Architecture as a discursive discipline: inflatable spaces of radical avant-gardes

Download
2019
Eryılmaz, Emine Burcu
This thesis is an inquiry into the inflatable architecture of avant-garde architects, produced from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. Positioning this strand at the transformation of architectural discourse, it starts with the assumption that the period between the late 1960s and the early 1970s marked a paradigm shift in architecture, catalyzed by the technological developments and; social, political and cultural upheavals during this period. This shift represents a break from the conventional definitions of architecture and necessitates to draw a new frame for the boundaries of the discipline. It is the claim of the study that inflatable works of avant-gardes were referred to as tools which made the shift visible, moving outside the conventional boundaries of the discipline into an “expanded field.” As an agent which contributed to the expansion of limits of the discipline, inflatable space provides a ground to discuss the transformation of architectural discourse and helps in identifying the contours of an emerging shift during this period. Through a reading of the inflatable works of avant-gardes, this thesis aims at not only exploring this new generation of architects characterized by their radical and critical ideas but also constructing an overall frame for new elements, concepts and relations emerged in architectural discourse. Briefly, it is a demonstration of how inflatable spaces became creative environments in architectural culture, and accordingly, it seeks to answer the following question: “how the inflatable spaces can be interpreted as tools to read the epistemological shift in architectural thinking?”

Suggestions

Analysis of the limits of representation of architectural photographic images in periodicals
Bakht, Nazlı; Güzer, Celal Abdi; Department of Architecture (2007)
This study aims to analyze the limits of representation of architectural photographic images in periodicals within architectural media that shape today’s architectural production. This aim is accomplished in three sections; “examining the power of image in architecture”; “examining architectural media” and “examining the periodicals’ attitudes towards using architectural photography”. A case study is done to uncover the relationship between the photograph and the medium that it takes place on and determine ...
Reconsidering architectural program within the framework of conjectures and refutations: the design studies journal
Özten, Ülkü; Özkar, Mine; Department of Architecture (2014)
The discussion of program in the field of history and theory of the Modern Movement in architecture enters a new period in the 1960s and 70s under the influence of the strong embodiment of science and technology in the field of design research. Beginning with this period, the idea of program arises both in a series of generations parallel to a specialized, sophisticated understanding of design and as an autonomous professional area of study. While the concept was being largely developed under the influence ...
Architecture as an apparatus of “immortalization and glorification”: a critical analysis of wittgensteinian [true] architecture
Turan, Oktay; Cengizkan, Ali; Department of Architecture (2007)
This study is an inquiry into architecture understood as an apparatus of immortalization and glorification by means of a dialectic formulation on the architecture of the synecdochic Interwar (angst) Period (1919-1939) based on the assumptions of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951). It is claimed that a dialectical relation between Wittgenstein and his contemporaries may contribute to the understanding of the conceptions regarding ideal of [true] architecture itself. The thesis suggests that these assumptions ma...
Exhibitions as the medium of architectural reproduction "modern architecture: international exhibition"
Tabibi, Baharak; Gür, Berin Fatma; Department of Architecture (2005)
This thesis studies the influential role of architectural exhibitions in shaping and directing architectural discourses. The study accepts architectural exhibitions and associated publications as the أcritical actؤ of architecture, in which (the work of) architecture is interpreted, reproduced and publicized. The main focus of this thesis is أModern Architecture: International Exhibition,ؤ held in 1932 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). This particular exhibition is a significant historical event, which of...
Physical and virtual : transformation of the architectural model
Arpak, Aslı; Mennan, Zeynep; Department of Architecture (2008)
Today the most prosperous interface of architectural design and representation has become the architectural model both in its digital and physical forms. There has been a shift in the design medium from the physical modeling processes to computer-aided design, by way of which the computational design methods have established a much more dynamic, complex, and continual design. In this process, the digital design model now accompanies the whole design as a single entity, contrary to conventional analog modeli...
Citation Formats
E. B. Eryılmaz, “Architecture as a discursive discipline: inflatable spaces of radical avant-gardes,” Thesis (M.Arch.) -- Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences. Architecture., Middle East Technical University, 2019.