Parametricism and the Virtuals

                Parametric is a new style of architecture that emerges after the period of modernism. This Parametricism has unique characteristics in term of forms compared to the previous styles due to the “flow” of it. We can see from many parametric buildings that their forms has been adapt from the normal geometric to a much more flexible yet systematic shapes. It is quite clear that parametric introduces complex dynamic forms that have been designed with the use of computer programs. The software has a great role to help the designer create new architectures by curves, slopes, patterns, etc. The parametric show us that aesthetic values are one of the main components of it, while the surroundings of the building also has a great impact on the designing shape.

                One of my favorite examples of parametric in architecture comes from one of the most well-known architect, Zaha Hadid. Her work such as “Beko masterplan” and “abu dhabi performing art centre” are very impressive examples that we can literally see the “flow” from those buildings. We can see that parametric buildings are not just only about designing unique forms, there has some connections with the environments as well. I had to admit that it is interesting to see that parametricism and space existed and also complementing each other. We can see that prametricism is not just random forms but it is in fact, carefully calculated both in terms of functions and aesthetic which is very impressive for me.

                Then what is the “virtual”? It is the term that refers to things that seems to be real but actually it is not. It might seems hard to imagine what I am talking about but if you look at our daily lives closely you will find that we actually has connections with this virtual that we might think. Virtual can be seen mostly in simulated worlds, games and even the internet itself that we all use nowadays. The idea is about having parallel worlds that seems to be quite real for example The Sims but actually it is not even close to our reality, it just seem to be. It cannot be touch physically but in mentally it can be even more real than our world that some people might think it is ideal, just like the gamer couples that “accidently” left their own child to death of hunger while living in their own “virtual” world.

The Dialogue

Things and Objects

                These two words are quite common in our daily life, actually it may be seen too many times that we started to ignore the real meaning of it. First I would like to start with the different in meaning of these words. It is very difficult in order to explain the different but I would say that everything can be considered as an object but not just everything can be refers as thing.

                 According to my understanding we separate things and objects by its function. Things refer to something that has more than one function as the time goes by it started to have more and more use of it, assigned by not just humans but sometimes animals as well. We can see in the film Dawn of Man, bone that is actually made as a structure in our body suddenly develop another function thanks to the apes, bone become a tool/weapon which obviously new task for it. The bone has been “objectified” just like many things else in our world, the nature helps evolving “things” along with time. On the other hand, objects are refer to things that stick to the reason at the beginning and keep it that way through time. It can be said that objects are timeless, they stay as what they were before, while things keep changing over time along with human and animals. The evolution of nature and lifestyle causes things to keep going non-stop. 

The system of ecology

When talking about a theory that involve deep ecology, first thing to understand is that the different in perspectives between normal and deep. Both of them may concern about same thing or object but the boundary of each type are quite different. When we talk about a deep ecology of something no matter it is an object, or living organism, we always study in a large scale. Let think about it for a second, and then try to imagine a pen as an example. In a holistic point of view, we only analyze mainly about its components and function, but when we go beyond that into the “deep ecology” we are not just observe about how many parts of it? Or about how they move? We are looking at the connections between the pen and the natural resources, basically the world. We are questioning how it was made? Which materials do we need? How much do we have to use? Or even how this pen will affects the future world.

As you can see that, deep ecology is basically the study of relationships that goes beyond simple things into a more serious consequence. We can say that it is about the chain effects that one thing can create, which is very interesting because there are many examples that shows how important this theory could be. Let’s think about the system as a plan to perfection and then apply it to the concept of topos. I personally think that system is what makes a place become a utopia because the fact that system would provide the best solution for many things for example the most suitable way to organize resources, which sure will create a well community. But still, just like the utopia, this system is not entirely real, it is like a guideline which is not practical enough for us, the human. So, the will not only lack of the ability to change human nature but also it will not guaranteed that people will followed it to the letter. For me, it is still just an idea, but a great idea that help every people in a  scale. 

The topos

When we talked about utopia, dystopia and heterotopia, we are actually talking about the different types of a place. As you can see all of those three keywords consist of the word “top”. The word “top”, also known as “topo” has the same meaning, they all mean “place”. So, these words are basically talking about good and bad places.

