BUILDING . BODY . Architecture
Building, a home designed for human body, activities and protection. Architecture has always related to human body in every aspects. The relationship between architecture and human body obviously has a long history. Marcus Vitruvius proposed that human body's proportions could be used as a model of natural proportional perfection, Le Corbusier had come out with “Modular” that use human body as golden section in design spaces. Those theory had quote human body as a standard in designing a building. The question raise, is the relationship between building and body still like the old time?
“In the members of a temple there ought to be the greatest harmony in the symmetrical relations of the different parts to the general magnitude of the whole.” quoted by Marcus Vitruvius.
Same as human body, a building can only work well in a complete assemble of different parts. Modular allow building in appropriate proportion that suitable human’s daily activities. All these theory from the past had guide us until today architecture, they had become a basic principle in designing building. Due to architecture revolution, relationship had develop deep in how it will impact on one’s intellectually, emotionally, physiologically and even spiritually through the body as well.
“Range of harmonious measurements to suit the human scale, universally applicable to architecture and mechanical things.” quoted by Le Corbusier.
The theories had become more than simply about finding the proper dimensions and placements within architectural space, the building that affect human behaviors and their experiential characteristics is the ideas of building development. It focus on human behaviors manifest in the first place that will impact or response on occupant behavior through their body.
This unique relationship between building and human body had been widely used in modern architecture. A contemporary case study on Row House in Sumiyoshi can be used as reference. The building is designed by Tadao Ando in his early career. He had developed a number of bold proposals for small houses in Japan including Row House.
The house is designed based on the perfect proportion and symmetry that similar to Vitruvius concept, an axially symmetrical composition, a gatehouse-like character and a doorway in a central location. Besides, the entire site has been divided longitudinally into three parts and courtyard has been located in the middle to separate two spaces.
The perfect proportion had allow the building work well in such a small site. However, perfect proportion is not the key elements of Row House Success. Ando’s building are always said to be the ultimate expression of beauty sense in term of culture, social and human behavior. Row House is an expression of Ando’s belief that the house is precisely the building type that can change society.
He introduces a concrete box amidst the dilapidated wooden row houses that crowd the central areas of Osaka to create a self-sufficient living space inside that box. He ensures individual privacy by creating a residential space that enables modern individuals to develop. For him, the building will interact with human body through time. A complex circulation plan transforms a simple geometry into a rich spatial experience, a courtyard that accept nature elements able to seep into the spirit of the observer, family space with larger extent has a psychological effect on the observer. All these experiential characteristics will define the architecture in term of building and body.
