The Formulation of Relationships

Abstract

Architects and planners do not just design and place a building anywhere of their choosing. Cultural and environmental issues are among the key factors in the development of a design within a given city. The interests of the community, combined with certain design goals, can lead to the creation of a building(s) that will help to connect a site with the existing cityscape. It is also important to merge the exterior conditions to the interior to allow the understanding that the two can co-exist. For most people interior and exterior spaces are completely separate entities, but a connection between the two would create spaces that can combine important qualities of each to create a unique experience. Figure ground drawings provide a visual analogy for a discussion of the relationships between site and architecture. This type of drawing is meant to express relationships between built and void spaces in an area, but instead only disconnect the two from one another. A similar disconnect occurs when a designer thinks first of the building before the site. In any drawing the paper seems to be unimportant because the work of art is what is drawn upon it, but without that paper, which can be thought of as the ground, there would be no possiblity of creating a “figure”. This analogy holds true with architecture because without the site you would have no where to place the building. The cultural base of the community will have a great impact on the programming of the building because culture is also a kind of groundwork that separates neighborhoods, communities, and cities. Just as the design of the physical elements of the building hopes to connect the building to the site, the program of the building should also be established with a connection to its context. The climate and surroundings will also help create a unique mesh of the program with the exterior. These connections are important because they allow relationships to form. One element alone can be combined with another which creates a whole new set of characteristics that allows the visitors a new experience that other spaces may not offer. It is hoped that studying these relationships will reveal a deeper understanding of how they can exist together and create a collaboration that highlights the relationships that define place.