"Eyes which do not see"

How industrialization opened our eyes / David Huri 

"We must aim at the fixing of standards in order to face the problem of perfection "-said Le Corbusier in his manifesto "toward a new architecture"

William Butterfield: All Saints’ Church

Margaret Street, London, 1849-1859

                                                                                                                                         


In the early 20th century, we found ourselves in a point where "styles" have been misunderstood as progress ,this misapprehension derived from the necessity to show the own "special" characters of an epoch and from the fear to be perceived as too simple.                                                                                                                                 

new york at 1900

                                                                                                                                                                      The change in perception arrived from the new needs reality had dictated , The influx of people to big cities created the main objective of modernity- supplying products to a society of several million people, and modern architecture had to confront with this new situation.  "if we eliminate from our hearts and minds all dead concepts in regards to the house ,and look at the question from a critical and objective point of view we shall arrive at the "house machine"(le corbusier)

With this new conception of architecture, the application of the industrialization on buildings was indispensable,and according to the article "on architecture and industry" -"since 1950 we have seen industrialized elements and techniques being incorporated into the realm of architecture,first in doors and windows subsequently in many more new products in this evolution more and more prefabricated elements are becoming part of the system"

This mentioned progressive replacement of elements, has been followed by a development of special structural system (what today happen mainly in high cost works),but no real change of concept occurred in this industrial process, just an input of new more industrialized solutions ,the biggest legacy we gain from this process are all the experimentations that have been done, and the series of technical innovations to incorporate those new ideas .

"industry overwhelming us like a flood with rolls on towards its destined ends ,has furnished us with new tools adapted to the new epoch,animated by the new spirit"(le corbusier)

mies van der rohe,s.r crown hall

The next step in industrialization is far more radical and it has taken the idea of a building working as a machine to a farther step,taking a model of a complete building and producing it industrially ,"only full production of the object allows true serialization and a real reorganization of the production of the city"

casa bloc

Those ideas first applied on family dwellings and after have been translated to other architectural types such as the school, apartment blocks and finally public buildings

We can't control this industrial process ,moreover it began because of the reality knocking on the door ,it depends on facts that aren't architectural only,such as economical social (etc.),but it is quite clear that it continues to be a necessary positive process

"nowadays we are focussing on problems of energy management-reuse,recycling and reduction of consumption can only be efficiently achieved in the context of industrialized production ,outside of which they are practically irrelevant"(architecture viva 156,15)

So we need to continue doing those experiments between buildings,technology ,materials etc. and create a flexible architecture that will adapt itself to the daily changes.
 And the most realistic way to do so is threw the project itself ,this comes with the understanding of the building as a whole and the construction as a system,and more than that,this building should act as a part of a city that needs to work as a whole we need to use the technological progress that we achieved through history to reduce our ecological fingerprint and not the contrary 

The venus project-self sustained city