Historical Background Of Community Architecture And Aesthethics

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE AND AESTHETHICS BY: NATHALIE H. QUINTO PIA ISABEL G. PEREZ ADELYN MAE PANINGBATAN

Outline of topics • • • • •

What is community? What is architecture? What is community architecture? Historical Background Of Community Architecture Aesthethics – – – –

Ancient aesthethics Islamic aesthethics Indian aesthethics Chinese aesthethics

What is a Community ? According to the oxford dictionary, Community is defined as, a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

What is Architecture? Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings and other physical structures. Architecture can mean: •

A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures.

•

The art and science of designing buildings and (some) non-building structures.

•

The style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures.

•

A unifying or coherent form or structure

•

Knowledge of art, science, technology, and humanity.

•

The design activity of the architect, from the macro-level (urban design, landscape architecture) to the micro-level (construction details and furniture). The practice of the architect, where architecture means offering or rendering professional services in connection with the design and construction of buildings, or built environments.

\ What is Community Architecture? Community architecture consists of sites accessible to the general public. These buildings are usually functional, amenable, approachable, and often enduring (long term). Sometimes they are our cultural icons; often times they are local necessities.Community architecture comprises of the buildings around us, in everyday use, and reflects the cultural and social values of the time.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE • Different sources have varying claims as to when community architecture truly did begin.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE • In the U. K., community architecture ‘movement’ started out in the 1970s. Charles Knevitt is accounted to be the person who coined the term (community architecture) in his article in Building Design.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE The disappearance of the idea and practice of ‘community architecture’ in the past centuries has been accounted to the industrial revolution that happened two centuries back which made the development of urban areas so rapid.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE • Originally, the movement that community architecture is today can also be traced back to the 1930s from the Urban Renewal measures of the government in both the U.K. and North America.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE Housing was seen as the ultimate solution in the removal of slums. At the same time, the development of the Modern Movement in Architecture led by architects like Le Corbusier propagated the notion of high-rise buildings employing industrial construction techniques as the future of urban development.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE • The anticipation of Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal as solutions to all social and physical problems of the “blighted areas” failed to live up to their claims and expectations.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE • The first significant step as a result of the 1960s debate on community participation in planning and decision-making was the concept of Advocacy Planning in the US. Paul Davidoff, an Urban Planning professor, first introduced this concept in an article published in the November 1965 issue of the Journal of the American Institute of Planners, entitled “Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning.”

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE • The first practical example of the concept of Advocacy Planning was the establishment of Architects Renewal Committee in Harlem or ARCH in October 1964 in New York City. ARCH started its operations in April 1965 and consisted of a team of architects and planners providing their architectural and planning services to the inhabitants of Harlem in New York in order to improve their living conditions.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE • Hackney achieved major feat by attracting the attention of Prince Charles in 1984, which gave the needed boost and Royal patronage to the Community Architecture Movement in Britain.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE • In 2013, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) released a paper titled “Guide to Localism” composed of two parts, • Part one being ‘Neighbourhood Planning” and • Part two ‘Getting Community Engagement Right’. • The paper is part of the “Localism Bill” being proposed. This project of RIBA now termed as ‘Localism’ is another form of the Community Architecture movement, with the same driving principle of getting the people to join in the designing and development process of their own places.

AESTHETICS • A set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty.

Ancient aesthetics • Greece had the most influence on the development of aesthetics in the West. • Greek philosophers initially felt that aesthetically appealing objects were beautiful in and of themselves. Plato felt that beautiful objects incorporated proportion, harmony, and unity among their parts. Similarly, in the Metaphysics, Aristotle found that the universal elements of beauty were order, symmetry, and definiteness.

ISLAMIC AESTHETHICS • The term "Islamic" refers not only to the religion, but to any form of art created in an Islamic culture or in an Islamic context. • According to Islam, human works of art are inherently flawed compared to the work of God; thus, it is believed by many that to attempt to depict in a realistic form any animal or person is insolence to God. This tendency has had the effect of narrowing the field of artistic possibility to such forms of art as Arabesque, mosaic, Islamic calligraphy, and Islamic architecture, as well as more generally any form of abstraction that can claim the status of non-representational art.

Indian aesthetics • Indian art evolved with an emphasis on inducing special spiritual or philosophical states in the audience, or with representing them symbolically.

Indian aesthetics • In the Pan Indian philosophic thought the term 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram' is another name for the concept of the Supreme. • 'Sat' is the truth value • 'Shiv' is the good value • 'Sundaram' is the beauty value.

Indian aesthetics • Man through his • 'Srabana' or education, • 'Manana' or experience and conceptualization and • 'Sadhana' or practice, through different stages of life (Asramas) comes to form and realize the idea of these three values to develop a value system.

Indian aesthetics • This Value-system helps us to develop two basic ideas • 1) that of 'Daksha' or the adept/expert and • 2) of Mahana/Parama or the Absolute • Individuals’ idea of 'Daksha' and 'Mahana' is relative to one's development of the concept of 'SatyamShivam-Sundaram.' • This concept of Satyam-Shivam-Sundaram, a kind of Value Theory is the cornerstone of Indian Aesthetics.

Chinese aesthetics • Confucius emphasized the role of the arts and humanities (especially music and poetry) in broadening human nature and aiding “li” (etiquette, the rites) in bringing us back to what is essential about humanity. • His opponent Mozi, however, argued that music and fine arts were classist and wasteful, benefiting the rich but not the common people.

SUMMARY • • • •

WHAT IS COMMUNITY? WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE? WHAT IS COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE? HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE • AESTHETHICS – – – –

ANCIENT AESTHETHICS ISLAMIC AESTHETHICS INDIAN AESTHETHICS CHINESE AESTHETHICS