From time immemorial have the natural elements determined and influenced man's thinking and expression of his being in the world. They stood at the center of Greek philosophy and led to the rise of early atomic theory. They lost the status of being the 'root' of everything existing, i.e. matter in its most basic form, only during the Enlightenment's chemical re-structuring of the universe. Nonetheless in terms of their physical presence the elements remain at the forefront of our encounter with the world. They are real pressures, related forces of changing material consistency, more concrete than just space and time, and surrounded by a meta-physical spell-power that inspires our actions today as it did so thousands of years ago. In terms of architecture, the elements invigorate a built structure and co-determine a building's experiential reality. They define basic characteristics of each place, indicate the presence of certain materials, and act according to precise geo-physical rules and rhythms. In more abstract terms, the element's analysis provides the general laws and specific tools through which the architect's ideas can become real.
Forced to interact with them during construction, one ought to keep in mind their brute powers - earth's crushing heaviness, the erratic character of water, air's thermo-dynamic cataclysms, or the dangerous benignity of fire. Affective in a direct way, they act as guiding principles in the process of realization: While the earth targets the foundations, the roof shields from water, the openings control the flow of air, and the walls protect from the gleaming sun.
- ISBN10 8434313359
- ISBN13 9788434313354
- Publish Date 1 September 2014
- Publish Status Transferred
- Publish Country ES
- Imprint Ediciones Poligrafa
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 240
- Language Spanish