Transparency Promoting Design and Privacy in Modern Architecture - Research Paper Example

TRANSPARENCY PROMOTING DESIGN AND PRIVACY IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE by The of the The of the school (University) The City and State where it is located The date Transparency Promoting Design and Privacy in Modern Architecture Architecture designs have existed for centuries to provide for human needs, most of which are security and privacy. However, with the introduction of modern architecture technology, particularly transparency models, many questions on privacy have been asked. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the term privacy dates back to the 15th century (Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., 1998, .p 340). It is defined as the worth or state of being separate from company or surveillance. As an act, privacy provides freedom from unauthorized intrusion. As highlighted, the idea of privacy as a property of the built environment has been synonymous with the advent of the humankind. Traditionally, privacy has been attained through demarcations of separations that were labelled by creating walls, fences, and doors with the sign of prohibition. However, these mechanisms are somewhat old-fashioned since architecture has gone a long way to increasing privacy in facilities. For instance, in 1978, Dan Graham presented his two-way mirror module Two Adjacent Pavilions in a model shown at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford that enhanced privacy by using a dissimilar model from the previous architecture prototypes. This article studies the abstract architectural quality of privacy as presented in enclosed border-defined space in modern architecture and provides a proposal on privacy in the learning space as done by Riyadh City University in Saudi Arabia. Modern architecture also known as modernist architecture is a word used to imply to an all-embracing movement, with its meticulous definition and scope changing widely. The word is frequently applied to modern movements at the set of the new century. There are efforts to settle the principles of fundamental architectural design with fast technological progression and the transformation of society (Colquhoun, 2002, p. 120). Simultaneity, clarification, superimposition, contradiction, and art are the words that are mostly used synonymously to identify contemporary architecture. Nonetheless, architecture has been a phenomenon that has been dated from the Stone Age and was known to enhance protection from outside forces. As modernization came to pass, architecture has been changing with time and is more comprehensive of many human needs. Privacy is one of the key factors, which is defined as the quality of being isolated from the existence or view of others or the situation of being obscured or hidden. In the quest to enhance this phenomenon, architects have gone to build walls, furniture, fences, and doors with signs of prohibition and other multi-faceted means to achieve maximum privacy. According to research, 1914 was the year that marked the start destruction of the old-fashioned stone facades of Western Europe’s towns. This was so since Emile Fourcault developed a technique for the commercial manufacture of large glass sheets known as flat glass (Carter & Norton, 2007, p. 382). Early architectures of modernists became closely engrossed with the innovatory potential of this transparent technology. The introduction of glass sheets to construction was viewed as more receptive for the charm and ideology shared by generations of modernist architects who saw transparency as the ultimate achievement of abstraction. Nonetheless, the introduction of flat glass not only directed to a new degree of transparent architecture, but was also a consequence for the previously hidden private areas that now were to be laid open to the public eye. As highlighted in the paper, the development of neutral abstraction in modern architecture eventually leads to a totally transparent public circle. In addition, the same consequence ended up assigning the objects of the private area into full view efficiently transforming these into public forms. As glass improved on the creativity of architecture, it caused a consequence of privacy despite it being multi-dimensional. It was not until 1978 when Dan Graham presented his two-way mirror unit that attempted to exemplify and substantiate how a long lasting old fashioned model employed in architectural fusion and analysis can be substituted by a novel more flexible one without decreasing privacy (Graham, 1997, p. 162). Dan’s model of transparency suggested that the traditional separation models between public and private spaces within a particular socio-cultural architectural setting, for instance, the inside sections of a western house of habitation could be substituted and deliberate as a set of spaces owning dissimilar degrees of privacy. Furthermore, the model suggested that privacy is not a static but a dynamic topological property of space and therefore it should be approached in an analogous way. From its initiation, the two-way mirror of Graham’s model has evolved