“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
“Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves.”
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.”
“I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen”
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”
“Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art”
“A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable.”
“Consider the momentous event in architecture when the wall parted and the column became.”
“To express is to drive.
And when you want to give something presence,
you have to consult nature.
And there is where Design comes in.
And if you think of Brick, for instance,
and you say to Brick,
“What do you want Brick?”
And Brick says to you
“I like an Arch.”
And if you say to Brick
“Look, arches are expensive,
and I can use a concrete lentil over you.
What do you think of that?”
“Brick?”
Brick says:
“… I like an Arch””
“Every time a student walks past a really urgent, expressive piece of architecture that belongs to his college, it can help reassure him that he does have that mind, does have that soul.”
“Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.”
“Design is not making beauty, beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love.”
“A Work of Art
… is not a living thing …
that walks or runs.
But the making of a life.
That which gives you a reaction.
To some it is the wonder of Man’s Fingers.
To some it is the wonder of the Mind.
To some it is the wonder of Technique.
And to some it is how Real it is.
To some, how Transcendent it is.
Like the 5th Symphony
it presents itself with a feeling
that you know it, if you have heard it once.
And you look for it,
and though you know it you must hear it again.
Though you know it you must see it again.
Truly a work of Art is one that tells us,
that Nature cannot make what man can make.”
“Youth is a quality, not a matter of circumstances.”
“An expert is a man who has stopped thinking-he knows!”
“Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.”
“A free American means just this: individual freedom for all, rich or poor, or else this system of government we call democracy is only an expedient to enslave man to the machine and make him like it.”
“A great architect is not made by way of a brain nearly so much as he is made by way of a cultivated, enriched heart.”
“A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the ago of 50, and a fool if he doesn’t afterward.”
“Life always rides in strength to victory, not through internationalism… but only through the direct responsibility of the individual.”
“Mechanization best serves mediocrity.”
“Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day’s work. I follow in building the principles which nature has used in its domain.”
“No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it. Hill and house should live together, each the happier for the other.”
“No stream rises higher than its source. What ever man might build could never express or reflect more than he was. He could record neither more nor less than he had learned of life when the buildings were built.”
“Organic architecture seeks superior sense of use and a finer sense of comfort, expressed in organic simplicity.”
“Organic buildings are the strength and lightness of the spiders’ spinning, buildings qualified by light, bred by native character to everyone and married to the ground.”
“Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.”
“Respect the masterpiece. It is true reverence to man. There is no quality so great, none so much needed now.”
“Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.”
“Space is the breath of art.”
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”
“The architect must be a prophet… a prophet in the true sense of the term… if he can’t see at least ten years ahead, don’t call him an architect.”
“The heart is the chief feature of a functioning mind.”
“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.”
“The mother art is architecture. Without architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.”
“The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his client to plant vines – so they should go as far as possible from home to build their first buildings.”
“The room within is the great fact about the building.”
The screech and mechanical uproar of the big city turns the citified head fill citified ears -as the song of birds, wind in the trees, animal cries or as the voices and songs of his loved ones once filled his hear. He is sidewalk happy.”
“The space within becomes the reality of the building.”
“The truth is more important than the facts.”
“There is nothing more uncommon than common sense.”
“‘Think simple’ as my old master used to say – meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest of terms, getting back to first principles.”
“Toleration and liberty are the foundations of a great republic.”
“True ornament is not a matter of prettifying externals. It is organic with the structure it adorns, whether a person, a building or a park.”
“We should have a system of economics that is structure that is organic tools. We do not have it. We are all hanging by our eyebrows from skyhooks economically, just as we are architecturally.”
“Why, I just shake the buildings out of my sleeves.”
“All fine architectural vales are human values, else not valuable.”
“An architect’s most useful tools are an eraser at the drafting board and a wrecking ball at the site.”
“Art for art’s sake is a philosophy of the well-fed.”
“Buildings, too, are children of the Earth and Sun.”
“Every great architect is – necessarily – a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.”
“Freedom is from within.”
“Get the habit of analysis – analysis will in time enable synthesis to become your habit of mind.”
“I feel a strange disease coming on – humility.”
“I think Ms. Monroe’s architecture is extremely good architecture.”
“Less is only more where more is no good.”
“Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasion to change.”
“Form follows function- that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”
“Architecture is life, or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life as it was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today or ever will be lived.”
“If you foolishly ignore beauty, you’ll soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you wisely invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”
“An idea is salvation by imagination.”
“TV is chewing gum for the eyes.”
“Tip the world over on its side and everything will land in Los Angeles.”
“The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.”
“Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall.”
“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.”
“I hope that America as a whole, and especially its architects, will become more seriously involved in producing a new architectural culture that would bring the nation to the apex – where it has stood before – and lead the world.”
