critical regionalism is a very important term in contemporary architecture

1. CONTEMPORARY ARCHTECTURE:
SEMINAR
GUIDED BY:
AR. KULDEEP BHATIA
PRESENTED BY:
• ASHITA CHOUDHRY
• SNEHAL JAIN
• HARSHITA JAIN
• SHIVANI SALI

2. CRITICAL
REGIONALISM

3. CRICTICAL REGIONALISM
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURECLIMATE
TOPOGRAPHY
CULTURE
LOCAL MATERIALS
LOCATION
TRADITION
CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
HISTORY
CHARACTERISTICS
POPULATION DENSITY
LANDSCAPE

4. MODERNISM
REGIONALISM
CRICTICAL REGIONALISM
INTERNATIONAL STYLE
TOPOGRAPHY
ORNAMENTATION
TECTONIC
CLIMATE
SIMPLICITY
MODERN TRADITION
LESS IS MORE
EXPRESSIONISMELECTICISM
“The science or art of construction, both in relation to
use and artistic design."
POST MODERNISM
TROPICAL
MODERNISM

5. • Critical regionalism is an approach
to architecture that strives to counter the
placelessness and lack of identity of
the International Style, but also rejects the
whimsical individualism and ornamentation of
Postmodern architecture.
• Critical regionalism is not simply regionalism in the
sense of vernacular architecture. It is a
progressive approach to design that seeks to
mediate between the global and the local
languages of architecture.
CRICTICAL REGIONALISM

6. • The term critical regionalism was first used by Alexander
Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre and later more famously by
Kenneth Frampton.
• In the 1980’s a few architects and theorists were
disappointed with the direction that architecture was taking
under the influence of postmodernism.
• Rather than unveiling the historicity of style in their
designs, postmodern architects became another avant garde
(New and experimental ideas) that produced designs that
mimicked classical style.

7. PAUL RICOUR:
"How to be modern and to continue the tradition, how to revive an old
dormant civilization as part of universal civilization?“
• Frampton in his essay argues that it is "critical to adopt" universal values of modernism, taking into account the geographical
context of the building. Frampton does not want to refer directly to "folklore", but to the climate, light, topography, and
"local tectonic form", which should be understood as historical and geographical conditions of the construction industry.
• Track of phenomenology in a critical regionalism can be read with an attitude, according to which any form of modernism
can be criticized without prejudice, AS IT IS, and not through the prism of sins, for which you may not bear the
responsibility.
• In this perspective, critical regionalism should be treated as a "reformed modernism" and probably for this reason, the best
designs are made by architects from countries far from a universal bustle of big cities.

8. ARCHITECTS GEOFFREY BAWA
MARIO BOTTA
JORN UTZON
ALVAR ALTO
TADAO ANDO
CHARLES CORREA

9. • Highly personal in his approach, evoking the pleasures of the senses that go hand in
hand with the climate, landscape, and culture of ancient Ceylon(present day sri lanka)
• Brings together an appreciation of the western humanist tradition in architecture with
needs and lifestyles of his own work
• The principal force behind tropical modernism
• His ideas are providing a bridge between the past and the future, a mirror in which
ordinary people can obtain a clearer image of their own evolving culture.
• FUSED VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE WITH THE MODERN
CONCEPTS TO SATIATE THE NEEDS OF THE URBAN POPULATION
GEOFFREY BAWA
PHILOSOPHY
Architecture cannot be totally
explained but must be experienced.
- Geoffrey Bawa

10. A.S.H DE SILVA HOUSE, Galle
“works”
TRITON HOTEL ,AHUNGALLA
SRI LANKAN PARLIAMENT BUILDING
RUHUNU
UNIVERSITY,
MANTARA

11. • Bawa’s design deployed over fifty separate pavilions linked by a system of covered loggias on a
predominantly orthogonal grid and used a limited vocabulary of forms and materials borrowed
from the porto-sinhalese building traditions of the late medieval period, but it exploited the
changing topography of the site to create an ever varying sequence of courts and verandahs, vistas
and closures. The result was a modern campus, vast in size but human in scale.
RUHUNUUNIVERSITY, MANTARA
•Bawa placed the vice chancellor's lodge and a guest house on the western hill and flooded the
intervening valley to create a buffer between the road and the main campus.
•Wrapped the buildings of the science faculty around the northern hill and those of the arts
faculty around the southern hill, using the depression between them for the library and other
central facilities.
CENTRAL VALLEY WITH LIBRARY