and has been used for different purposes such as Public Space or Two Audiences (1976), Video Piece for Two Glass Buildings (1976), and Video Piece for Shop Window in an Arcade (1978). Just like architecture and harmony, psychology is an area that fascinated Graham to a large extent. From Graham’s idea, the pavilions disrupt normative architectural spaces and phenomenological experiences of the observer. On one side, they haze the division between a secluded and public space, whereas on the other side they dislocate the conservative architectural encryptions and social modes of viewing. From his presentation at the oxford museum, grahams Pavilions are architectural structures of glass and metal, which are regarded as a hybrid form of visual art and architecture. It is now about fifty years ago that Dan Graham somehow by accident, as he suggests, ended up in the realm of visual art. Firstly he took a role as co-inventor of the John Daniels Gallery in New York city and as an art faultfinder, nonetheless, soon Graham became dynamic as an abstract artist and with this knowledge and experience to created installations and pavilions. It should be realized that glass was used before in construction but not as Dan graham placed his pavilions towards modern architecture. For instance The Maison de Verre also known as the ‘French for House of Glass’ was constructed from 1928 to 1932 in Paris, France. Built in the early contemporary style of architecture, the building’s design stressed three key traits, which are decency of materials, mutable transparency of procedures, and collocation of "industrial" resources as well as fittings with a more old-fashioned style of home décor (Vellay & Halard, 2007, p. 4). However, this construction did not fully used transparency as an appealing item of architectural art as it used glass blocks, and steel as main materials of construction. Another example is that of Adolf Loos who was an early modernist who in 1908, wrote about Ornament und Verbrechen translated as ‘Ornament and Crime’ constructed a sequence of houses that aimed to have neutral, unresponsive facades (Loos, 2012, p. 10). For Loos, this nonappearance of personal articulateness, or particular gesturing in architectural procedure gave the house a public identity but not artistic. One of those houses was the Villa Müller, which is an architectural structure designed in 1930. Although Dan’s form of work has extensive diversity, its consistency is equally outstanding. Graham asserts that he had less concern for art as a factor unto itself and suggests that from the very beginning, a socially critical participation could be discrimination in his work. While many abstract artists seemed to be rejecting any connection with the environment around them, nonetheless, research shows that Dan was striving to give a new shape to his promise to social concerns through conceptual art. Dan did this through the hybrid of glass since it showed a lot of transparent potential technology in architecture without placing privacy out of its equation. The use of cloth holds just a much potential. In the mind of an interior designer, modern architecture technology in transparency without forgetting about privacy is well served by cloth. Cloth despite its transparency is just as private and from studies on different needs of women that are well served by cloth, it is apparent that textiles can be introduced in architecture. As earlier highlighted walls, fences and doors were initially placed to aid in privacy of living spaces, and grahams hybrid did the same while taking to consideration privacy and artist impressions to improve on construction creativity. A hybrid that includes cloth does the same however, to som extent better than grahams model. Cloth is more flexible and easier to mould hence enhancing creativity. As glass is brittle, it is less durable although cloth jst as used as a wall on the burj al arab as a wall is more durable. The concept of using cloth as a modern architecture has a lot of potential in both enchasing construction designs as well as taking privacy as a vital factor of buildings. From the above data, it is evident that contemporary architecture has two modes of transparency that include literal and phenomenal transparencies. Literal transparency, also known as perceptual transparency through the evolution of architecture is a value characteristic to material or matter. A phenomenal transparency, on the other hand, is a conceptual transparency model that centers on the apparent space between solid substances in the three-dimensional or mass organization. Rowe and Slutzky (1982, p. 35), speech marks Gyorgy Kepes for identifying transparency as an outcome of transparent figures merging with each other devoid of optical destruction. From the research, it is evident that transparency also suggests something more comprehensive than visual effects since it also comprises of spatial expression. The conceptions and circumstances of transparency equivalents movements of the ‘relativity theories’ and their inferences allow for several objects to exist concurrently in an alike space and period. By itself, transparency can be described