“A structure becomes architectural, and not sculptural, when its elements no longer have their justification in nature. “
“Interior design is a travesty of the architectural process and a frightening condemnation of the credulity, helplessness and gullibility of the most formidable consumers – the rich.”
“I’m not an architectural composer.”
“Among these temples there is one which far surpasses all the rest, whose grandeur of architectural details no human tongue is able to describe; for within its precincts, surrounded by a lofty wall, there is room enough for a town of five hundred families.”
“I am but an architectural composer.”
“Profit and bottom line, the contemporary mantra, eliminates the very source of architectural expression.”
“The center of Western culture is Greece, and we have never lost our ties with the architectural concepts of that ancient civilization.”
“It fills one with a sense of architectural possibility.”
“Any architectural project we do takes at least four or five years, so increasingly there is a discrepancy between the acceleration of culture and the continuing slowness of architecture.”
“Even though I build buildings and I pursue my architecture, I pursue it as an artist. I deliberately keep a tiny studio. I don’t want to be an architectural firm. I want to remain an artist.”
“Supply and demand regulate architectural form.”
“I look upon myself as a musical bricklayer with architectural aspirations.”
“It was always my intention that The Frieze should be housed in a room which would provide a suitable architectural frame for it.”
“If we are going to get the public and the specialists and politicians to come together, then the creation of Architectural Centres is vital.”
“For many years, I have lived uncomfortably with the belief that most planning and architectural design suffers for lack of real and basic purpose. The ultimate purpose, it seems to me, must be the improvement of mankind.”
“Borne out of this, starting around the 17th Century was the Baroque era. It is my view that it is one of the architectural peak periods in western civilisation.”
“All fine architectural values are human values, else not valuable.”
“You are a king by your own fireside, as much as any monarch is his throne.”
“Light, God’s eldest daughter, is a principal beauty in a building.”
credits to: http://architecturalwonder.wordpress.com/quotes/
Monday, March 19, 2012
ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS
ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS
compiled & edited by Arch. Jenaro A. Villamor, uap
Definitions of ACOUSTICS:
1. branch of physics concerned with sound
2. deals with the production, control, transmission, reception, and effects of sound
Almost all acoustical situations are described in 3 parts (elements):
1. Sound Source ( e.g. human speech, HVAC equipment)
2. Transmission Path (e.g. air, earth, building materials)
3. Receiver (e.g. humans, animals, sensitive medical equipment)
ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS
1. technology of designing spaces, structures and mechanical systems to meet hearing needs
2. effect of building design on the control of sound in buildings
3 Aspects of Acoustical Design in Buildings
1. Planning to keep noise sources as far as possible from quiet area
2. Internal acoustics of rooms
3. Structural precautions to reduce noise penetrations
Essential Elements of Architectural Acoustics:
1. Room Acoustics – the qualities or characteristics of a room, auditorium, or concert hall that determine the audibility of speech or fidelity of musical sound in it
• Cubic volume (and coupled spaces)
• Shape and proportion (length-to-width, height-to-width)
• Finishes (selection and placement)
• Audience layout ( floor slope, speaker-to-listener distances)
• Special treatment ( suspended reflectors, resonant absorbers, quadratic-residue diffusers)
2. Sound Isolation – the use of building materials and construction assemblies designed to reduce the transmission of airborne and structure-borne sound from one room to another or from the exterior to the interior of a building (Sound Insulation)
• Site noise characteristics (sound level, character, duration)
• Outdoor barriers, nearby buildings, vegetation, and earth berms
• Location of activities within buildings (zoning, buffer spaces)
• Background noise criteria (HVAC system, electronic)
3. Mechanical system noise and vibrations
• Equipment noise characteristics
• Location of mechanical equipment
• Vibration isolation ( springs, pads)
• Air duct and pipe treatment ( linings, mufflers, laggings)
• Background noise from air outlets (coordination with sound isolation)
4. Electronic sound systems
• System compatibility with room acoustics
• Loudspeaker selection, placement and orientation
• System components and controls
• Background masking (loudspeaker layout, sound spectra)
compiled & edited by Arch. Jenaro A. Villamor, uap
Definitions of ACOUSTICS:
1. branch of physics concerned with sound
2. deals with the production, control, transmission, reception, and effects of sound
Almost all acoustical situations are described in 3 parts (elements):
1. Sound Source ( e.g. human speech, HVAC equipment)
2. Transmission Path (e.g. air, earth, building materials)
3. Receiver (e.g. humans, animals, sensitive medical equipment)
ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS
1. technology of designing spaces, structures and mechanical systems to meet hearing needs
2. effect of building design on the control of sound in buildings
3 Aspects of Acoustical Design in Buildings
1. Planning to keep noise sources as far as possible from quiet area
2. Internal acoustics of rooms
3. Structural precautions to reduce noise penetrations
Essential Elements of Architectural Acoustics:
1. Room Acoustics – the qualities or characteristics of a room, auditorium, or concert hall that determine the audibility of speech or fidelity of musical sound in it
• Cubic volume (and coupled spaces)
• Shape and proportion (length-to-width, height-to-width)
• Finishes (selection and placement)
• Audience layout ( floor slope, speaker-to-listener distances)
• Special treatment ( suspended reflectors, resonant absorbers, quadratic-residue diffusers)
2. Sound Isolation – the use of building materials and construction assemblies designed to reduce the transmission of airborne and structure-borne sound from one room to another or from the exterior to the interior of a building (Sound Insulation)
• Site noise characteristics (sound level, character, duration)
• Outdoor barriers, nearby buildings, vegetation, and earth berms
• Location of activities within buildings (zoning, buffer spaces)
• Background noise criteria (HVAC system, electronic)
3. Mechanical system noise and vibrations
• Equipment noise characteristics
• Location of mechanical equipment
• Vibration isolation ( springs, pads)
• Air duct and pipe treatment ( linings, mufflers, laggings)
• Background noise from air outlets (coordination with sound isolation)
4. Electronic sound systems
• System compatibility with room acoustics
• Loudspeaker selection, placement and orientation
• System components and controls
• Background masking (loudspeaker layout, sound spectra)
LECTURE 3 THE FOUNDATION OF PLANNING
Planning 3 THE FOUNDATION OF PLANNING
What is a plan ?
is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions, through which one expects to achieve a goal
Plans can be formal or informal:
Structured and formal plans, used by multiple people, are more likely to occur in projects, diplomacy, careers, economic development, military campaigns, combat, or in the conduct of other business
Informal or ad-hoc plans are created by individuals in all of their pursuits.
Example of a planning cycle
The most popular ways to describe plans are by their breadth, time frame, and specificity; however, these planning classifications are not independent of one another. For instance, there is a close relationship between the short- and long-term categories and the strategic and operational categories.
Planning can refer to the planned use of any and all resources, as in the succession of Five-Year Plans through which the government sought to develop the country.
However, the term is most frequently used in relation to planning for the use of land and related resources, for example in urban planning, transportation planning, etc.
Urban planning
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING
Thus, in a governmental context, "planning" without any qualification is most likely to mean the regulation of land use. See also zoning.
METHODOLOGY
The specific methods used to create and refine plans depends on who is to make it, who is to put it to use, and what resources are available for the task. The methods used by an individual in their mind or personal organizer, may be very different from the collection of planning techniques found in a corporate board-room, and the planning done by a project manager has different priorities and uses different tools to the planning done by an engineer or industrial designer
An architectural plan is a plan for architecture, and the documentation of written and graphic descriptions of the architectural elements of a building project including sketches, drawings and details.
ARCHITECTURAL PLAN
The term "Architectural plan" can have multiple related meanings:
Plan for an architectural project
Documentation of written and graphic descriptions of the architectural elements of a building project including sketches, drawings and details. This effort could also includes both the design of new buildings and other structures, as well as the planning for reconstruction of early historic structures.
architectural design
Floor plan
Scale drawing of a structure. "the plans for City Hall were on file".
An architectural plan is a type of plan for architecture to describe a place or object, or to communicate building or fabrication instructions. It can containing technical architectural drawings and documentation, and are drawn or printed on paper, but they can take the form of a digital file.
A floor plan in architecture and building engineering is a diagram, usually to scale, of the relationships between rooms, spaces and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensions are usually drawn between the walls to specify room sizes and wall lengths. Floor plans will also include details of fixtures like sinks, water heaters, furnaces, etc. Floor plans will include notes to specify finishes, construction methods, or symbols for electrical items.
Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. Most professional garden designers are trained in principles of design and in horticulture, and have an expert knowledge and experience of using plants.
Landscape planning is a branch of landscape architecture. Urban park systems and greenways of the type planned by Frederick Law Olmsted are key examples of urban landscape planning. Landscape designers tend to work for clients who wish to commission construction work. Landscape planners can look beyond the 'closely drawn technical limits' and 'narrowly drawn territorial boundaries' which constrain design projects.
Landscape planners tend to work on projects which:
are of broad geographical scope
concern many land uses or many clients
are implemented over a long period of time
A site plan is an architectural plan, and a detailed engineering drawing of proposed improvements to a given lot. A site plan usually shows a building footprint, travelways, parking, drainage facilities, sanitary sewer lines, water lines, trails, lighting, and landscaping.
