Table Of ContentBuilding Meaning
Building Meaning: An Architecture Studio Primer on Design, Teory, and History is an essential
introduction to the complex relationship between form making, historical analysis, and
conceptual explorations. Tis book focuses on the relationship and interdependence between
design, theory, and history for an innovative and holistic studio approach.
Rather than suggest a singular narrative, this book draws from a diverse range of thinkers
and designers to highlight the many interpretations of key architectural concepts, and provides
readers with the context essential for developing their own approaches to any design problem.
Building Meaning is organized to refect the typical studio process, with stand-alone
chapters that provide fexibility for use at any stage of design. Te ideal book for beginning
and intermediate architecture students, it gives specifc methods to apply in the studio to
make the most of the design process, as well as focused exercises to creatively explore each
concept presented. Illustrated with more than 250 color images, it enables readers to engage
and understand critically the genesis of architectural ideas and their role in our social and
cultural experience.
Tamara Metz, adjunct professor in the Architectural Design Department at the Massachusetts
College of Art and Design in Boston, is an architectural educator with more than 20 years’ teach-
ing experience. She previously taught both undergraduate and graduate studio courses, as well as
advanced drawing and research seminars at Sufolk University, Roger Williams University, and the
Boston Architectural Center. She studied architecture and philosophy as an undergraduate at the
University of Virginia, and went on to earn the Masters in Architecture degree, with honors, at
the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has worked in top design ofces, including (among
others) those of Peter Rose + Partners and Brian Healy Architects.
Building Meaning
An Architecture Studio Primer
on Design, Theory, and History
Tamara Metz
Cover image: Tamara Metz
First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Tird Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Tamara Metz
Te right of Tamara Metz to be identifed as author of this work has been asserted in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to
infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Metz, Tamara (Tamara B.), author.
Title: Building meaning: an architecture studio primer on design, theory,
and history / Tamara Metz.
Description: New York, NY: Routledge, 2022. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2021030618 (print) | LCCN 021030619 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367621568 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367621575 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003108191 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Architectural design.
Classifcation: LCC NA2750 .M43 2022 (print) | LCC NA2750 (ebook) |
DDC 729—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021030618
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021030619
ISBN: 978-0-367-62156-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-62157-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-10819-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003108191
Typeset in Adobe Garamond
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
How to Use Tis Book 3
1 Context 5
Architectural Precedents 5
Urban Fabric 9
Historical Interpretations 13
Context in Design 20
Context in Crisis 25
Suggested Exercises 30
Further Reading 32
2 Inhabitation 33
Program 33
User Groups 39
Scale 41
Perspective and Phenomenology 53
Time and Movement 56
Suggested Exercises 64
Further Reading 67
3 Building Organization 68
Generative Diagramming 68
Objective Organization 77
Internal Organization 83
Subjective Organization 90
Conceptions of Space 98
Suggested Exercises 102
Further Reading 103
v
j Contents
4 Form 104
Understanding Form 104
Form as Ideal 113
Form and Culture 118
Form as Language 123
Parametric Architecture 132
Suggested Exercises 137
Further Reading 139
5 Nature 140
Inside/Outside 142
Ground as Datum 151
Attitudes Toward Nature 157
Te Vocabulary of Nature 163
Sustainability 169
Suggested Exercises 175
Further Reading 176
6 Tectonics and Materiality 177
Basic Structural Principles 177
Structural Systems 183
Tectonic Expression 192
Materiality 197
Light 211
Suggested Exercises 217
Further Reading 218
7 Representation 219
Basic Representational Tools 219
Historical Development 228
Drawings and Teir Role in Architecture 236
Visionary Architecture 243
Architecture in Other Media 247
Suggested Exercises 250
Further Reading 251
8 Design Methodologies 253
Te Design Concept 254
Trust the Diagram 256
Design Critically 259
Iterate and Translate 262
vi
Contents j
Embrace Uncertainty 263
Suggested Exercises 264
Further Reading 265
Index 266
vii
Acknowledgements
Te seeds for this book were planted some time ago when I was a student. My interest in
broader questions of architectural design and theory was nurtured by a number of professors.
Most notable are Ellen Dunham-Jones at the University of Virginia and Darell Wayne Fields
and K. Michael Hays, both at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, to whom
I remain grateful and by whom I am still inspired.
Many thanks to all of my students, who have kept me thinking and questioning. I only
hope I have done the same for them.
Tis book could not have happened without the steady and expert guidance of my
editor, Scott Cooper. Scott patiently shepherded me and the book through the writing and
publishing process with humor and skill. I am eternally grateful for his support.
I also must thank the innumerable librarians, studio assistants, and archivists who gra-
ciously helped with acquiring many of the images in this book. Tere are too many of you
to mention by name, but please know that your kindness is greatly appreciated.
Finally, I am most grateful to my family for providing both the encouragement and
solitude necessary to allow me to complete this project.
viii
Introduction
Tis book is the product of many conversations with students, teachers, practitioners, and
friends about the role of architectural education. Tese conversations have often circled around
the question: “What does it mean to study architecture?”
Architects must have an understanding of proportion, scale, materiality, and construction
methods. But architecture is necessarily more than the sum of its physical parts. It is also a
social act and a cultural construct. It refects and afects how we interact with others and the
world around us; how we work, play, and live. It is an integral part of human experience,
in a way that painting, poetry, and even literature can’t quite match. Precisely because archi-
tecture’s impact is so wide-ranging, architectural education must, in essence, be about ways
to think about the world. Te question, then, becomes not only how to teach architecture.
To that, we must add: What, precisely, is the meaning of building? How can architecture,
in turn, build meaning?
Recognizing the historical and theoretical frameworks that inform and delimit the design
of physical space is crucial to engaging with all of these aspects of architecture. Te goal of
this book is, therefore, not to provide a defnition of architecture, but rather to provide a
template for expanding the conversation and appreciating the complexities of the architectural
design process.
Teory is often placed in opposition to practice, and academicians who focus on theory
are sometimes dismissed as so far removed from practice as to be irrelevant to the profession.
Tis opposition has also afected the curricula in architecture schools, where “Teory” and
“History” are the titles of dedicated courses outside of the studio. Although students are
expected to incorporate some knowledge of theory and history into their design process,
the distinct format and faculty of these courses makes such a synthesis nearly impossible.
In the professional world, theory is often seen as out of touch with the “real” problems of
architecture, such as those that arise from the challenges of construction, budgets, or housing
equity. History may likewise be relegated to a superfcial reference, a garment draped on a
generic building to earn some gravitas or cultural resonance.
In the case of theory, the fault may lie more with the theorists than with their
critics. Architectural theory writing is notoriously dense and often incomprehensible.
It frequently seems willfully obtuse, aiming more for an air of exclusivity than any real
relevance either for architects or to the experience of architectural space and form. In
some cases, essays claiming to be architectural theory seem to be about anything but
architecture, and instead are concerned with semantics or politics. Still others simply
engage in polemics with other texts, hardly advancing theory in any way and contributing
to the exclusivity already mentioned.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003108191-1 1
