1_Peruvian context: the related conditions in which a new structure and program gracefully interweaves with the site, inhabitants, and their culture.
3_Creating and maintaining a healthy relationship between a building and its environment requires a lot of attention in a culturally heavy and extreme natural environments. Ideas of blending the new with ideas of the context rather than competing with it can help with the challenges of gracefully weaving into a site and allow the user to understand the power of where they are. To do so the inputs of the context should affect the output of the design allowing it to harmoniously exist on the site.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
W5_1+3+9
1_Peruvian context: the interrelated conditions in which a building exists with a site, inhabitants, and their culture.
3_Creating and maintaining a healthy relationship between a building and its environment can be difficult in a variety of culturally heavy and extreme natural environments. Ideas of blending the new with ideas of the context rather than competing with it can help with the challenges of gracefully weaving into a site. To do so the inputs of the context should affect the output of the design allowing it to harmoniously exist on the site.
9_The South American ancient Incan citadel of Machu Picchu located in Peru has extreme inputs of context. The topography of the site is harsh as it is located in the tropical mountain forest of the upper Amazon basin in the Andes Mountains with Rio Urumbamba far below in the valley. The natural threats, most noteworthy the threat of fires along with landslides and mudslides as significant threats need to be taken into consideration for the future of the site. These factors influence the fact that there are only two access points to the heritage site, one a road and the other an ancient Incan trail. Although there are so few access points, since the acceptance of Machu Picchu as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the tourism has endangered the serenity and power of the site with hotels, restaurants, boutiques, visitor centers, and the possibility of new intrusive access routes. The imposition of tourism on the site has not only had an effect on the site, but also on the indigenous people for whom it was a connection to their spiritual and cultural heritage because it is becoming less accessible to them as it becomes more geared for outsiders. Incan spiritual beliefs honor the natural elements, which can be noted in many aspects of the architecture and the fact that there were many temples and ritual spaces as a tribute of them. As a result, the Incas created a harmonious relationship with their context taking into consideration their natural environment, the people’s needs, and cultural and spiritual needs. To build on this site, and gracefully incorporate a building on this site needs to take all these factors into consideration.
3_Creating and maintaining a healthy relationship between a building and its environment can be difficult in a variety of culturally heavy and extreme natural environments. Ideas of blending the new with ideas of the context rather than competing with it can help with the challenges of gracefully weaving into a site. To do so the inputs of the context should affect the output of the design allowing it to harmoniously exist on the site.
9_The South American ancient Incan citadel of Machu Picchu located in Peru has extreme inputs of context. The topography of the site is harsh as it is located in the tropical mountain forest of the upper Amazon basin in the Andes Mountains with Rio Urumbamba far below in the valley. The natural threats, most noteworthy the threat of fires along with landslides and mudslides as significant threats need to be taken into consideration for the future of the site. These factors influence the fact that there are only two access points to the heritage site, one a road and the other an ancient Incan trail. Although there are so few access points, since the acceptance of Machu Picchu as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the tourism has endangered the serenity and power of the site with hotels, restaurants, boutiques, visitor centers, and the possibility of new intrusive access routes. The imposition of tourism on the site has not only had an effect on the site, but also on the indigenous people for whom it was a connection to their spiritual and cultural heritage because it is becoming less accessible to them as it becomes more geared for outsiders. Incan spiritual beliefs honor the natural elements, which can be noted in many aspects of the architecture and the fact that there were many temples and ritual spaces as a tribute of them. As a result, the Incas created a harmonious relationship with their context taking into consideration their natural environment, the people’s needs, and cultural and spiritual needs. To build on this site, and gracefully incorporate a building on this site needs to take all these factors into consideration.
W4_thoughts
-was looking at extreme environments
-was digging myself in a hole because it was becoming a system rather than something specific- too much variability
-took a step back and looked at my interests again other than climate on site
-and I’m interested in the relationship between topography and the building-so how a building is not just shoved into the ground but relates to its context
-I am also still interested in cultural context and being able to incorporate very local ideas into the building
-so I picked a location in South America because I’ve been there and I’m interested in ancient native cultures.. ex. Incas, mayans
-more specifically I picked one of the more researched and documented historical Incan sites, Machu Picchu
-the site has a lot going on within it, but also has had a lot of changes around it since it became a world heritage site because of the dramatic increase in tourism.
-was digging myself in a hole because it was becoming a system rather than something specific- too much variability
-took a step back and looked at my interests again other than climate on site
-and I’m interested in the relationship between topography and the building-so how a building is not just shoved into the ground but relates to its context
-I am also still interested in cultural context and being able to incorporate very local ideas into the building
-so I picked a location in South America because I’ve been there and I’m interested in ancient native cultures.. ex. Incas, mayans
-more specifically I picked one of the more researched and documented historical Incan sites, Machu Picchu
-the site has a lot going on within it, but also has had a lot of changes around it since it became a world heritage site because of the dramatic increase in tourism.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
W4_Site Matters
This reading is a reminder to be looking at a site at different scales while analyzing its many attributes, both physical and nonphysical through a variety of representation techniques rather than reproduction techniques. It seems so easy to zone into the specifics of a location, but there are many other factors that interact with the chosen site to be looking at. As Kahn talks about looking at the site for different things at a variety of scales, it is easy to notice an overlapping nature of information on sites. It creates a location with no definite boundaries.. it makes sense that relationships of a specific location doesn’t diminish along a given line on a map and I appreciate the idea that a site has a fluid motion linking it to its surroundings. The idea that there is connectivity through the porous nature of the site edges and layering of information allows for more influence by a site rather than closing it off.
Monday, September 14, 2009
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