12. •Buildings were planned orthogonally on a north-south grid but were allowed to 'run with site'.
•Natural features such as rocky outcrops were incorporated into the bases of buildings or became focal
features of the open spaces.
•The limited architectural vocabulary clearly derives from porto- sinhalese traditions
EXTERIOR VIEW SHOWING TERRACES AND JUXTAPOSITION OF
BUILDINGS WITH EACH OTHER AND LANDSCAPE
•Pavilions, varying in scale and extent, are connected by covered links and separated by an
ever-changing succession of garden courts.
•Everywhere there are places to pause and consider, to sit and contemplate, to gather and
discuss.
•The main routes either cut uncompromisingly across the contours or meander horizontally
along them.EXTERIOR VIEW FROM STREET LEVEL SHOWING USE OF STONE
AND CONCRETE IN FAÇADE

13. • He shows respect for
topographical conditions and
regional sensibilities and his
designs generally emphasize
craftsmanship and geometric
order. Because he attempts to
reconcile traditional architectural
symbolism with the aesthetic
rules of Modern Movement
MARIO BOTTA
PHILOSOPHY
He believes that
architecture acts as a

14. WELLNESS CENTER, SWITZERLAND
Design elements are:
• Modernism
• Regionalism
• Vernacular material
• Geometry
• Topography

15. JORN UTZON
PHILOSOPHY
• Utzon had a nordic sense of concern for nature which, in his
design, emphasized the synthesis of form, material and
function for social valuesThis developed into what utzon later
referred to as additive architecture, comparing his approach to
the growth patterns of nature.
• A design can grow like a tree, he explained: "if it grows
naturally, the architecture will look after itself."
A design can grow like a tree, he explained: "if it grows
naturally, the architecture will look after itself."
- Jorn Utzon

16. SYDNEY OPERAHOUSE
EVOLUTION OF FORM
The principle that is fundamental to the architecture of
JØRN UTZON :
He draws inspiration from nature for organic form and
creates an architecture that is predominantly experiential in
character.
The character which is most prominent about the Opera House is it’s being free in the
centre of the Sydney Harbour, free from all sides, visible from all sides.
The position on a peninsula, which is
overlooked from all angles makes it
important to maintain an all-round
elevation...the building must form
a freestanding sculpture in contrast to the square buildings surrounding it.

17. SYDNEY OPERAHOUSE

18. ALVAR ALTO
• Born on 3rd february 1898
• Graduated as an architect in 1921 from
Helsinki university of technology
• Began architectural practice in 1923 after
completing his travels
• Initially designed single family houses
• Evolved his style after travelling with his wife
to Italy, whose Mediterranean culture influenced
his work for the rest of his life
• Received international fame for the Viipuri
Library(1927) and Paimio Sanatorium(1929 )
•Known as the Father of Modern Scandinavian
Architecture.

19. Architectural philosophy
• Alto bears hallmarks of influences from le corbusier , walter
gropius and other modernist figures.
• He initially practice classical style of architecture
• But later began to blend modernist design approach with
classical architecture.
• His individuality lies in use of organic references with the
above types
• He did not dwell on abstract theory but emerged himself in
the particularities of the site, the texture of materials, forms
and quality of light as well as the mood, atmosphere, intensity
of life
• He said, "Architecture should always offer a means whereby

20. Säynätsalo Town Hall Jyvaskyla,Finland
• The Säynätsalo Town Hall is a
multifunction building complex –
town hall, shops, library and flats
• The design of the Town Hall was
influenced by both Finnish
vernacular architecture and the
humanist Italian renaissance.
• It was the Italian
Renaissance from which Aalto drew
inspiration for the courtyard
arrangement.

21. • While the main program
of the building is housed
within a heavy brick
envelope, the courtyard is
bordered by a glass-
enclosed circulation space
which can be linked to the
model of an arcade-
bordered Piazza.
• It was important to
Aalto that the design
represent democracy and
the people's relationship
with the government which
is why he included a large

22. FORM
DEVELOPMENT

23. • the project follows the traditional European court-and-tower model of a
civic center.
• The complex consists of two brick buildings: the rectangular library block
the rectangular library block and the U-shaped government building.

