Skip to Main Content
Frequently Asked Questions
Submit an ETD
Global Search Box
Need Help?
Keyword Search
Participating Institutions
Advanced Search
School Logo
Files
File List
ucin1242913668.pdf (11.95 MB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
Tectonics in the Twenty-first Century: The Expanded Notion of Structure and Its Perception in Architecture
Author Info
McCoy, Christina Glasgow
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1242913668
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2009, MS ARCH, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Architecture.
Abstract
This thesis is an exploration of the meaning of tectonics in contemporary architecture. The topic of tectonics can be approached as a relationship of an architectural structural concept with space/form, assembly, and surface. Recently, however, architectural historians and theorists such as Kenneth Frampton, with his 1990 essay, “Rappel à l'Ordre, the Case for the Tectonic,” and his 2006 book
Studies in Tectonic Culture: the Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture,
have questioned the capacity of contemporary architectural design culture to fully integrate the notion of tectonics, which calls for a highly expressive relationship between structural force and form, into today's built projects. Is the notion of tectonic architecture fading? Or, is the view of tectonics held by Frampton and his followers incomplete, rendering them a partial understanding of tectonic presence in contemporary architecture? Or, lastly, is the notion of tectonics no longer relevant considering the vast, rapid changes during the recent half-century in the creation and perception of architecture? This thesis hopes to address these questions with a survey of the meaning of “tectonic” that considers the challenges to its understanding in current architectural discourse and practice. It aims to grasp the strengths and weaknesses of Frampton's position. Further, opportunities to expand the definition of tectonics are sought, so that it may be shown to be relevant to changing values, design sensibilities, and technologies. In addition, a series of case studies will be presented that merit a new (or, in some cases, renewed) notion of tectonics. These case studies are selected based on the premise that they stand for a position that offers a relationship between form, space, surface, and assembly to the poetics of construction, but also that addresses the conditions that Frampton feared would render tectonic culture's demise. The conclusive message urges architectural discourse to seek out tectonic expression as a means to convey forces beyond the statical, such as cultural, economic, and technological.
Committee
G. Thomas Bible (Committee Chair)
John Hancock, E. (Committee Member)
Nnamdi Elleh (Committee Member)
Pages
158 p.
Subject Headings
Architecture
Keywords
tectonic
;
tectonics
;
structure
;
expression
;
Semper
;
Botticher
;
Frampton
Recommended Citations
Refworks
EndNote
RIS
Mendeley
Citations
McCoy, C. G. (2009).
Tectonics in the Twenty-first Century: The Expanded Notion of Structure and Its Perception in Architecture
[Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1242913668
APA Style (7th edition)
McCoy, Christina.
Tectonics in the Twenty-first Century: The Expanded Notion of Structure and Its Perception in Architecture.
2009. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1242913668.
MLA Style (8th edition)
McCoy, Christina. "Tectonics in the Twenty-first Century: The Expanded Notion of Structure and Its Perception in Architecture." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1242913668
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
Abstract Footer
Document number:
ucin1242913668
Download Count:
5,500
Copyright Info
© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.