Urban, city, and town planning is the integration of the disciplines of land use planning and transport planning, to explore a very wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities. Regional planning deals with a still larger environment, at a less detailed level.
Another key role of urban planning is urban renewal, and re-generation of inner cities by adapting urban planning methods to existing cities suffering from long-term infrastructural decay.
THREE PLANNING CONCEPT
Concept 1: Organizations need a planning architecture.
A planning architecture is an overview of how different planning processes fit together. It identifies:
different types of plan
the time horizon of each
when they have to be completed
time allowed for preparing the plan
the frequency of updating
who is responsible
how the different plans fit together.
Concept 2: Planning is an intellectual process.
Concept 3: Planning is a social process.
TYPES OF PLANNING
1. Land use planning - regulate the use of land in an efficient and ethical way, thus preventing land use conflicts.
2. Physical Planning - A form of urban land use planning which attempts to achieve an optimal spatial coordination of different human activities for the enhancement of the quality of life. (Source: LANDY)
3. Transportation planning is a field involved with the evaluation, assessment, design and siting of transportation facilities (generally streets, highways, footpaths, bike lanes and public transport lines).
4. Environmental Planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out development with due consideration given to the natural environmental, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic frame work to achieve sustainable outcomes.
5. Fiscal planning is a kind of business planning that runs according to a fiscal financial year. With fiscal planning, the year that the accountant or planner calculates on is not the traditional calendar year that starts on January 1. Using the fiscal year, business leaders can engage in fiscal planning to help them with various aspects of corporate or small business accounting.
What is a plan ?
is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions, through which one expects to achieve a goal
Plans can be formal or informal:
Structured and formal plans, used by multiple people, are more likely to occur in projects, diplomacy, careers, economic development, military campaigns, combat, or in the conduct of other business
Informal or ad-hoc plans are created by individuals in all of their pursuits.
Example of a planning cycle
The most popular ways to describe plans are by their breadth, time frame, and specificity; however, these planning classifications are not independent of one another. For instance, there is a close relationship between the short- and long-term categories and the strategic and operational categories.
Planning can refer to the planned use of any and all resources, as in the succession of Five-Year Plans through which the government sought to develop the country.
However, the term is most frequently used in relation to planning for the use of land and related resources, for example in urban planning, transportation planning, etc.
Urban planning
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING
Thus, in a governmental context, "planning" without any qualification is most likely to mean the regulation of land use. See also zoning.
METHODOLOGY
The specific methods used to create and refine plans depends on who is to make it, who is to put it to use, and what resources are available for the task. The methods used by an individual in their mind or personal organizer, may be very different from the collection of planning techniques found in a corporate board-room, and the planning done by a project manager has different priorities and uses different tools to the planning done by an engineer or industrial designer
An architectural plan is a plan for architecture, and the documentation of written and graphic descriptions of the architectural elements of a building project including sketches, drawings and details.
ARCHITECTURAL PLAN
The term "Architectural plan" can have multiple related meanings:
Plan for an architectural project
Documentation of written and graphic descriptions of the architectural elements of a building project including sketches, drawings and details. This effort could also includes both the design of new buildings and other structures, as well as the planning for reconstruction of early historic structures.
architectural design
Floor plan
Scale drawing of a structure. "the plans for City Hall were on file".
An architectural plan is a type of plan for architecture to describe a place or object, or to communicate building or fabrication instructions. It can containing technical architectural drawings and documentation, and are drawn or printed on paper, but they can take the form of a digital file.
A floor plan in architecture and building engineering is a diagram, usually to scale, of the relationships between rooms, spaces and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensions are usually drawn between the walls to specify room sizes and wall lengths. Floor plans will also include details of fixtures like sinks, water heaters, furnaces, etc. Floor plans will include notes to specify finishes, construction methods, or symbols for electrical items.
Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. Most professional garden designers are trained in principles of design and in horticulture, and have an expert knowledge and experience of using plants.
Landscape planners tend to work on projects which:
are of broad geographical scope
concern many land uses or many clients
are implemented over a long period of time
A site plan is an architectural plan, and a detailed engineering drawing of proposed improvements to a given lot. A site plan usually shows a building footprint, travelways, parking, drainage facilities, sanitary sewer lines, water lines, trails, lighting, and landscaping.
Urban, city, and town planning is the integration of the disciplines of land use planning and transport planning, to explore a very wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities. Regional planning deals with a still larger environment, at a less detailed level.
Another key role of urban planning is urban renewal, and re-generation of inner cities by adapting urban planning methods to existing cities suffering from long-term infrastructural decay.
THREE PLANNING CONCEPT
Concept 1: Organizations need a planning architecture.
