Architecture and Machine Driven Culture Essay

America in the early 1920s was an increasingly machine-driven culture. The art and design of the Americans during that period portrayed an increasing application and primacy of the machine. The period which was riddled with the introduction of the European avant-garde styles was marked as the prime of experimentation and invention of the machine in architectural designs. The shapes of the cities and homes and modification of electric appliances such as redefined leisures of radios and 'reduced' distance of telephone coverage were all enhanced by home electricity-powered machines. Most designers attached high value on the machine based on the quality services that it offered in architecture and they promoted its aesthetic. The aesthetics of the machine was assumed by almost all objects that could be molded or decorated such as molded plastics, shiny metals, and mirrored glasses. Besides its application on objects that could be molded, the machine was also useful in modifying objects into smaller spaces such as radios that increasingly became smaller. It is startling that the fusion of machine in architecture has not been universally celebrated. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the theme "Architecture & Machine Driven Culture" and investigate the different movements and their points of view.

Architecture can be more than simply a shelter from the elements only if it is infused and inspired with meaning and it must portray how humans live on earth. It can only achieve this by operating as a passive thinking machine that portrays conceptual ideas. The idea of the machine is embodied in architecture in several ways and as discussed by Uzun and Tekinerdogan in 2018, human dwellings are the construction of memorable machines which indicate the time of human habits. With the introduction of the information age, there has been an increasing fusion between architecture and other subjects, such as cybernetics. This has called for the increasing use of soft architecture machines which are based on the computer system that generates various thinking methods of architectural designs and forms. Architecture can only become a machine if the optimization befits the requirements of human beings irrespective of the power of the internal and external evolution. For instance, in the Wingscrape project, the memory metal is used to expand, swell and shrink the architecture machines as required. However, if the architectural machine is offered intelligence to be artificial, it may have the capacity to identify the problems and find their solutions using different kinds of algorithms. According to Stiehl (2014), machines are incorporated in architecture to be able to perceive the important information from a biased environment, have the initiative of internal computations and handle concepts and relationships for people. A machine in architecture is not only a problem reader but also a solution solver.

Doubtlessly, machines are relevant for architectural design processes. However, technology can only play an integral role in enhancing human lives if machines can both produce quality outcomes and possess superior abilities. There has been increasing use of the machine in architecture. At the beginning of the depression, there was a shift from art patronage to business. The industry drove design and the machine aesthetic was widely used in homes through different consumer items. The machine aesthetics have widely become acceptable; hence most of its designs have become more common. Over the years, remarkable changes have taken place over machine use in architecture. The stages of change are characterized by the objectives of the designers and the demands of the clients. As witnessed in 1934 at Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition, more emphasis was put on consumerism and labor-saving machines. Functionalism- the idea that a form of an object and its appearance should be determined by its objectives-was the driving force in the American design by the mid-thirties. However, the idea was later overtaken by the modern style which is viewed as simple, sanitary, practical and convenient. A conclusive study of machine aesthetic in connection to architecture can perfectly be covered by discussing arts and craft movements.

Arts and Crafts Movement

The arts and crafts movement was a British and American aesthetic movement that occurred between the 19th and 20th century. It was a reformist movement that had a major impact on American architecture, crafts, and decorative arts. The protagonists of the movement such as William Morris and Walter Crane viewed machine as the primary cause of all repetitive and mundane evils. The first movement was Art Nouveau and it was launched in 1880 and existed for 34 years. This style of art was characterized by a stylish flowing; curvilinear designs that often incorporated floral motifs. This artistic style was also characterized by the use of hyperbolas and parabolas. It embraced the machine age and used the machine to its advantage. The second movement was modernism which existed between 1880 and 1940. This style of art heavily rejected the use of the machine and decorative motifs in design but emphasized more on the materials used and pure geometrical forms (Barnhart & Bokath, 2011). Futurism was the third artistic movement that existed between 1910 and 1945. It embraced technological progress and extensively used machines in design construction. This movement was motivated by the mechanism of war, which led to the glorification of war in resulting works. Art Deco is another artistic movement that existed between 1910 and 1940. It was a fusion of different styles and movements of the early 20th century and it was purely decorative. It also embraced the use of the machine in architectural designs. Bauhaus movement began in 1920 and ended in 1934. It became an influential current in modern architecture but its ethos changed many times, thus it is impossible to exemplify its work. It is also commonly believed that Bauhaus style immensely applied machine in designing arts.

Both surrealism and streamlining applied the machine concept in architectural designs. They revolutionized human experience by freeing people from falsehood. Streamlining was the first style to incorporate electric light into architectural structures. Both organic design and Scandinavian modern started in the mid-90s and they still exist. The organic design does not encourage the use of the machine in designing arts since it promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world (Barnhart & Bokath, 2011). However, the Scandinavian modern use machine in its art productions and it is characterized by simple, uncomplicated designs and low-cost mass production. Minimalism is also another artistic movement that embraced the machine in its production. It encouraged the use of geometric forms and use of light.

Conclusion

In summary, the application of machine in architecture has grossly enhanced the production fine arts. Numerous changes have occurred over the years in relation to machine use in architecture with each stage of change characterized by the aim of the designers and the quality of the machine. Machine infusion in architecture makes the process of designing buildings and structures more complete and reflect the current human activities on earth. With introduction of information age, the use of machine in architecture has become more useful to the industry than ever. The machine anaesthetics have widely been accepted across the globe. However, there are some protagonists of the arts movement such as William Morris who were completely against its application in architecture.

References

Barnhart, E. N., & Bokath, C. A. (2011). Considerations for Machine-to-Machine communications architecture and security standardization. 2011 IEEE 5th International Conference on Internet Multimedia Systems Architecture and Application. doi:10.1109/imsaa.2011.6156367

Stiehl, V. (2014). Architecture Process-driven applications Architecture of Process-Driven Applications. Process-Driven Applications with BPMN, 43-109. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-07218-0_3

Uzun, B., & Tekinerdogan, B. (2018). Model Driven Architecture based Testing Tool based on Architecture Views. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Model-Driven Engineering and Software Development. doi:10.5220/0006603604040410