From Garches to Jaoul

 Photo credits: Google.com

Humanism (Fig1) had once created a time where man was considered the measure of all thing. The geometry was based upon human proportions, repetition of forms and elements that were derived from inductive geometry. As young designers, we are taught typography and design using digital tools and so we lost touch with the material constraints of the craft.

Photo credit: https://digital.lib.washington.edu
Figure2 shows a railway frieght car

Photo credit: https://digital.lib.washington.edu
Figure3 shows the chapel in Villa Jaoul

James Stirling questions the technological evolution of building machinery and its influence on modern architecture. He praises Garches' display of  'mechanic aesthetic' and 'rationalistic principles' that looks towards an utopian future.

In contrast, Jaoul is considered for its absence of rationalism, technological regression, empathetic and ethnographic appeal of its materials. In Jaoul house, Corbusier used traditional materials such as brick and tile that is a strong contrast to the machinery typically necessary for modernist construction. He also presented a new architectural technique through the use of arches (Fig2: the railway freight car might also have served as a source of inspiration for the arched module in the Maisons Jaoul). Nevertheless, Stirling described the strength of Corbusier's construction as 'built by Algerian workmen' (with traditional tools), more advanced than the machinery used in Garches.

Even though it is true that technological progress makes creating faster and easier, it also confines us to certain aesthetics or limits our actions. To Stirling, this real and immediate presence of materials,  appeals to human emotions and therefore is a distraction from rationalism. Overall, combing vernacular and manual techniques with a contemporary concept allows for better and progressive concepts.