Architecture and Human Body as a whole
“...the best modern design rejects extreme functionalism in favour of aesthetic harmony, stating that “a scheme of proportions integrates and informs a thoroughly designed modern building, [which] composes the diverse parts and harmonizes the various elements in to a single whole...” quoted from “Hidden Lines: Gender, Race and the Body” by Lance Hosey.
As we are already entering an age where materials are becoming more malleable, transient and inherently yield more functionality within less and less space, architects should bear in mind that architecture is not about functionalism itself, human paradigm is necessary to be brought into it. The problem architects facing today is to find the right balance between the architecture and human body. They are engaged in a “dance” where each adapts to the other. “To invoke one is to invoke another” quoted from Hosey’s articles.
It is key to remember that the relationship between architecture and the human body is as much about being “still” as it is about “movement” — whether that be physically, emotionally or spiritually.
Physically, it is about the proportion of a building. Human body represents and exhibits perfect proportionality in terms of the golden ratio. In short, human body equals to golden ratio. Often when we like a room and can’t explain why, it’s because it’s been laid out using these classical rules, also known as the golden ratio, making us feel naturally more comfortable there.
Exploring the relationship between architecture and the human body are more than simply about finding the proper dimensions and placements within architectural space to “accommodate” a person and their behaviours within it. The relationship between architecture and the human body delves deep into why those behaviours manifest in the first place, as it calls upon the experiential characteristics and qualities that spark when the two unite — impacting not only occupant behaviour through the body, but also impacting occupants intellectually, emotionally, physiologically and even spiritually through the body as well. In short, the spaces we inhabit influence how we act and how we feel.
To achieve the balancing these two, the question soon becomes about that interplay, finding where the two meet, exchange, part ways and influence one another. The goal here becomes to find those just-right moments within your design to take your occupants to a new “sense of place” that arouses curiosity, creativity and/or comfort at the right time.
To get the relationship of a building and a body expands, the building designed not only speaks to your occupant, but communicates with them in a two-way dialogue. To do so, new forms of materials and design idea (refer to example at next paragraph) could be implement to let the occupants feel more welcoming and free.
Just as Fujimoto, within his designs, always implementing the “cave” concept, uses layering to establish greater variation and in-between situations to better connect architecture with the human body. With these variation and layering, and by making strategic use of “surface” and “skin”, we can creatively expand the way architecture relates to the human body — pushing boundaries that make a positive difference in your occupant’s lives. We, as a designers could explore on our own ways to achieve this, the methods on emerging architecture and human body.
Besides from those mentioned above, human body could sometimes be a design idea of a building instead of the opposition situation where building adapts to the human body.
Turning Torso by Santiago Calatrava
The tower is based on a sculpture by Calatrava, called Twisting Torso, which is a white marble piece based on the form of a twisting human being. It is the first "twisting" tower
Xinhee Headquarters by MAD architect
It is a human-body-inspired headquarters for Chinese fashion group Xinhee, comes with a clearly distinguishable internal skeleton and external skin. "We envision it as a building with skin and bones," Ma YanSong explained. "The correspondence of clothing and architecture is they both explore the relationship between the interior and the exterior."
Not only architects that relate building to human body, the community too. Architecture is somehow conceived by the crowd that the architecture concept of a building is derived from the body physically (kind of symbolismconceopt), but in the real case, it is not. To further explain, examples are given below.
Absolute world by MAD architect
the taller building had been nicknamed the "Marilyn Monroe" tower due to its curvaceous, hourglass figure likened to actress Marilyn Monroe
The Phallic Shaped Building
Buildings intentionally or unintentionally resembling the human penis and these have become a source of amusement to locals and tourists in various places around the world.
Gate to the East, SuZhou, China
The building is critics as resembling a pair of trousers.
To conclude, relationship between building and human body, architecturally could be either physically, emotionally, psychologically or spiritually. The relationship could also be seen in the design process of a building and from the judgement from the communities on a building.