A planning architecture is an overview of how different planning processes fit together. It identifies:
different types of plan
the time horizon of each
when they have to be completed
time allowed for preparing the plan
the frequency of updating
who is responsible
how the different plans fit together.
Concept 2: Planning is an intellectual process.
Concept 3: Planning is a social process.
TYPES OF PLANNING
1. Land use planning - regulate the use of land in an efficient and ethical way, thus preventing land use conflicts.
2. Physical Planning - A form of urban land use planning which attempts to achieve an optimal spatial coordination of different human activities for the enhancement of the quality of life. (Source: LANDY)
3. Transportation planning is a field involved with the evaluation, assessment, design and siting of transportation facilities (generally streets, highways, footpaths, bike lanes and public transport lines).
4. Environmental Planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out development with due consideration given to the natural environmental, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic frame work to achieve sustainable outcomes.
5. Fiscal planning is a kind of business planning that runs according to a fiscal financial year. With fiscal planning, the year that the accountant or planner calculates on is not the traditional calendar year that starts on January 1. Using the fiscal year, business leaders can engage in fiscal planning to help them with various aspects of corporate or small business accounting.
lecture 2 - HUMANS IN THEIR ECOLOGICAL SETTING
INTRODUCTION: HUMANS IN THEIR ECOLOGICAL SETTING
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Human ecology
is the interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments.
ECOLOGY
Ecology as a discipline was technically born when Ernst Haeckel used the word "oekologie" in 1866 to describe the study of an organism’s relationship to its environment.
created a bridge between the physical sciences and the biological sciences in order to study systems of both biotic and abiotic factors.
Example of physical science:Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Geology, Oceanography
Example of biological science
biomedicine, biotechnology, zoology and ecology, and some aspects of agriculture and veterinary science.
Biotic Factors Biotic, meaning of or related to life, are living factors. Plants, animals, fungi, protist and bacteria are all biotic or living factors.
Abiotic Factors Abiotic, meaning not alive, are nonliving factors that affect living organisms. Environmental factors such habitat (pond, lake, ocean, desert, mountain) or weather such as temperature, cloud cover, rain, snow, hurricanes, etc. are abiotic factors.
Human ecology is composed of concepts from ecology like interconnectivity, community behavior, and spatial organization. From the beginning, human ecology was present in geography and sociology, but also in biological ecology and zoology. However, it was the social scientists who applied ecological ideas to humans in a rigorous way.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF HUMANS IN THE ECOLOGICAL SETTING ?
Human ecology is the study of how human social systems relate to and interact with the ecological systems on which they depend. (Human Ecology: Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development. Gerald G. Marten. Sterling, VA : Earthscan Publications, 2001.)
Bio-logical criteria for sustainable development operates from the premise that individuals and communities achieve an optimum level of self-sufficiency and improved quality of life by utilizing only the renewable natural resources which fall within their political and natural boundaries. Hence, a sustainable community is one which provides all of its own needs for air, water, land (or food and fiber), and energy resources within the confines of its own site.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Human ecology
is the interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments.
ECOLOGY
Ecology as a discipline was technically born when Ernst Haeckel used the word "oekologie" in 1866 to describe the study of an organism’s relationship to its environment.
created a bridge between the physical sciences and the biological sciences in order to study systems of both biotic and abiotic factors.
Example of physical science:Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Geology, Oceanography
Example of biological science
biomedicine, biotechnology, zoology and ecology, and some aspects of agriculture and veterinary science.
Biotic Factors Biotic, meaning of or related to life, are living factors. Plants, animals, fungi, protist and bacteria are all biotic or living factors.
Abiotic Factors Abiotic, meaning not alive, are nonliving factors that affect living organisms. Environmental factors such habitat (pond, lake, ocean, desert, mountain) or weather such as temperature, cloud cover, rain, snow, hurricanes, etc. are abiotic factors.
Human ecology is composed of concepts from ecology like interconnectivity, community behavior, and spatial organization. From the beginning, human ecology was present in geography and sociology, but also in biological ecology and zoology. However, it was the social scientists who applied ecological ideas to humans in a rigorous way.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF HUMANS IN THE ECOLOGICAL SETTING ?
Human ecology is the study of how human social systems relate to and interact with the ecological systems on which they depend. (Human Ecology: Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development. Gerald G. Marten. Sterling, VA : Earthscan Publications, 2001.)
Bio-logical criteria for sustainable development operates from the premise that individuals and communities achieve an optimum level of self-sufficiency and improved quality of life by utilizing only the renewable natural resources which fall within their political and natural boundaries. Hence, a sustainable community is one which provides all of its own needs for air, water, land (or food and fiber), and energy resources within the confines of its own site.
lecture 1 - THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
EKISTIKS THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
EKISTICS
- IS"Ekistics starts with the premise that
- human settlements are susceptible of
- systematic investigation".
