A House is a Machine for Living In

Yesterday was the third DMP session where everyone fairly informally discussed their main concept or proposition to the class. Definitely an interesting and varied group of creative people we are!

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I did a simple slideshow which I believe purveyed my main thoughts on “A machine is a house for living in”. I went with this topic mainly because John advised us not to do anything [too] outrageous – to stick within the realms of what we know. There's also the fact that this particular proposition conjures up a really wide selection of still very socially relevant thoughts and avenues to explore so there is plenty of material there to be picked to pieces.

The sorts of thought trails I have been pondering include

Architecture vs. Nature

Man vs. Machine

Natural Perfection

The Golden Section

Fibonacci numbers

All of which play a part in my thinking about a machine being a house for living in. Warren [a fellow CDM MA student] suggested that I take look at a short television series called “The Code” which is about the perfect ratios that occur in nature which I find particularly fascinating. Completely natural happenings, unaffected by humans, in fact influencing us in the hunt for divine proportions within architecture. The contrast between what is seemingly left to chance and what is meticulously calculated is a dilemma I will be looking into, given that nature influences architecture in so many different ways. 

An example of Fibonacci numbers

in a common daisy

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A few years back I bought a wonderful book, Nature in Design, by Alan Powers who has written much about design, and architecture in particular. I rediscovered it today! Expect snippets, articles and imagery when I have re-read it. Already turning to the first couple of pages there are small articles on Le Corbusier and Man and Machines i.e. the Industrial Revolution. Also a fantastically exciting era in history in terms of the development of design and new discoveries and inventions – perhaps something else to delve into? Already so many sub-paths to explore...