Synopsis

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
(ARC61303/ARC2224)
SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2017)
Name: Kong Xhiang Lynn ID No.: 0317730
Lecturer: Mr. Nicholas Ng Tutorial Time:
Reader/Text Title: Learning from Las Vegas Synopsis No: 1
Author: Robert Venturi, Brown, Izenour
Learning from Las Vegas is a book where the communication in architecture as space through form and
symbols, is discussed. The authors emphasizes on the importance of in which architectural analysis
should be carried out in a non-judgmental way, calling to be more understanding and less authoritarian.
The difference in urban planning and form of architecture in Las Vegas in comparison to the cities of
Europe, especially Italian landscape in which the activities relevant towards the human scale is focused,
is heavily stressed throughout the discussion. Modernist focus on space by abandoning the tradition of
iconology has resulted in criticism of rejection towards the denotive symbolism. This then leads to the
topic where it discusses how symbolism is slowly replacing form as an expression or reinforcement of
content. This is then further explained through the topic “Symbol in Space before Form in Space” on
how the horizon of Las Vegas is dominated by the substantial and bright neon sign, allowing the drivers
to grasp the idea easily. Such a style is antispatial and is a form of communication over space, able to
create a bold and straightforward impact towards a vast site. Therefore, Las Vegas is well known as the
land of icon and symbolism. The chapter then ends with how symbolism sculpts the place, identifying
and unifying the megatexture of the landscape, and how spatial relationships are made by symbol rather
than by forms.
The authors’ theory and points above paint a similar image in today’s world, especially locally on how
Kuala Lumpur are dominated by many bright signage due to fact that immediate and straightforward
information is desired in a fast paced and intense lifestyle of the city. This would then become a
challenge for the future designers to create or design an architecture as the play of forms is futile in
conveying strong messages as compared to symbolism.
Word Count: 311 Mark Grade
Assessed by: Date Page No.

(ARC61303/ARC2224)
Reader/Text Title: The Geometry of Feeling Synopsis No: 2
Author: Juhani Pallasmaa
In Pallasmaa study of “The Geometry of Feeling”, discusses about the personal connectivity and feelings
that an individual would feel and experience towards an architecture. The writing starts off with questions
on why olden or archetypal architecture gives off a more fond connection in comparison to the modern
buildings today which only arouses curiosity but no sense of meaning of our own world or existence.
Pallasmaa then states that architecture is a play with form as it could give users different experience
while in a particular building. In one part of the writing, he also state that today’s era focuses more on
the reduction and visual perception, resulting in a stale concrete built up which does not connect with
the user through the reality of experience. The writing then continues with how the artistic dimension
of the work does not only lie in the physical form, but rather the image it arouses towards the
consciousness of the people experiencing it. Also, architecture should always be in contact with sensory
memories, otherwise it is only a mere meaningless ornamentation. The statement is then further
explained by how architecture mainly stems from common images and basic feelings and by providing
examples of memory and feeling of an occupant in relation to a given context. Pallasmaa also emphasize
on how spaces are mainly defined by the users based on their memory and past experiences, such as
how a window can arouses the past images of the landscape one used to look at, and how dark or
bright spaces brings back the warmth one used to feel or experience. The author states that architecture
should also be built based on primary feelings as it is the most genuine “basic vocabulary” of
architecture, at the same time, suggesting that a strong architectural experience produce a sense of
loneliness by disregarding other external interactions. The writing is then ended with a discussion on
how a church may be built and understood based on feeling.
Personally, I do not agree with Pallasmaa statement of “architecture as a play with form”, to produce a
good architecture, one should also take in consideration of the contextual elements and geographical
studies in combination with the practical purpose of a building. And only with all these elements that
one could produce an architecture which could in-fill the site seamlessly and yet at the same time
provide spaces which arouses images through multisensory experience.

(ARC61303/ARC2224)
Reader/Text Title: Towards a Critical Regionalism Synopsis No: 3
Author: Kenneth Frampton
Kenneth Frampton’s “Towards a Critical Regionalism” emphasizes on the issues in achieving an ideal
critical regionalism. The issues are being discussed in chapters where one speaks about the cultural and
natural aspects of the issue, whilst the other mention about the importance of visual versus the tactile
aspects, both which Frampton believes are fundamental in achieving critical regionalism. For the first
chapter, culture versus nature, Frampton write on how modernization tends to rationalize construction
and building site through the usage of construction equipment and re-sculpting the topography,
resulting in a current architectural language of a global appeal lacking in local enticement. The writer
then stresses on how the culture of the specific region is significant, as a site or building has a capacity
to embody the prehistory and transformation of the place, thus expressing the idiosyncrasies of the
place as a built form. Frampton also explains how contextual elements provides identity to a site or
building, through the usage of windows to provide fenestration and also usage of artificial lights in
galleries. The chapter is then ended with a reference by the architectural historian Stanford Anderson’s
“Tektonik” on how structures and materials should be a presentation of a structural poetic rather than
solely for its structural purpose.
Visual verses the tactile, which is the second chapter of the extraction writes about how sensory is
equally an important dimension in analyzing a built form. The statement is then supported with
arguments about how visual and tactile are used to seduce the user into architecture throughout the
years and also how each era uses either of the sensory organs in a different manner. Through the
examples given from Frampton, it shows evidence that how tactile can only be decoded in terms of
experience itself as it can hardly be able to be conveyed through information. Therefore, the chapter is
then ended with how critical regionalism seeks to complement our normative visual experience and
how today’s era focuses more on rationalized sight or clear seeing rather than the tactile experience of
humans.
After reading the extraction, I agree on most of the statement made by Frampton especially on how he
stresses on the importance of tactile over visual. Personally, I felt that tactile is a more honest and
sincere way of analyzing a built form rather than visual, as each and every person have their own
perspective of “beauty”. But through sensory, the experience is more overwhelming and true to the user

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