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis
The Principles
- The first principle is maximization of man's potential
- contacts with the elements of nature (such as water and trees),
- with other people, and with the works of man (such as buildings and roads).
- In this, man differs from animals; we do not know of any
- species of animals that try to increase their potential
- contacts with the environment once they have reached the
- optimum number of contacts. Man alone always seeks to
- increase his contacts.
- The second principle is minimization of the effort required for the achievement of man's actual and potential contacts.
- He always gives his structures the shape, or
- selects the route, that requires the minimum effort, no
- matter whether he is dealing with the floor of a room,
- which he tends to make horizontal, or with the creation of a highway.
- The third principle is optimization of man's protective space,
- which means the selection of such a distance from
- other persons, animals, or objects that he can keep his
- contacts with them (first principle) without any kind of
- sensory or psychological discomfort
- The fourth principle is optimization of the quality of man's relationship with his ----------- environment, which consists of
- nature, society, shells (buildings and houses of all sorts),
- and networks (ranging from roads to telecommunications)
- This is the principle that leads to order,
- physiological and aesthetic, and that influences
- architecture and, in many respects, art.
- Finally, and this is the fifth principle, man organizes his settlements in an attempt to --achieve an optimum
- synthesis of the other four principles, and this optimization is dependent on time and space, - on actual conditions, and
- on man's ability to create a synthesis.
- When he has achieved this by creating a system of floors, walls, roofs,doors, and windows
- which allows him to maximize his potential contacts (first principle) while minimizing the
- energy expended (second principle) and at the same time
- makes possible his separation from others (third principle)
- and the desirable relationship with his environment (fourth
- principle), we speak of "successful human settlements".
- What we mean is settlements that have achieved a
- balance between man and his man-made environment, by
- complying with all five principles.
WHAT IS THE EXTENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENT ?
the distance man wants to go or can go in the course of his daily life.
The shortest of the two distances defines the extent of the
real human settlement, through definition of a "daily urban system"
the process starts with the circle
whose radius is defined by man's willingness to walk daily
up to a certain distance and to spend a certain period of
time in doing so (the limit for the rural dweller is 1 hour,
or 5 kilometers, for horizontal movement; the limit for the
urban dweller is 20 minutes, or 1 kilometer). This leads to
the conception of a circular city, and of a city growing in
concentric circles
If we turn back in history we find, however, that,
throughout the long evolution of human settlements,
people in all parts of the world tended to build an urban settlement which reached an optimum size of 50,000 people
and physical dimensions such that everyone was within a 10-minute distance from the center
There is no question that, for people who depend on walking as a means of locomotion,
this unit is the optimum one from
the point of view of movement and social interaction
through direct contacts between people.
Also, experience has shown that, for people who can walk, it is a maximum
one from the standpoint of aesthetics; for example,
creation of the Place de la Concorde in Paris cut from the
total 3500-meter length of the Champs Elysees a length of
2100 meters, a distance from which one can reach, and
enjoy, the Arc de Triomphe on foot.
It is also perhaps an optimum one from the social point of view; for example,
Pericles in ancient Athens could get a reasonable sample of public opinion
by meeting 100 to 150 people while
walking from his home to the Assembly.
The Quality of Human Settlements
Judgement about quality can be made in several ways in
terms of the relation of every individual to his environment
- that is, his relation to nature, society, shells, and
networks - and the benefit that he gets from these
contacts. We can measure his relations to air and to its
quality; to water in his home, in the river or lake, and at
sea (its quality and his access to it); and to land resources
(their beauty and accessibility) and the recreational and
functional facilities provided by them;
WHAT IS MORPHOGENESIS
Morphogenesis is the development of body shape and organization.
WHAT IS SYNTHESIS ?
The combining of separate elements or substances to form a coherent whole.
The complex whole so formed.
Morphogenesis
Formation of the walls. Walls
have to fit the body and the senses of MAN
Formation of the walls. Curved
walls (left) lead to waste in the synthesis
of furniture and room; straight walls
(right) alow the most economic
synthesis of furniture and room.
Formation of the walls. Two
separate nonconnected rooms (left) can remain independent units, but people tend to bring them together. Two separate, connected rooms (middle) cannot remain independent units; they create many problem surfaces. Two connected rooms (right) tend to eliminate the problem surfaces; they tend to occupy a minimum total area
Morphogenesis in human settlements varies with the type
of unit we are dealing with. From the many types of units I
will select the room (the No. 2 unit) and will follow its
formation. We do not know how and when the formation
of a room started. It probably started in many parts of the
world, and probably the rooms had many forms and sizes.
