The paper deals with the relation between idea of space and tectonics from a point of view that tries to extend the concept of tectonics to all the building systems and give it a syntactic nature, capable to determine or at least condition the characters of the architectural space. The dissertation is based on the conception of tectonics as “art of joining”, that is, as a syntax that presides over the relations between the elements of construction, independently from the building systems, the building techniques and the nature of the construction materials. According to this interpretation, the concept of tectonics can be applied to all the building systems, which are generally ascribable to the two basic building systems: the trilithic system and the masonry system. This means that it is possible to talk about the tectonics of the trilith as well as about the tectonics of the wall, since both imply the assembly of elementary ‘pieces’ according to different principles, that is, according to different syntaxes congruent with the respective static-constructive logics of the two systems themselves. In architecture, therefore, tectonics has the same syntactical nature of building type. In order to clarify this analogy, we could say that tectonics is to construction as building type is to form. As a syntactic principle that governs the relations between the elements of the building system, tectonics confers on the built form the characters intrinsically linked to its relational law; therefore, it is at the same time a technical and aesthetical category. For this reason, the choice of a building system is not and cannot be a choice disconnected from the process of definition of form. The recognition of this ‘expressive’ value of tectonics inspired and determined in the past the development of the building systems; it influenced their choice in relation to their intrinsic differences that are certainly ascribable to their different spatial ‘vocations’. On this recognition, that implies the attribution of specific characters to the building systems, it is possible to found an interesting interpretation of the relation between idea of space (both architectural and urban) and construction, according to which it is exactly the relation with the different ideas of spaces that justifies the different syntaxes defining the tectonics of the different building systems, developed in order to correspond to those ideas, and makes them significant. This interpretation of the relation between space and tectonics can enlighten the difficult - and often confusing - relation between form and construction in contemporary architecture, where construction, pushed ahead by technological innovation, tends to have an autonomous and self-referential role.

Space and Tectonics: an interpretative key to the relation between architecture and construction

Francesco Defilippis
2019-01-01

Abstract

The paper deals with the relation between idea of space and tectonics from a point of view that tries to extend the concept of tectonics to all the building systems and give it a syntactic nature, capable to determine or at least condition the characters of the architectural space. The dissertation is based on the conception of tectonics as “art of joining”, that is, as a syntax that presides over the relations between the elements of construction, independently from the building systems, the building techniques and the nature of the construction materials. According to this interpretation, the concept of tectonics can be applied to all the building systems, which are generally ascribable to the two basic building systems: the trilithic system and the masonry system. This means that it is possible to talk about the tectonics of the trilith as well as about the tectonics of the wall, since both imply the assembly of elementary ‘pieces’ according to different principles, that is, according to different syntaxes congruent with the respective static-constructive logics of the two systems themselves. In architecture, therefore, tectonics has the same syntactical nature of building type. In order to clarify this analogy, we could say that tectonics is to construction as building type is to form. As a syntactic principle that governs the relations between the elements of the building system, tectonics confers on the built form the characters intrinsically linked to its relational law; therefore, it is at the same time a technical and aesthetical category. For this reason, the choice of a building system is not and cannot be a choice disconnected from the process of definition of form. The recognition of this ‘expressive’ value of tectonics inspired and determined in the past the development of the building systems; it influenced their choice in relation to their intrinsic differences that are certainly ascribable to their different spatial ‘vocations’. On this recognition, that implies the attribution of specific characters to the building systems, it is possible to found an interesting interpretation of the relation between idea of space (both architectural and urban) and construction, according to which it is exactly the relation with the different ideas of spaces that justifies the different syntaxes defining the tectonics of the different building systems, developed in order to correspond to those ideas, and makes them significant. This interpretation of the relation between space and tectonics can enlighten the difficult - and often confusing - relation between form and construction in contemporary architecture, where construction, pushed ahead by technological innovation, tends to have an autonomous and self-referential role.
2019
3-ICAUD_Third International Conference on Architecture and Urban Design
978-9928-135-33-9
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11589/195988
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