In Formation: A Process Study on the Artistic Maturation of Form

Abstract

Architects consistently speak of both nature and the built environment. They passionately concern themselves with the harmony that should exist between the two. They use precedence such as the Native American Tee Pee, drawing inspiration from how it lived within poetic relationships with the elements of its natural site. The modern architect wishes to create a sustainable design. A design that accepts a civic responsibility to be more responsive to the natural environment at both the micro and macro scales. However, general observation will show hypocritical habits within the forms of modern architecture that dominate its attempts to do so. A question must be asked: how can respect, let alone harmony, with the site within its nature be claimed whilst there exist a constant disregard of its natural suggestions towards architectural decision of form and geometry. This thesis strives to discover a process of design that allows the architect, as an artist, and the site, as a subject, to work together, sharing an open line of communication, working toward new architectural form that becomes evidence of the sites natural suggestions toward form.