We have reason to believe that the first rooms were of
moderate size (according to today's standards), but they
may have been very small one-man/ one-night huts
similar, in a way, to those built and used by the apes
In any case the moment came when some primitive
people had round huts and others had orthogonal ones,
and when there were different types of roofs or, in some
cases, no roofs at all. In at least one modern instance -
that of the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in southwest
Africa - there is no door to the hut; the Bushmen jump
into it over a wall (Ref. 13).
Two myths
If we can analyze the problem of quality and understand the morphogenetic
process which should enable people to build properly and improve an undesirable situation, why are conditions so
bad in our cities?
myth of the city of optimum size.
Some define optimum size as being related to the income
of the people; but in a developing world, where the
average per capita income increases by 2 percent a year
(and by more in urban areas), what is the meaning of this
optimum over a long period?
Others argue in terms of optimum numbers of people and
of organization and, more specifically, municipal efficiency,
but they are not able to produce any convincing proof
(Ref. 17). Even if they could, comparisons of one city with
another have no meaning in a world where people no
longer live in isolated
Others base optimum size on organizational aspects such
as one school or one hospital for so many children or
people. But, in a world of changing ratios between age
groups and of changing technical and managerial abilities,
this line of thinking cannot lead anywhere. Such
considerations are very useful for calculating needs which
have to be satisfied in certain areas and periods, but not
for calculating the optimum size of the city. Technological
calculations based on the means of transportation cannot
be helpful either.
MYTH NO. 2
Another myth which still prevails is that
we can solve the problems of our cities through the
conception, and official recognition, of a physical plan
expressed by a two- or three-dimensional drawing. But our
cities are growing organisms. They need a development
policy leading to a development program which is
expressed, in space, by physical development plans, but
they also need economic, social, political, administrative,
technological, and aesthetic programs.
sources
10. C.A. Doxiadis, Ekistics, 1968, pp. 374-394 (June 1968).
11. C.A. Doxiadis, Emergence and Growth of an Urban Region, vol.
2, Future Alternatives (Detroit Edison Company, Detroit, 1967).
12. G. Clarke and S. Piggot, Prehistoric Societies, (Hutchinson,
London, 1965), p. 75.
13. L. van der Post, The Lost World of the Kalahari, (Penguin Books,
Baltimore, Md., 1962), p. 25.
14. C. A. Doxiadis, Ekistics 1968, pp. 395-415 (Oct. 1968).
EKISTICS
- IS"Ekistics starts with the premise that
- human settlements are susceptible of
- systematic investigation".
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis
The Principles
- The first principle is maximization of man's potential
- contacts with the elements of nature (such as water and trees),
- with other people, and with the works of man (such as buildings and roads).
- In this, man differs from animals; we do not know of any
- species of animals that try to increase their potential
- contacts with the environment once they have reached the
- optimum number of contacts. Man alone always seeks to
- increase his contacts.
- The second principle is minimization of the effort required for the achievement of man's actual and potential contacts.
- He always gives his structures the shape, or
- selects the route, that requires the minimum effort, no
- matter whether he is dealing with the floor of a room,
- which he tends to make horizontal, or with the creation of a highway.
- The third principle is optimization of man's protective space,
- which means the selection of such a distance from
- other persons, animals, or objects that he can keep his
- contacts with them (first principle) without any kind of
- sensory or psychological discomfort
- The fourth principle is optimization of the quality of man's relationship with his ----------- environment, which consists of
- nature, society, shells (buildings and houses of all sorts),
- and networks (ranging from roads to telecommunications)
- This is the principle that leads to order,
- physiological and aesthetic, and that influences
- architecture and, in many respects, art.
- Finally, and this is the fifth principle, man organizes his settlements in an attempt to --achieve an optimum
- synthesis of the other four principles, and this optimization is dependent on time and space, - on actual conditions, and
- on man's ability to create a synthesis.
- When he has achieved this by creating a system of floors, walls, roofs,doors, and windows
- which allows him to maximize his potential contacts (first principle) while minimizing the
- energy expended (second principle) and at the same time
- makes possible his separation from others (third principle)
- and the desirable relationship with his environment (fourth
- principle), we speak of "successful human settlements".
- What we mean is settlements that have achieved a
- balance between man and his man-made environment, by
- complying with all five principles.
WHAT IS THE EXTENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENT ?
the distance man wants to go or can go in the course of his daily life.
The shortest of the two distances defines the extent of the
real human settlement, through definition of a "daily urban system"
the process starts with the circle
whose radius is defined by man's willingness to walk daily
up to a certain distance and to spend a certain period of
time in doing so (the limit for the rural dweller is 1 hour,
or 5 kilometers, for horizontal movement; the limit for the
urban dweller is 20 minutes, or 1 kilometer). This leads to
the conception of a circular city, and of a city growing in
concentric circles
If we turn back in history we find, however, that,
throughout the long evolution of human settlements,
people in all parts of the world tended to build an urban settlement which reached an optimum size of 50,000 people
and physical dimensions such that everyone was within a 10-minute distance from the center
There is no question that, for people who depend on walking as a means of locomotion,
this unit is the optimum one from
the point of view of movement and social interaction
through direct contacts between people.
