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Reading/unfolding Architectural Form: An Inquiry Into The Venice Hospital Project By Le Corbusier

This study aims to discuss the generative possibilities of reading architectural form by focusing on selected interpretations of the Venice Hospital project by Le Corbusier. By presenting complementary and competing readings of the project, it examines different design strategies in the formal organization of the Venice Hospital. It shows that the Venice
Hospital project, displaying the characteristics of both a &ldquo / field&rdquo / organization and a well-articulated object, demands a reconsideration of the occasionally overstated distinction
between them.

First, it introduces interpretations of the Venice Hospital as a field and/or mat-building phenomenon, which emphasize its relevance as a precedent for contemporary formal explorations. The complexity of the Venice Hospital project requires appealing to other reading strategies as well. Based on the discussion initiated by Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter in &ldquo / The Crisis of the Object: The Predicament of Texture,&rdquo / and owing to Alan Colquhoun&rsquo / s analysis of the project&rsquo / s
geometrical system in &ldquo / Formal and Functional Interactions,&rdquo / this study proceeds by exploring the way the Venice Hospital becomes &ldquo / an object performing like a texture.&rdquo / It attempts to
decipher Colquhoun&rsquo / s remarks and his diagrams concerning the geometrical system through the technique of the &ldquo / plan analysis&rdquo / introduced by Klaus-Peter Gast. The Venice Hospital
project is also studied as an example of transparent spatial organization, in light of the conceptual framework developed by Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky in their &ldquo / Transparency&rdquo / articles.

Starting from these interpretations of the Venice Hospital project, this study aims at bringing into discussion the nature of the devices or techniques of formal organization that can
mediate between architecture and urbanism. These devices are examined in light of the framework constituted by the concepts of &ldquo / device&rdquo / and &ldquo / material,&rdquo / elucidated by the Russian
Formalists. The &ldquo / device and material relationship&rdquo / that was invoked in the formalist tradition of literary criticism, is reformulated for the field of architecture, and it is discussed with its capacity to initiate generative and inclusive interpretations of works of architecture as
precedents.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12606708/index.pdf
Date01 September 2005
CreatorsCinar, Sinem
ContributorsAkozer, Emel
PublisherMETU
Source SetsMiddle East Technical Univ.
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypePh.D. Thesis
Formattext/pdf
RightsTo liberate the content for public access

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