as a space-time state of simultaneous insight of space. To give a comprehensive understanding Le Witt suggests that “Abstract art is created to engage the attention of the observers rather than his sight or sentiments” (Le Witt, 1967, p. 90). By contrasting the terms and descriptions, literal transparency can then be perceived as a form of perceptual transparency since it engrosses the viewer’s sight. On the other hand, Phenomenal transparency can be assumed in place of a conceptual transparency, which involves the observers mind of the viewer in forming an interpretation or reading of a three-dimensional organization. Sigfried Giedion suggests in his book that by design, all buildings nowadays are as open as imaginable to modern architecture interpretation. Separately from seeking linking and interpenetration, they distort their subjective limits (Giedion, 1995, p. 450). He further relates the notion of interpenetration to some Le Corbusier’s portraits and constructions with orientation to Jeanneret 1924. In his view, transparent simultaneity co-habiting in Le Corbusier’s Cook House where the external roof walkway space and its opposing interior spaces balances and merge collectivly by means of an meshing gesture. As earlier suggested, the use of glass in modern architecture has raised many questions about privacy more especially when it is extensively used. Nonetheless, the French glass house ‘Maison de Verre’ provides a valuable case study for answering these questions of using an alternative modernism that provides a living environment, which is more conducive and responsive to human habitation than the theoretical propositions of early modern rhetoric. All the interiors and furniture were designed to the utmost detail through the collaboration between the movable elements of the interior and examines the variety of transformable elements within the Maison de Verre. It explains how they produce alternative programs and construct the patterns of life to be lived within it (Wiederspahn, 2001, p. 76). Wiederspahn frames his argument in terms of a contrast between the terms “performance” and “function,” by explaining “Performance” as an alternative term to “function” that can address both the instrumental and the ontological value of mutable space. For example, function can denote an architectural program. Unlike function, however, performance implies that there is a thinking subject, an inhabitant that first understands that space is a living room. By displacing “function” with “perform” in our sample sentence, for example “this space performs as the living room,” the meaning changes whereby the inhabitant cognitively interprets the space as a living room. Performance recognizes the interaction of the inhabitant and the space he or she occupies. The Maison de Verre denies mere functionalist readings of its mutable domestic space. Wiederspahn further implies that while architecture concerns the “function” of a building, the interior demands “performance” vis-à-vis the occupant, which in other words means a quality of liveability. Thus, examining the Maison de Verre in the context of this distinction between “performance” and “function” yields a richer understanding of the negotiation Chareau conducts between the “functionalism” of the early Modernist rhetoric and the “performance” of the interior in relation to the domestic program. A revised interpretation of the Maison de Verre suggested by the program for the building incorporates both a house and a gynaecological practice. The argument makes a gendered reading of the house by building an analogy between the body of the woman who seeks to be cured by the gynaecologist and the ‘organism’ of the city, which requires ‘purging’ by the actions of the architect. In the role of the scientist eradicating 19th century decay, dirt, and congestion from the city, the architect replaces the ‘contaminated’ urban tissue with clean, white, and bright space. The data above has shown the great growth in modernist architecture and the use of glass in construction as an improvement in creativity and functionality. It is possible to now design a building with the use of the same materials used in the French glass house but with more protection and privacy, which is significant to the design. This part of the paper is a proposal in designing modern buildings for the learning space at Riyadh City University in Saudi Arabia. It is a well-known factor that the basic law of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not guarantee gender equality. However, despite this separation, gender inequality is sawn into Saudi Arabia’s governmental and social organizations. It is also vital to the nation’s state supported clarification of Islam, which is resulting from a literal interpretation of the Koran and Sunna. The research revealed three core expanses of distress for Muslim women in their use of public areas, which stands as the first notion of perceptional discomfort. The Muslim women refer to a sense of difference and not fitting as they move around in the public sphere. They go through hostile and subtle kinds of discrimination, for instance, physical and oral abuse as well