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Show How a Proportional System Might Be Used in Deconstruction

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Show How a Proportional System Might Be Used in Deconstruction
Title: Show how a proportional system might be used in deconstruction

Name: Matheuss Adriano Bintoro

Proportional system and deconstruction are symbolized as oil and water that in an instance can’t be integrated as one element, but somehow it compliments each other. The former is a method that emphasizes in playing with scale and form which must be logical and can be identified clearly, it has to be in exact order or has certain pattern that can be understand easily. The latter is a style that emphasizes more on freedom of form, doesn’t have certain logical order and also highlights abstract form and random scale. It seems to be determined by the architect’s own expression and creativity and this is exposed in this style. Fundamentally, both notions are contradicting each other.

Even though the principles and characteristics of both proportional system and deconstruction doesn’t seem to fit or contradict each other, some deconstruction architects incorporate some aspect from proportional system in their buildings. In particular, this is found in Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin, Zaha Hadid’s Moonsoon Restaurant, Peter Eisenman’s Waxner Centre. This essay will explain the proportional system and deconstruction style of architecture, and fully discuss how proportional system may be used in deconstruction architecture through different examples of deconstructionist architect’s building.

Proportional System

Proportional system is known to be the ‘foundation of architecture’ (Frings, 2002, pg. 9). It can be defined as a system of measurement and scaling. The idea and principle of proportional system is derived from several different aspect of life such as nature, human body scale and even maths. Marcuse Vitruvius was one of the philosophers that put his focus on proportional system which are inspired from human body. As an architect and writer, Vitruvius accomplished his theory of human proportion by the invention of Vitruvian Man which was



Bibliography: Norris C, Deconstruction, extract, in Bullock, Allan; Stallybrass,O, The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought, Second Edition, London, UK, 1977 Caputo, John D., (Ed and Commentator), Deconstruction in a Nutshell, A Conversation with Jacques Derrida, Fordham Uni Press, USA, 1997 Corbusier L, Le Corbusie, Precision on The Present State of Architecture and City Planning, The MIT press, London, UK, 1991 Culler D, Deconstruction: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies, Volume 3, Routledge, London, 2003 Frings M, The Golden Section in Architectural Theory, Nexus Network Journal, 2002 Loveday T, INTA 3121 Interior Architecture History and Theory 1 Lecture Notes 2011, UNSW, Sydney, 2011 Noever P, Architecture in Transition, Between Deconstruction and New Modernism, Prestel, Munich, 1991 Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture, Dover Publication, New York, 1960 Wigley M, The Architecture of Deconstruction : Derrida’s Haunt, The MIT press, London, UK, 1993

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