1. How does Peter Zumthor talk about the "Magic of the Real" and explain how this compares, in terms of the subtleties, to Michael Benedikt's "Architecture for Reality"?
Zumthor talks about "Magic of the Real" as architecture that creates a mood when you experience it. Zumthor declares that there is an emotional response to a persons experience of a space that creates this mood, or "Magic of the Real." Benedikt's "Architecture for Reality" does not deal with an emotional response. His reality comes form the "matter of fact" simplistic understanding of nature and reality.
2. Material Compatibility, Temperature of a Space and Levels of Intimacy are some conditions that both Peter Zumthor, in “Atmospheres”, and Richard Serra, in “Weight and Measure”, make a point of articulating when consider space. Where in their explanation of these overlapping conditions are they similar and where do they differ?
Zumthor and Serra have similar conditions in which have a reaction to a persons experience of space. Zumthor creates conditions to affect the mood of a space, thereby affecting a persons personal, emotional response to that space. This is a more internal effect of a person. Serra takes a more direct approach. His sculptures are meant to be seen and have an immediate effect on a person. Zumthor creates a mood with temperature and levels of intimacy as a person moves through a space. Serra creates an immediate level of intimacy at the Duveen Galleries. His two sculptures create a mass that interacts with the architecture, and the person. This intimacy is immediately experienced, as well as held throughout the entire experience of the space. This is something Zumthor's architecture does not do. His conditions build a mood as a person experiences a space.
3. Zumthor looks towards experiential conditions when creating architecture, what are other methods architects use when generating architecture and what is the corresponding building?
One method an architect may use when creating architecture is to look at the relation of the architecture he is creating to the site on which that architecture will be placed. The resulting building is one that moves with the site, rising when the site rises, descending when the site descends, and moving around objects on the site, such as streams, trees, etc. Founding can be a condition that architects consider when generating architecture. A high budget apartment complex will generate a different architect, than a low budget apartment complex for low income families, or persons. A high budget complex might have a pool, exercise center, and laundry mat right there on the site, while a low budget complex would consist of just buildings with rooms for people to live in. The aesthetic beauty could differ greatly between the high and low budget projects. There is more to work with when dealing with a greater budget.
4. For Zumthor at the end of the day, after figuring use, sound, place, light and the other listed conditions, if the coherence isn’t beautiful the process is started again. Beauty is simultaneously subjective for the individual, as held “in the eye of the beholder”, and universally recognizable. Define your subjective understanding of what beautiful architecture is.
Beautiful architecture is architecture that is design well for its use and possible future uses, is built and designed to be structural sound, and has is aesthetically pleasing. There is beauty in function and structure. The aesthetic appeal comes form using proportions, geometry, symmetry, rhythm, and other systems in your design. Function and structure are parts of architecture experienced physically everyday by people and it is easy to recognize their beauty. The aesthetic appeal provide by proportion, geometry, etc. is an inherent quality in people and it is present in all architecture throughout history.
