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Another is to introduce new and
unfamiliar materials into a normal
and predetermined context. We con
and should take materials and by the
processes of design examine their
real nature. All these approaches
challenge the preconceived
prejudices. One con return to on era
where people hove got to examine
the structure of building to understond
how it works. The scale becomes the
scale of the observed detail. This
brings forward one of the most
unhappy and complex issues of
modern construction. It is often so
vast, so high that people cannot and
do not relate to it all. Nowadays most
buildings ore constructed of moteriCJls
and by methods which hove no room
for fine detail. One challenge is
therefore to find a way to reduce the
scale of buildings so that people feel
comfortable being close to them.
Centre Pompidou with its extensive
use of cost steel, on early industrial
product still much in use today, is on
attempt to introduce a material into
building construction to change the
way a building is perceived. It is on
example of the use of new materials
to change the feeling and scale of a
large and monumental building. The
piazza facode of this building hos
nothing to decorate it but structural
elements.
By using the costings as the main
building joints the shapes and form
were liberated from the standard
industrial language. The public could
see the individual design preference.
Modern computers and analysis
techniques and modern testing
methods mode this possible. We
were bock to the freedom of our
Victorian forefathers. The individual
details were exploited to give a
personal design philosophy full rein.
The final design was of course the
work of more than one person. Many
architects, engineers and craftsmen at
the foundry contributed to the actual
shape of each piece. And each piece
was subject to the rigours of detailed
structural analysis to ensure that it
was fit for its purpose in every way
and this too influenced the shape and
the final configuration. But this does
not matter. The pieces ore indeed
better for all the different expertise
which went into their make-up. They
ore more logical, more self-evidently
correct in their form. What matters is
that they ore free of the industrial
tyranny. They require people to look
and perceive so that they may
understand. This brings to mind
andther myth about technology. The
feeling that technological choice is
always the result of a predetermined
logic. The feeling that there is a
correct solution to a technical
question is very common. But a
technical solution like any other
decision is a moment in time. It is not
definitive. The decision is the result of
a complex process where a lot of
information is analysed and
examined and choices mode on the
evidence. It is a moment in time and
place where the people, their
background and their talent is
paramount. What is often missing is
the evidence of human intervention,
the block box syndrome. So by
looking at new materials, or at old
materials in a new way we change
the rules. People become visible again.
Fabric structures require complex
mathematical analysis, both to
demonstrate their resistance to load
and to determine the form and
patterns. The patterns ore particularly
important because the fabric flows up
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