39 floors were divided by placing reflective bands on the building façade. Forming several
rectangles that follow the Golden Ratio.

Regional Case study Structure: Giza Pyramids Architect: Khufu Year of construction: 2550bc
ANALOGICAL APPROACHES

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Location: Egypt,Africa

Merits of mathematical approach

 golden ratio in architecture has a unique quality one that other mathematical sequences do not

 in achieving balance and proportion

 for ensuring a balanced hierarchy of scales.

 Allowing architects and designers to systematically achieve precise visual balance by applying
a logical system to determine proportions that are naturally pleasing to the eye.

 thought of as fine aesthetic detail, providing an impressive sense of artistry

 is said to be the root of all beauty in nature, art and architecture

2.MECHANICAL ANALOGY Analogy is based on the principle form follows function' that proposes
a building's purpose should be the starting point for its design rather than its aesthetics associated with
modernist architects in the early-20th century. The principle was first coined by the American architect
Louis Sullivan. Factors to consider in designing the exterior for organic architecture are, the climate,
soil, building materials, type of labour used (machine-made or hand-crafted), the living human spirit
that makes a building "architecture."

Merits

The purpose of the building would determine its form. Form and function are one and design reflects
activities

Case Study: International

Building: Wain Wright Building Architect: Louis Sullivan and Adler

Location: St Louis, Missouri Built 1891 Client: Ellis Wainwright . St Louis Brewers association

Concepts Form follows function does not mean form is less important. Skyscraper vertically strips of
ornamentation. Ornamentation style and geometric organic.
ANALOGICAL APPROACHES

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Structure Considered the building as a column .Top is the cornice. Tenth story as the frieze. Next 7
stories as fluted shaft. First two stories as base.

Materials, Steel Frames and Cladded Ornamental Masonry

Case Study: Local

Building: Fidelis Zimbabwe, Bulawayo Cnr Fife Street &11th Avenue,

Building type: high-rise building Height 44m 12story

Architectural style: modernism Main Usage: commercial office

Architect: Year of construction:

Many high-profile contemporary architects, such as Renzo Piano and Zaha Hadid, and designers of
post-modern, high-tech buildings, have been criticised for their overt focus on form as opposed to
practicality and functionality.

3.THE EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH This approach to architectural design is extremely immersive.

The experiential approach takes into account the end user's experience. In this design strategy, a
building is designed as an experience. It incorporates every impression that a visitor will have on the
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building - creating a fully immersive experience. The immersive design approach will guide a visitor
through the experiential inner-workings of the beautiful piece of art that is your building. This design
approach is first and foremost about aesthetics.

International

Imperial War Museum London

Architect: Daniel Libeskind,

Year of construction: 2000

IWM London is the world's leading museum of war. Founded during the First World War, it gives
voice to the extraordinary experiences of ordinary people forced to live their lives in a world torn apart
by conflict. Housed in an iconic aluminium clad building, representing a globe shattered by conflict

4. ADHOCIST ANALOGY Adhocism denotes a principle of action having speed or economy and
purpose or utility, and it prospers like most hybrids on the edge of respectability. Basically, as in
architecture, it involves using an available system in a new way to solve a problem quickly and
efficiently. Although very expensive and carefully designed. First, it takes an existing system, in this
case well-tested geology machines that can move around hostile environments, and clips on a series of
attachments that are new to exploring planets.

International Case Study

Church of Colònia Güell

Antonio Gaudí, master adhocist, at the Colonia Güell

Chapel (Barcelona 1908 –15), reused an assortment of
various materials—clinker bricks, colored glass, and
sewing-machine parts—to signify opening eyes, flowers,
and the bark of surrounding pines.

ANALOGICAL APPROACHES

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Location: Santa Coloma de Cervelló Built: 1898–1914 Nearest city: Barcelona

Architect: Antoni Gaudí Owner: Eusebi Güell Province: Barcelona

It was built as a place of worship for the people on a hillside in a manufacturing suburb.

Regional Case Study

Work: Mapungubwe Centre is Unesco World Heritage Site

Architect: Peter Rich Visitor Centre: South Africa Year of construction: 2009

The Architect designed a 1500sqm visitors centre to tell the stories of the place and house artifacts
along with tourist facilities. The complex is a collection of stone cladded vaults balancing on the sloped
site against the backdrop of Sandstone formations and mopane woodlands,

Photography by Iwan Baan, archidaily

news

The vaults were designed using a 600 old construction system to achieve low economical and
environmental impact. The traditional timbrel vaulting , using locally made pressed soil cement tiles,
allows the design to be materialized with minimum formwork and no steel reinforcement . In addition
the ambition was to also integrate local unskilled labor into poverty relief program bhy training them
to produce the over 200 000 tiles necessary in the construction of the dome.The Center used the latest
developments in structural geometry along with ancient construction technique in order to implement
a contemporary design, meant to house artifacts.

ANALOGICAL APPROACHES

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5. LINGUSTIC ANALOGY Local Case study

Building: East Gate Centre Location: Zimbabwe,

Harare

Architect: Mick Pearce Year of completion: 1996

Cost: $35 Million Area: 290,625 SF - office space

53,819 SF – retail 3,229 SF - parking

Building type: Mixed-use including retail, food court,

and seven floors of office space

Climate: Subtropical highland climate

The building maintains a constant internal temperature due to its structure and interaction with the
local environment rather than the use of expensive and external energy sources, minimizes the high
cost of importing and maintaining air-conditioning in Zimbabwe

The building is made from concrete slabs and bricks. Just like the soil inside the termite mound, these
materials have high “thermal mass” — which means they can absorb a lot of heat without really
changing temperature.

International

Building: Guggenheim Museum Location: Bilbao,Spain Architect: Frank Gehry

Year of construction:1993-1997

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The Guggenheim museum came with its own language to the declining city giving it hope of
production. The building made from tatinium,glass and limestone became iconic and brought the city
of Bilbao to life.

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REFERENCES

Does the Golden Ratio really make buildings more beautiful? 16JUN, Retrieved from
https://westburyjoinery.com/blog/golden-ratio-architecture/

Goldschmidt, G. (april 1994). On visual design thinking: the vis kids of architecture. design studies ,
Volume 15, Issue 2, Pages 158-174. [23]. goldschmidt, H. C. (1999). metaphorical reasoning and
design expertise: a perspective for design education. journal of learning design , 29-38.

Holoak, J.K. (1995). mental leaps: analogy in creative thoughts. In informal logic (pp. ISBN 0-262-
08233-0). cambridge: MA: MIT press. [29]. kennedy, r. a. (1990). immediate and delayed transfer of
training effects in statistical reasoning. In R. E. Nisbett, Rules for Reasoning.

Draaisma, D. (1995), Metaphors of Mind, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Fernandez, J. (1986), Persuasion and Performances: The Play of Tropes in Culture, Indiana University
Press, Bloomington

Henderson, L. D. (1983), The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art,
Princetown University Press, Princeton

Stuart, K. M. (1993), On Architecture, Nature and Man, Rice University, Master Thesis

Vitruvius (1960), Ten Books on Architecture, Trans.: M. H. Morgan, Dover Publication Inc., New
York

ANALOGICAL APPROACHES