24. • The two staircases leading up to the courtyard from ground level are likewise divergent in style.
• The eastern staircase is straight flight staircase made in granite.
made in granite.
• The western staircase is more irregular and is laid with terrace grass held by wooden planks.

25. Second floor planGround floor plan
It consists of library
and shops It consists of the council
chamber

26. FIRST FLOOR :
RAISED COURTYARD LEVEL
Courtyard level
First floor :
• It was planned as a
multifunction space which would
include civic offices and meeting
space, private apartment space,
shops, a bank, and a library.
• offices at western side
•library at southern side
•Shops at eastern side

28. •The town hall is crowned by the council chamber, a
double-height space which is capped by the Aalto-
designed "Butterfly" trusses.
•The trusses support both the roof and the ceiling,
creating airflow to manage condensation in the winter
and heat in the summer.
•The butterfly truss eliminates the need for multiple
intermediate trusses.
BUTTERFLY TRUSSES.
•Another distinctive feature at Säynätsalo are the
grass stairs which complement a conventional set of
stairs adjacent to the tower council chambers.
•The grass stairs also evoke notions of ancient Greek
and Italian architecture through the establishment of a
form resembling a simple amphitheater condition.
GRASS STAIRS
Details :

29. • Two characteristics of his work : use of limited material with their textures exposed.
• : An ambiguous articulation of the function of space.
• In all of his works ,light is decisive in forming space.
• Ando’s use of materials is spare and rigorous and the abrasive elegance to concrete is handled with
a care.
• His concrete reacts to light ; illuminated ; it revels that it exists.
• It is not by chance that there is no color in his spaces . colors are evidence of the campaigns and
sufferings to which light has been subjected and could thus only disturb the intimate quietness
which his projects seek to achieve.
TADAO ANDO
PHILOSOPHY

30. BENESSE HOUSE
• Concept of “coexistence of nature, art and architecture.”
• The benesse house consists of four buildings;
The museum,
the oval (opened in 1995),
the park
the beach (both opened in 2006)
• The oval itself measures 40 meters on its long axis and 20 meters on the shorter one
• Long ramps, stairs, and passages to traverse.
• Natural light from outside pouring in through apertures,
weaving together the indoors and outdoors.

31. • With an oval plan and only one level.
• Luxury accommodation with rooms and café .
• The central courtyard also has a large pool with an oval shape measuring 20 by 10 meters on its long and
short axes, respectively
• The museum’s artworks are found in all parts of the building.
• The ultra modern structure has a close relationship with its geography and nature.
• The space serves as a very modern museum and hotel yet it has such a direct connection with nature and lets
in a ton of natural light.
• tribute to the region and the history that goes with it.
• sense of calmness and simplicity that is seen in the architecture, as it draws upon the traditions and culture of
the island of Naoshima.
Planning

32. • The ultra modern structure has a close
relationship with its geography and nature.
• The space serves as a very modern
museum and hotel yet it has such a direct
connection with nature and lets in a ton of
natural light.
• tribute to the region and the history that
goes with it.
• sense of calmness and simplicity that is
seen in the architecture, as it draws upon
the traditions and culture of the island of
Naoshima.

33. CHARLES CORREA
PHILOSOPHY
DETAILS ARE NOT THE DETAILS .THEY MAKE
THE DESIGNS.
• CHARLES CORREA is probably the best known of that first
generation, who matured in aftermath of the chandigarh explosion.
• Did not simply import the readymade ‘INTERNATIONAL STYLE’
but he needed to create a specifically indian way of dealing with the
building problems of the post world war.

34. • The plan was prepared by the noted architect Charles Correa in 1986
and the building was ready in 1991.
• The plan is inspired by the original city plan of Jaipur, consisting of
nine squares with central square left open.
• Each square was linked to the planet as per the characteristics of the
particular planet and its astrological values and the functionality of the
square.
• Partly open courtyards and the traditional design elements of Rajasthan
have been incorporated in the complex.
JAWAHAR KALA KENDRA
Planning

35. Library fully glazed
Play with light and shadow
Madhyavarti i.e Open air theatre
Use of local material

36. THANK YOU