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pneumatology [2008-02-17 19:17] – 217.166.72.254pneumatology [2008-02-17 21:27] – 217.166.72.254
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  //playfulness//   //playfulness// 
  //modularity//</sub>  //modularity//</sub>
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 [[Italo Calvino]] underlines this quality as one of his ‘Six Memos for the Next Millennium’, in here he describes a scene from Cernavantes’ novel, leaving me with an unforgettable impression of lightness, in which Don Quixote drives his lance through the sail of a windmill and is hoisted up into the air. And I wonder can we construct our worlds from this lightness. [[Italo Calvino]] underlines this quality as one of his ‘Six Memos for the Next Millennium’, in here he describes a scene from Cernavantes’ novel, leaving me with an unforgettable impression of lightness, in which Don Quixote drives his lance through the sail of a windmill and is hoisted up into the air. And I wonder can we construct our worlds from this lightness.
 Imagine a life more light and imagine it to be constructed more mobile, flexible, portable, organic and more related to our natural surroundings and the elements, and that we can create our homes or shelters wherever our heart is with no fixed form or any beginning and end, either spatially or in time. Imagine a life more light and imagine it to be constructed more mobile, flexible, portable, organic and more related to our natural surroundings and the elements, and that we can create our homes or shelters wherever our heart is with no fixed form or any beginning and end, either spatially or in time.
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-And I wonder can we construct our worlds from the lightest quality surrounding us everywhere: –air-. 
-Air's once palpable presence in contemporary architecture has become largely invisible. Our architecture is often asphyxiating its inhabitants, both mentally and physically and it has aswell often become the creation of novel photogenic images. Buildings neither breathe nor allow breath.  
  
 The Renaissance embodied the idea of air or better ‘pneuma’ [wind, air, breath, spirit and soul] in their art of building. One of the primary goals of renaissance architects was to enhance the powers of pneuma so as to foster the art of well-being, essence, wind and ventilation were core principles of classical buildings. Pneuma was a wonderful link for establishing harmony between the human body, architecture and the cosmos, and that building was envisioned as a mediator between the inhabitant's soul and the -anima mundi-, the soul of the world.  The Renaissance embodied the idea of air or better ‘pneuma’ [wind, air, breath, spirit and soul] in their art of building. One of the primary goals of renaissance architects was to enhance the powers of pneuma so as to foster the art of well-being, essence, wind and ventilation were core principles of classical buildings. Pneuma was a wonderful link for establishing harmony between the human body, architecture and the cosmos, and that building was envisioned as a mediator between the inhabitant's soul and the -anima mundi-, the soul of the world. 
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  Philibert Delorme's [French Renaissance architect 1514 -1570] describes that -the prudent architect is fully utilizing all his senses, and explains that the sense-less architect has "little nose" because he does not have the intuition of good things-, is evidence that the pneumatic architectural imagination is multi-sensorial. Renaissance notions of pneuma revealed a concern for the connectedness of person and place where architecture can refine the qualities of air to.  Philibert Delorme's [French Renaissance architect 1514 -1570] describes that -the prudent architect is fully utilizing all his senses, and explains that the sense-less architect has "little nose" because he does not have the intuition of good things-, is evidence that the pneumatic architectural imagination is multi-sensorial. Renaissance notions of pneuma revealed a concern for the connectedness of person and place where architecture can refine the qualities of air to.
  
-Inflatable architecture is simply constructed from the air surrounding us, it is specifically bodily and tactile by nature and they have the quality of lightness in the sense of its portability, its mobility, its playfulness, and its closely relatedness to its surroundings through its thin flexible membrane, acting as our third skin and above all it's able to give shape of –air- itself.+And in wondering if we can construct our worlds from the lightest quality surrounding us everywhere: –air- inflatable architecture comes the closests. Its thin flexible membrane, acts as a space-defining skin is able to give shape of –air- itself allowing it to be a breathing unity with its own integrity. Its close related to its surrounding and it is specifically bodily and tactile by nature and its portable, mobile, and playful.  
  
  
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 The main quality of these inflatables is that they are alive. In such a way that it are inflatable spaces you want to be emerged with, play with, be involved with and for the rest: The main quality of these inflatables is that they are alive. In such a way that it are inflatable spaces you want to be emerged with, play with, be involved with and for the rest:
  
-  * They have a scale somewhere between our second, and third skin (ps. the first skin is our own skin, the [[second skin]] our clothes, the 3rd skin our rooms and buildings.)+  * They have a scale somewhere between our second, and third skin (ps. the first skin is our own skin, the [[second skin]] our clothes, the third skin our rooms and buildings.)
   * They have a nomadic character, in such a way that they are mobile or portable   * They have a nomadic character, in such a way that they are mobile or portable
   * They can be seen as breathing living organisms in which their visitors can become co-structures of a space.   * They can be seen as breathing living organisms in which their visitors can become co-structures of a space.
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 One can simply tape, stitch or iron the layer plastics together, make a hole and mount a table-ventilator and voila there is an inflated space. To enter the space; take a knife and make an incision. One can simply tape, stitch or iron the layer plastics together, make a hole and mount a table-ventilator and voila there is an inflated space. To enter the space; take a knife and make an incision.
 Its a quick medium to construct a space, one can practice building over and over again, every time deepening its patterns, until you know exactly how to realize spaces which works. Its a quick medium to construct a space, one can practice building over and over again, every time deepening its patterns, until you know exactly how to realize spaces which works.
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 ===== Some general problem domains in contemporary architecture===== ===== Some general problem domains in contemporary architecture=====
-While reading Juhani Pallasmaa’s little book -[[The Eyes of the Skin]]- he described some general problem domains in our contemporary architecture which were laying on the tip of my tongue.+Juhani Pallasmaa’s described in -[[The Eyes of the Skin]]- some general problem domains in our contemporary architecture:
  
   * The current over-emphases of intellectual and conceptual dimensions of architecture contributes to the disappearance of its physical, sensual and embodied essence.    * The current over-emphases of intellectual and conceptual dimensions of architecture contributes to the disappearance of its physical, sensual and embodied essence. 
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 [reference to :There is a Timeless Way of Building- patterns of events]\\ [reference to :There is a Timeless Way of Building- patterns of events]\\
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    ***Design considerations for inflatable structures**    ***Design considerations for inflatable structures**
-After Coming across some problematic patterns among my own experience of creating inflatables, and the inflatable structures of the architects of Airs’s Luminarium and some more colleagues,  I thought its worthwhile to acknowledge the most common obstacles one comes across in inflatable structures anyhow. When we are able to surpass these obstacles, these structures will be more stable and alive. It considers issues like; dominant odors, choosing the right materials, energy sources, climate control etc. In this part no solutions will be given to any design problem, but some suggestions will be given so now and then…\\+After Coming across some problematic patterns in creating inflatables myself, and the inflatable structures of the architects of Airs’s Luminarium and some more colleagues,  I thought its worthwhile to acknowledge the most common obstacles one comes across in inflatable structures anyhow. When we are able to surpass these obstacles, these structures will be more stable and alive. It considers issues like; dominant odors, choosing the right materials, energy sources, climate control etc. In this part no solutions will be given to any design problem, but some suggestions will be given so now and then…\\
  
  
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  • Last modified: 2009-08-30 15:25
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