Brookfield Community and Youth Centre The concrete walls and ceiling in the vestibule Architect: Hasset Ducatez Architects Location: Brookfield, Dublin Type: Culture and youth centre Built: 2007 Photo: USM
Can tectonic thinking form a basis for new strategies for contemporary sustainable building practices? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand to what extent and in what manner the paradigm of sustainability influences the realm of the tectonic. As a point of departure we look at the Classical theories by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, author of De Architectura in the first century AD. In this classical doctrine on architecture he stated that architectural quality occurs in buildings, when the quality both includes firmitas (durability), utilitas (utility), and venustas (delight) (Rowland and Howe, 1999). Firmitas concerns aspects of materials and construction in architecture that are relevant to physical durability of buildings. Utilitas concerns the functional issues of architecture that is to say the building’s capacity to respond to the demands or needs asked for by peopleand society through various times. Venustas concerns the beauty of architecture, which in a Classical Vitruvian sense was about the building’s ability to mime (from O.Gr. ‘Mimesis’) the cosmic order of nature. In this light, it is interesting to look at the concept of the tectonic, defined by Gottfried Semper, who has qualified a contemporary understanding of the concept (Beim, 2004). Two aspects of his tectonic theories are particularly interesting. First and foremost he defines the tectonic as a result of conscious artistic work (Semper, 1851). Secondly, he sees the tectonic aspects of architecture concerning the material properties and the design of constructions, whereas the functional dimensions of architecture are paid less attention. (Beim 2004, p. 49). Following the first point, it is worth noting that tectonic features in architecture must involve an artistic idea. It can be argued that tectonic work has a ‘purpose’; it involves intention 7