Craft
Architectural historian Kenneth Frampton points out that “[i]n the last analysis, everything turns as much in exactly how something is realized as on an overt manifestation of its form… the presencing of a work is inseparable from the manner of its foundation in the ground and the ascendancy of its structure through the interplay of support, span, seam and joint–the rhythm of its revetment and the modulation of its fenestration.” The craft of building, its sensual and sensate qualities frame the way we experience our living environment. The touch of the balustrade, the roughness of the brick wall, the sturdiness of a column and the soft cover of grass are part and parcel of our everyday experience of our homes. Often when we point out the extraordinary material and construction details of our homes, we fail to mention these more mundane somatic experiences of our built environment. But these less-fantastic experiences are central to the way we understand and remember our worlds.
Our focus on craft, be it the carefully designed and laid out rooms, the well designed kitchen cabinets, or the careful construction details, points towards an ethics of stewardship and caring that sustain our lives. The skill and dexterity of making and caring for these homes is expressed through craft. Kenneth Frampton, Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1995), 26-27 |
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