as feeling unease moving around in places, which were apparent to be controlled by the physical company and gaze of men. Furthermore, Muslim women exhibit frustration and disappointment in not being capable to find ethnically and religiously suitable public recreational amenities to achieve a healthy lifestyle. Complications linked to the strict dress code of diffidence are obligatory of most Muslim women when moving around in public. Studies have shown that even when slight building alterations could have rendered a facility suitable private, they would still be scrutinized since other members of the society would use the same place as well. Lastly, the research highlighted insufficient design and unsuitable assignment of facilities within current public spaces such as passive parkland and outdoor eating areas. These factors confine Muslim women to the home and restrict family outings restricting free access to the public realm, which includes education. Despite all this stringent factors, women in Saudi Arabia can get good quality education. Further research has shown that more women than men obtain postsecondary degrees in the kingdom. According to the Saudi Education Ministry records in 2009, about 59,950 women and similarly 55,500 men attained postsecondary degrees. In addition, a small number of women are gradually entering the formerly culturally prohibited workforce, however, there is still a feeling that these alumni are incredibly well equipped for professions that they may not ever get to follow. With the change in culture, it is relevant to improve the women education schemes in the country while putting into consideration their problems in privacy. Riyadh City University is the worlds leading womens university, the 33-million square foot academia grounds comprises sports amenities where scholars can take part in female-only sporting activities, a health center, a fitness and sciences research center.. While the university was designed for a preliminary enrolment of 23,000 students, the new structures have the ability to take up to 55,000 scholars who are slightly less than the aggregate number of female postsecondary apprentices in the country as of 2012. The new modeled transparent buildings have provided a twenty first century learning platform with a lot about flexibility of space and team-based learning. The structures at Riyadh City University are considerate to the women who learn in them. Incredibly cultured, and veiled on the exterior which were first placed, to protect from searing heat and sun have adapted to the modern transparent technologies. This is a move from traditional architecture of multiple-layer facades, to structures that become more de-veiling as one progresses more into the interior of the campus quad, the structures become more transparent, with courtyards that exposed up to the classrooms. These designs nonetheless protect themselves from the view of the external world so as to allow the scholars who are in the campus environment to de-veil them. Figure 3: transparency used at the learning facilities at Riyadh City University The outdoor courtyards assist multiple drives, giving women ample space to pray and to learn. All of the courtyard spaces are ventilated down by wind towers, which recirculate air and cool areas with a water mist. Figure 4: transparency used at Riyadh City University outdoor courtyards In conclusion, building from different periods of time has always served the primal needs of it dwellers. Protection and privacy have always taken center stage and always determined architectural designs. Walls, fences, and doors with prohibition signs in order to enhance privacy, however this models are considers old fashioned and have always limited designs. In 1914, Emile Fourcault invented a method for the commercial production of large glass sheets that were revolutionary towards the evolution of architecture. From this period houses such as the French glass house showed how glass and glass block material could be used to design and build a house. Furthermore, Adolf Loos also created houses that drew a perception on transparency in spaces. However, with the introduction of the two-way mirror module in 1978 Dan Graham made it possible to have privacy in glass made structures. This model has led to numerous other innovations that have led to new constructions in the new century including the Riyadh city university that has used transparency to improve education to the women of Saudi Arabia. Bibliography Colquhoun, A. (2002). Modern architecture. Oxford [u.a.], Oxford Univ. Press. Carter, C. B., & Norton, M. G. (2007). Ceramic materials science and engineering. New York, Springer. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10228888. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. (1998). The new Encyclopaedia Britannica. Chicago, Encyclopaedia Britannica. Graham, D. (1997). Dan Graham. Santiago de Compostela, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea. Loos. (2012). Ornament und Verbrechen. Reprint. Wien, Metroverlag. Vellay, D., & Halard, F. (2007). La maison de verre: Pierre Chareaus modernist masterwork. London, Thames & Hudson. Read More