The making of the pieces

Abstract

In the search for architecture, I have realized some ideas that are inherently important. Michael Benedikt's essay, For An Architecture of Reality, figured prominently in articulating these thoughts. I have chosen to use an interpretation of his components of "realness" to set the foundation for my thesis study.

The components of realness as stated by Benedikt are: significance, materiality, presence and emptiness. I have presented each thought individually giving each component one page. However, this separation is not valid for the whole. The whole requires an intimate conversation between these components of realness that allow them to collectively make architecture. This is the focus of my search. The goal is to make a whole by allowing the pieces to be crafted in such a way that the connection is an integral and visible element. When joints are revealed as such, an idea about order emerges. Allowing materials and their connections to suggest what they are by the way they are formed and used enables subtle change to take place within a given order lending the rich qualities that allow something that is larger than the parts and larger than ourselves.