From Building Blocks to Buildings: Balanced Geometry in Architecture
Ask most architects, and as children they loved Lincoln Logs, LEGOS, Erector Sets and most commonly, Building Blocks. It's fun to throw a mental piece of trace paper over an elevation and find the basic shapes that make up the design, and to study how they relate to one another in scale, shape, and mass.
This group of exterior shots show some of my favorite examples of playful shapes that achieve a successful balance. They lead the eyes to features they want to showcase, and stimulate the imagination a little further to reveal other shape configurations and relationships. Some of these structures show off their superior geometric play on the facades, while others are made from distinct objects/simple shapes that are arranged into a very pleasing whole. Each one is a unique and enchanting collage on my mental trace paper.
This group of exterior shots show some of my favorite examples of playful shapes that achieve a successful balance. They lead the eyes to features they want to showcase, and stimulate the imagination a little further to reveal other shape configurations and relationships. Some of these structures show off their superior geometric play on the facades, while others are made from distinct objects/simple shapes that are arranged into a very pleasing whole. Each one is a unique and enchanting collage on my mental trace paper.
Let's start off simple: Well, at first it looks like a simple arrangement of rectangles, or is it squares? Or is it long horizontal pieces? Or is it vertical lines? I dig the way the vertical and horizontal lines are at play here, and how at what at first seems like a flat surface is full of action. the geometry keeps it balanced. As for the big picture, the house is vertically raised by a horizontal-emphasizing plinth.
Tall rectangles kept in line by square window panels. Note the horizontal line that continues from the first-floor windows to the transom over the garage door. Rectangles+squares=neat and pleasing.
The different "building blocks" of shapes stand out even more because of the materials the architects chose.
The design impetus for this house was the observatory on the right side. I could spend a few hours on the architecture firm's website:
http://www.studiosarchitecture.com/
http://www.studiosarchitecture.com/
The cylinder punctuates a grand feeling of entry. Again, using a contrasting material on this element emphasizes its importance.
This one is just fun to study, especially when you look at how they flip-flopped the colors and materials...
...on the back of the structure.
Gravity, schmavity. Love the jut and the angle of overhang, and what's cooler than a second floor that has a second job as a drive-in movie screen?
The eaves and the sliding door support beam force you to see what the full triangle formed by the roof would be, and the massive doors form a long rectangular base for the smaller triangle on top. The horizontal row of window squares is the icing on the cake
I just want to move into this boathouse, so I thought I'd share its sublime setting.
Kind of a stretch for the whole building blocks theme, but I could not help myself from including this boat-inspired house.
Separate pieces of the structure are emphasized by color. I love how the modern glass piece emerges from two other pieces that look like Monopoly houses. I really appreciate the massing and scale of this building.
My mental trace paper has outlined the entire garage door/entry opening as one long rectangle. This facade is a great composition of rectangular and square cut-outs.
This one is all about the angles, which are emphasized by the long horizontal lines the variegated boards provide.
Cut-outs and jut-outs are like cogs on this house. I want to plug it into another house on the right side.
Primary colors and black and white building blocks show off the inexpensive prefabricated structural materials. The result is spectacular. Click on this shot to read some great details about the materials and construction ideology behind this residence.
Again, shapes are emphasized by contrasting color and materials. They've thrown in the triangles and diamonds that X's can make, and punched out a few circles for good measure. I just dig everything about it.
The play between rectangles and squares, and horizontal and vertical here reminds me of Michael Graves' work, especially some of his projects at The University of Virginia.
Again, I don't need my trace paper here - revealing the skeleton on the front facade shows the rectangles and squares that make up the inside of the triangle. I swear the Pythagorean Theorem is at work here, but math class was way too many years ago for me to figure it out. Sorry Mr. Seymour, but I took your Geometry I class in 1986!
The cladding literally shows us the smaller building blocks that make up the big building blocks. Ideabook full circle complete.