Notes on the Associative Form Of (Some) Spanish Towns.

Notes on the Associative Form Of (Some) Spanish Towns. . .

Andres Mignucci-Ciannoni

1 (By way of introduction:

"We are estranged from that with which we are most familiar"

HeracHtus

The epigraph by HeracHtus (brought to us by Olson) points to one of the basic realities of 20th c. America, in particular the relation between its people and the built and natural environment in which they live.

When architecture is seen as the building of supportive settings for man's daily existence, it has to, be definition, be concerned and ultimately contribute to return man to that with which he is now estranged:

The basic collective and individual processes which outline and structure his relationship with what (really) counts,

his fellow men and the built and natural environment (the FIELD: that TOTALITY in which he stands.

(Some) Spanish towns are part of a set of built references which illustrate a reciprocal/supportive relation between form, use, and the natural landscape/context. The essence of these towns is that their form is (both) a

CONTINUATION OF THE CONTEXT (and an

EXPRESSfONOFTHEiRCONTENT.

It is not a continuation by repeating, mimicking, or copying the existing (or any other "stylistic" borrowing), but by and through an understanding of the IMPLICIT PRINCIPLES, rules/laws, and relationships embodied in them.

So, the central premise is that these towns, THISTOTALITY, ISCOHERENT

(with the field in which they stand and with the forces acting on them.

Man is but one of these forces which

.along with

sun earth water leaf

shape these towns in a generative/ additive way. They are not "made" by

an individual or entity, (or in a specific point in timef

but by many people in a continuous layering of phases.

This additive generation gets rid of the individual as ego by the simple insistence that man is not the center of phenomena, but is an object among all all objects of nature. He is part of phenomena, it is the self in relation to things, not self as ego. As part of this world, of this natural and human world, man is, both, object and subject of architecture, Spanish towns are intimately particular because they belong to those who inhabit them as an EXTENSION OF NATURE.

Form as an extension of a range of forces acting in a field/context

natural forces, such as topography and climate,

social forces, culture, politics, economics, and

physical forces, the nature of local/available

materials and the processes

governing their assemblage,- - .

yields a number of multiple expressions, supportive to what is already

there. This is one reason why us 'visitors', with no prior relationships

experience to that part of the world, can feel comfortable in it. We can

ASSOCIATE optionally with a wide RANGE OF DEFINITIONS rather than

a single set of prescribed form-uli.

For different people, under different circumstances and conditions, a form will evoke different associations, new and changing meanings. ASSOCIATIVE FORM has the capacity to allow and accept a RANGE OF INTERPRETATION AND EXPRESSIONS. However, among the different 'particular1 expressions, there are always constant relationships which bind these meaning fragments into a coherent whole. Form definitions are, then, an assemblage of STRUCTURED PARTICULARS, generated through a set of CENERALIZABLE PRINCIPLES which follow the FORCES OF THE CONTEXT.

These 'particular' form definitions structure TERRITORIES. Territories serve as settings for USE, the interpretation/expression of our associations through our interaction with physical form. Territories, 'places', are then defined, articulated, and supported by form. Building processes structure form into concrete realities. Inthisway. ..

USE by way of the BUILT to FORM

FORM by way of USE to TERRITORY

TERRITORY by way of FORM to USE

USE

FORM

TERRITORY and

THE PROCESSESOFTHEIRGENERATION

are, then, aspects of thesameTOTALITY,

ASSOCIATION. They are indivisible, for one can not exist without the other.

Form is the result of the interaction between externa! and interna! forces. Every force acting in a medium, in and as part of a FIELD OF FORCES. Any process induced by forces makes sense only in reference to its surroundings as an interaction between the forces and the medium in which they act. This is real CONTEXTualism, CONTINUITY at all levels:

with what is there

with nature

with the landscape

with man

his way of life and customs AND WITH THE NATURE OF FORM ITSELF. In a fieid of force, form is generated through 3 basic sets of relationships:

those that come from phenomenologicai forces or 'constancies',

those informed by the physical and social context,

and 3 those that come from the nature of materials and their processes.

Following these forces, these places are continuous with their source they grow through movement in a certain fluid, dynamic non-hierarchical or mechanical way.

Form making is never finished

but continued additively

with each definition serving as a reference for the next.

In this way, buildings and their spatial counterpart, territories, grow from the existing through movement to the articulation of such movement through the partial definition of parts reinforcing the direction of the landscape.

The landscape is (in general) the principal generator of the overall form. The continuity of access and building INTENSIFIES and reinforces the CONTINUITY of the LANDSCAPE. The built intensifies the already existing landscape definition. These places are based on a (strong) directional field following water and topographic contours. In other towns, as a response to severe climatic conditions (and the need for defense), landscape characteristics are TRANSFORMED. Additional containments (including defensive walls) and interior patios appear as a form response in these transformed towns.

One can identify a number of constant relationships between certain types of context clues and the particular modes of form behavior. The (relative) CONTINUITY of the landscape generates the DIRECTION of UNITS OF MOTION, access, as well as the general organization of the town.

PARTIAL CONTAINMENTS through the DEFINITION OF

BOUNDARIES and their EDGE DISPLACEMENTS structure UNITS OF REST

PLACES OF/FOR USE. These units of movements and rest are structured as stable entities through DIMENSIONAL, POSITIONAL, AND DIRECTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS articulated by the consistent use of typological and topological families of form definitions.

In these towns, BUILT FORM IS GENERATED THROUGH A NATURAL

Inthesetowns, BUILTFORMISGENERATEDTHROUGH A NATURAL ORDER existing in the LANDSCAPE (or FIELD

through MOVEMENT and USE

from the CONTEXT

This suggests a greater relatedness and harmony between PEOPLE

PHYSICAL OBJECTS SOCIETY and its INSTITUTIONS and THE BUILT AND NATURAL LANDSCAPE

IN WHICH THEY LIVE. It is possible, through OBSERVATION to explore the intrinsic nature of these towns (form definitions, elements, and resultant territories) and the principles and laws governing their generation,

so that PROJECTED new environments can also be CONTINUOUS WITH THEIR CONTENT/CONTEXT.

THESE PRINCIPLES ARE VOCABULARIES OF BUILDING WHICH ARE EMPLOYED/CAN BE EMPLOYED TO GENERATE VARIABLE AND RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENTS AS POSITIVE EXTENSIONS FROM, AND APPROPRIATE TO THE CONTEXT AND CONTENT OF THE HUMAN AND NATURAL UNIVERSE OF THOSE WHO INHABIT IT.

photographs and drawings by Andres Mignucci and Tom Hille.