(A) study of exterior expression in Mario Botta’s architecture : based on Kenneth Frampton’s critical regionalism

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

One of the content that has been in architecture for a relatively long time is regionalism. In the history of architecture, this matter is discussed commonly. Regionalism has always been an assignment in the field of architecture. Various solutions have been suggested to this matter. One of the solutions in the context of regionalism is the theory of Critical Regionalism which Kenneth Frampton explained the complex and developed form of it.
Kenneth Frampton’s Critical Regionalism is more than the regional architecture and goes beyond the utilization of historical or traditional elements. One of the concepts in Kenneth Frampton’s Critical Regionalism is a balanced relationship between local culture and universal civilization with the usage of the modern technology.
In Kenneth Frampton’s essay, he explained the issues of architecture after modern movement and gave solution in the form of architecture of resistance. One of the issues that Kenneth Frampton discussed was the loss of placeness. And Kenneth Frampton illustrated the architects and how an architect had the ability to bring the placeness which was lost, back in to the architecture.
Kenneth Frampton introduced Mario Botta, as an architect, who created the sense of placeness adjusted to Kenneth Frampton’s Critical Regionalism.
Various theories have been applied to Mario Botta’s architecture style. Also his projects have the peculiarities that are individual. Moreover, the peculiarities in Mario Botta’s project have turned him into one of the world-renowned architect. One of the peculiarities is the exterior expressions in his projects.
Many studies have been done around Mario Botta’s placeness and architectonic aspect regarding Critical Regionalism.
One aspect in Mario Botta’s architectural style that has not received enough attentions is the exterior expressions in his projects.
Therefore, this study investigated the creation of sense of placeness, initiated from Kenneth Frampton’s essay on the exterior of Mario Botta’s project through the expression of the exterior. In this study, exterior expression had the definition of the pattern that Mario Botta created on the exterior of his projects through utilizing materials.
The study initiated with the review around Critical Regionalism followed by the sense of placeness of Kenneth Frampton’s Critical Regionalism, which was studied thoroughly. The result of it was the creation of the sense of placeness through two factors: physical boundary and perceptive boundary. Then the study of the exterior expression in Mario Botta’s projects was done through categorizing and studying Mario Botta’s projects from the timeline between 1970 and 2000. As a result, there were four types of expressions on the exterior, which are as followed:
1. No stripe pattern or compositional pattern
2. Stripe pattern with two colors
3. Stripe pattern created with different arrangement of the material
4. Compositional pattern made with different arrangement of material.
The formation of two factors through the expression of the exterior and therefore the creation of the sense of placeness was investigated.
This study tried to understand how Mario Botta illustrated the sense of placeness of initiated from Kenneth Frampton's Critical Regionalism by means of exterior expression.
Through this study, it was seen that, Mario Botta applied similar method of finishing, in other words, the patterns, to the exterior of various projects with different interpretation, in different location and cities. The exterior expression was the reinterpretation of the vernacular and the elements of Ticinese local architecture.
The projects located in the urban context of Switzerland had the illustration of the placeness on the exterior of them and this placeness was formed through the combination of the physical and perceptive boundary. However, for the most of the projects that were located in the natural site, unlike the creation of physical boundary which was vivid, the perceptive boundary was only formed on the main elevation of the projects therefore the sense of placeness was not created completely on the whole project’s exterior.
The formation of the placeness through the illustration of physical boundary and perceptive boundary was not clear on the projects outside of Switzerland. The exhibition of the physical boundary on the exterior of the projects was clear. On the exterior of the projects outside of Switzerland, the perceptive boundary was not created. Therefore, existence of only one boundary, physical, did not create the sense of placeness on the exterior.
In conclusion, it appears that the sense of placeness is not delivered from all of his projects with equal strength. The sense of placeness is obtained through the exterior expressions of the projects that are located in Switzerland, while for the projects that are located outside of Switzerland or even further, outside of Europe, the sense of placeness is not illustrated strongly.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Chapter 1 Introduction 1
• 1.1 Background
• 1.2 Goals and Objectives
• 1.3 Methodology
• 1.4 Chapter Organization
• Chapter 2 The Theory behind the Critical Regionalism
• 2.1 Post-War Architecture Trend
• 2.2.1 before Regionalism
• 2.2.2 after Regionalism
• 2.2 The Emergence of the Critical Regionalism
• 2.2.1 The Background Theory of Critical Regionalism
• 2.3 Kenneth Frampton's Position on Critical Regionalism
• 2.3.1 Discoursed Points by Kenneth Frampton
• 2.4 The Elucidation of Placeness in the Kenneth Frampton’s Critical Regionalism
• 2.4.1 Required factor for Placeness: Physical Boundary
• 2.4.2 Required factor for Placeness: Perceptive Boundary
• Chapter 3 The Mario Botta’s Projects’ Exterior Expression
• 3.1 The Placeness in Mario Botta’s Architecture
• 3.1.1 Kenneth Frampton’s Statement on Mario Botta’s Project
• 3.1.2 Mirko Zardini’s Perspective for Mario Botta’s Projects
• 3.1.3 Norberg-Schulz Perspective for Mario Botta’s Projects
• 3.2 Mario Botta's Architecture
• 3.2.1 Influence of Great Masters
• 3.2.2 Ticino's Architecture
• 3.2.3 The Characteristics of Mario Botta’s Architecture
• 3.3 Mario Botta's Exterior Expression
• 3.3.1 No Horizontal Stripe Pattern or Compositional Pattern
• 3.3.2 Stripe Pattern with Two Colors
• 3.3.3 Stripe Pattern Created with Different Arrangement of Material
• 3.3.4 Pattern Made with Different Arrangement of Material
• Chapter 4 The Illustration of the Sense of Placeness on the Exterior Expression
• 4.1 Analyze of the Exterior Expression and Its Relation to the Placeness
• 4.1.1 Formation of the Placeness From the Exterior of Single -Family House, Massagno, Ticino
• 4.1.2 Formation of the Placeness From the Exterior of Ransila I Building project, Lugano
• 4.1.3 Formation of the Placeness From the Exterior of Watari-Um Contemporary Art Gallery, Tokyo
• 4.1.4 Formation of the Placeness From the Exterior of Cathedral at Evry, France
• 4.2 Chapter Conclusion
• Chapter 5 Conclusion
• Bibliography