                The first word that most of us are very familiar with is Utopia, which means Good-place. The word literally refer to its meaning, it used to describe those wonderful places such as the Garden of Eden or the Radiant City from Le Corbusier. They are refers to a place that are very good to the society but yet most of them are still imagination or unreal. While the heterotopia is like a reflection, reflects us physically and mentally.

                Similar but complete different from Utopia is Dystopia. It means bad-place or the place where they are not suitable for an ideal lifestyle. We can see in some movie as well about the perspectives towards the concept of dystopia. The film called “Hunger Games” is one of a great example of a bad place.  The films narrowed us through different kinds of topo, by showing two different societies, first one is a very utopia-like city, which has a very luxury lifestyle. We can say that they are living in a perfect world while there are also thirteen small districts that servers the main city. Those districts are living with a very cruel lifestyle, in order to keep the city going. This is an image of how a dystopia would look like.

                So, there are not just about place anymore, the detail goes beyond that and show the complexity that a place can become. Both good and bad places are mainly based on our perspectives and the lifestyle that those places can provide for us.

A Space and The Place

Space and Place has a very similar meaning that is quite confusing so, what exactly is the different between a Space and a Place? I would like to start with this conversation with a quote that I’ve heard, “Home is where you make it”. The quote came from a movie called Joe Dirt (2001), the film is about a homeless boy that has been travel around the world trying to find his long lost parents for years. The story shows that even he manage to find his house and parents but for him it is not where he belongs, It is not his place to be. For him, home is a place where he has his friends alongside him. So, now we should talk about House and Home, both of them has basically the same functions but we choose to define them according to the emotions, feelings, experiences and meanings that we have for each of them.

Space and Place are used differently by different users, in order to describe a location. We use the word space to describe the location which mostly likely has no other relationship for us except as a location. Then when we use the word Place, it is quite different because the place always has some special relationship to us, it has something that makes this location special and has a story behind it, as I have said earlier. The best example would be when we talk about a location such as our class room, for those who are not study in this particular room, the class room is just only an ordinary space for them. But for us, this classroom is a place where it has a meaning to us, because we shared many meaningful things to this place.

We can see that every time that we use a space, we also add some values to it and simply transform that space to a place. Our experiences create new boundaries which defines the location differently. So, just like the quote “Home is where you make it”. I would say the same thing that a place is also where you make it. Or I would say that a place is literally where we shared our meaningful story with.

The Erotics

                 Erotic, this simple word has a very important impact towards our lives, maybe even more than what we might think. The concept of Erotic is about adding and creating unique feelings into a spaces. Those essences  of erotic is like a phenomenology that not just only caught the viewer’s attentions but it also stimulate additional experiences for them as well through emotion, which comes in varies media. There are plenty of The Erotic in architecture that we might have seen before, no matter it was colors, shapes, voices or any other things, the main point of this is to create something special towards the space. This is a very complex theory that eventually results in most likely surprise and excitement, due to the ability to change even the most simple box room into the most memorable space by itself. This is why the Erotic is such a very powerful element in our lives.

                The concept of the Erotic does not just exist in only architecture as I had stated before. One of a very effective example would be when the concept of erotic has been show in film industry, the movie called Fight Club is the perfect example of this. The movie itself represents the Erotic by showing the perspective of a world where most people act like all of them are in IKEA catalogue, no unique tastes or feelings. In the film, the main character sick of this kind of tasteless people and then seek for a different aesthetic that are unique from the world he bored of. He chooses to be in a small group of fighters that he created in order to be separate from the old world and be unique from others in that world. He fights not to fulfilled his sadism but actually because it creates what he think is true feelings for him, unlike those programmed feelings that people automatically felt for example: like all the people who went all the way to Louvre Museum in order to see the great painting of Mona Lisa, then just keep taking pictures and pretends that the painting is the greatest thing to see like all the others there. We can see that in fight club, he just trying to avoid this kind of pre-scripted actions and keeps on finding the best way for him successfully stays in the true feelings that fighting creates, even in the end it just went too far, from normal to chaotic beyond control, but yet the movie did a pretty good job expressing the concept of the erotic in a simple way.

                For me, the erotic as we can see is a theory that really has many effects on people. It might not be one of the easiest concept of all and also can create problems if people went too far with it, but I would say that we cannot avoid the fact that it helps a lot in creating what I would called, Values, towards our feelings on that spaces or even ourselves. It will be even better when combined with other theories just to support each concept and improves the outcome in the same time.