Also, experience has shown that, for people who can walk, it is a maximum
one from the standpoint of aesthetics; for example,
creation of the Place de la Concorde in Paris cut from the
total 3500-meter length of the Champs Elysees a length of
2100 meters, a distance from which one can reach, and
enjoy, the Arc de Triomphe on foot.
It is also perhaps an optimum one from the social point of view; for example,
Pericles in ancient Athens could get a reasonable sample of public opinion
by meeting 100 to 150 people while
walking from his home to the Assembly.
The Quality of Human Settlements
Judgement about quality can be made in several ways in
terms of the relation of every individual to his environment
- that is, his relation to nature, society, shells, and
networks - and the benefit that he gets from these
contacts. We can measure his relations to air and to its
quality; to water in his home, in the river or lake, and at
sea (its quality and his access to it); and to land resources
(their beauty and accessibility) and the recreational and
functional facilities provided by them;
WHAT IS MORPHOGENESIS
Morphogenesis is the development of body shape and organization.
WHAT IS SYNTHESIS ?
The combining of separate elements or substances to form a coherent whole.
The complex whole so formed.
Morphogenesis
Formation of the walls. Walls
have to fit the body and the senses of MAN
Formation of the walls. Curved
walls (left) lead to waste in the synthesis
of furniture and room; straight walls
(right) alow the most economic
synthesis of furniture and room.
Formation of the walls. Two
separate nonconnected rooms (left) can remain independent units, but people tend to bring them together. Two separate, connected rooms (middle) cannot remain independent units; they create many problem surfaces. Two connected rooms (right) tend to eliminate the problem surfaces; they tend to occupy a minimum total area
Morphogenesis in human settlements varies with the type
of unit we are dealing with. From the many types of units I
will select the room (the No. 2 unit) and will follow its
formation. We do not know how and when the formation
of a room started. It probably started in many parts of the
world, and probably the rooms had many forms and sizes.
We have reason to believe that the first rooms were of
moderate size (according to today's standards), but they
may have been very small one-man/ one-night huts
similar, in a way, to those built and used by the apes
In any case the moment came when some primitive
people had round huts and others had orthogonal ones,
and when there were different types of roofs or, in some
cases, no roofs at all. In at least one modern instance -
that of the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in southwest
Africa - there is no door to the hut; the Bushmen jump
into it over a wall (Ref. 13).
Two myths
If we can analyze the problem of quality and understand the morphogenetic
process which should enable people to build properly and improve an undesirable situation, why are conditions so
bad in our cities?
myth of the city of optimum size.
Some define optimum size as being related to the income
of the people; but in a developing world, where the
average per capita income increases by 2 percent a year
(and by more in urban areas), what is the meaning of this
optimum over a long period?
Others argue in terms of optimum numbers of people and
of organization and, more specifically, municipal efficiency,
but they are not able to produce any convincing proof
(Ref. 17). Even if they could, comparisons of one city with
another have no meaning in a world where people no
longer live in isolated
Others base optimum size on organizational aspects such
as one school or one hospital for so many children or
people. But, in a world of changing ratios between age
groups and of changing technical and managerial abilities,
this line of thinking cannot lead anywhere. Such
considerations are very useful for calculating needs which
have to be satisfied in certain areas and periods, but not
for calculating the optimum size of the city. Technological
calculations based on the means of transportation cannot
be helpful either.
MYTH NO. 2
Another myth which still prevails is that
we can solve the problems of our cities through the
conception, and official recognition, of a physical plan
expressed by a two- or three-dimensional drawing. But our
cities are growing organisms. They need a development
policy leading to a development program which is
expressed, in space, by physical development plans, but
they also need economic, social, political, administrative,
technological, and aesthetic programs.
sources
10. C.A. Doxiadis, Ekistics, 1968, pp. 374-394 (June 1968).
11. C.A. Doxiadis, Emergence and Growth of an Urban Region, vol.
2, Future Alternatives (Detroit Edison Company, Detroit, 1967).
12. G. Clarke and S. Piggot, Prehistoric Societies, (Hutchinson,
London, 1965), p. 75.
13. L. van der Post, The Lost World of the Kalahari, (Penguin Books,
Baltimore, Md., 1962), p. 25.
14. C. A. Doxiadis, Ekistics 1968, pp. 395-415 (Oct. 1968).
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