Week 1: Lecture + Reading

Lecture – Beyond Representation:
What is a folie?: "For Tschumi, the bright red folies were meant as "activators of space" rather than as sculptural objects.

Reading – Modern Architecture:

Modern in my opinion is very hard to define. Elements of what we believe to be modern, for example light and airiness of structure can be seen though out Architectural history. While small elements of Architecture must change through history, for example, how people occupy space and the change of social interaction, it is still the merging of form and function to adapt to human interaction. Modern Architecture in my opinion can only therefore be attributed to the use of new materials. Modern architecture should be based on new means of construction or disciplined by the exigencies of function (Curtis. 1996). For architecture is a forever changing element, centred around people. It has and always will change without society.

Therefore the term 'Modern' can be seen as a trend at any point in Architectural History. This leaves the use of new technologies as the constant factor in all Modern Architecture examples. New technologies and materials are what make Modern Architecture possible and in my opinion Modern architecture itself eventually created the basis for a new tradition with its own themes, forms and motifs based on these new technologies and materials (Curtis 1996).

Curtis, W. J. R. (1996). Introduction. In Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). pp11-17. Oxford: Phaidon.