glossary
bauhaus:
a school of design, building and craftsmanship founded in 1919 by walter
gropius.
international style: part of modernism, concerned solely with architecture, but with the same universal application of principles of the former; for example the emphasis of the actual structure incl. scale and proportion, the omission of decoration and mass reduction. (e.g. mies van der rohe)
the new asia: the (re) emergence of asia as a pacesetting design powerhouse while simultaneously establishing respectively maintaining endemic characteristics. japan latest since the 1990s, joined by others in the following decade and a half. thailand, korea, malaysia, etc., and of course, now china. whereas often a very inconsiderate process of design is put in place, more and more artists in architecture/design now re/orient themselves (no pun intended) to their own cultural traditions and history. but this didn't come without the massively influential activities of artist in their local spheres (e.g. tadao ando).
minimalism: "less is more". condensed to the bare essence of an object; no pretension, no false facades; "avoiding the irrelevant is the way to emphasize the important" (john pawson)
architectural/engineering principles: geometry, static, dynamic, kinetics, etc. and their application in architecture and engineering; e.g. 'form follows function'
integral design: the different steps of the design and also manufacturing process integrated. no part is treated isolated but always in relation to all the other parts. e.g. material selection should be done under consideration of the usefulness from the engineering point of view but equally looked at it from the environmental perspective.
e.g. does a certain design element has a functional value or only an aesthetic one?
a design element should not be upheld only for its aesthetic value, but must serve a purpose.
materials:
laminated wood, plywood
panels consisting of several layers (plies) of wood veneers. advantages in comparison to solid wood: the aesthetic value is equal or sometimes even higher (e.g. book-matched face veneer), environmentally more friendly, enormous dimensional stability, very high strength.
salvaged/ recycled wood
previously used wood, often salvaged from demolished buildings. often old growth redwood, sometime cedar, occasionally mahogany and teak. the environmental aspect is quite obvious.
walnut, black
a beautiful north american hardwood, often highly figured face. available from sustainable sources.
teak:
a dark, fragrant and extremely durable hardwood. available from sustainable sources.
padauk
a beautiful hardwood of orange to deep red/brownish colour, often deeply textured. not listed as endangered.
western cedar
a fragrant softwood from the pacific northwest. salvaged building material.
redwood
a cinnamon coloured softwood native to california. salvaged building material.
aluminium
offering less strength than steel (no problem if used in the right way and dimension), it gains a great advantage by being 60% lighter than steel and almost corrosion free in regular applications.
steel
high tensile strength and very high, in comparison to aluminium, yield strength (resistance to deforming).
international style: part of modernism, concerned solely with architecture, but with the same universal application of principles of the former; for example the emphasis of the actual structure incl. scale and proportion, the omission of decoration and mass reduction. (e.g. mies van der rohe)
the new asia: the (re) emergence of asia as a pacesetting design powerhouse while simultaneously establishing respectively maintaining endemic characteristics. japan latest since the 1990s, joined by others in the following decade and a half. thailand, korea, malaysia, etc., and of course, now china. whereas often a very inconsiderate process of design is put in place, more and more artists in architecture/design now re/orient themselves (no pun intended) to their own cultural traditions and history. but this didn't come without the massively influential activities of artist in their local spheres (e.g. tadao ando).
minimalism: "less is more". condensed to the bare essence of an object; no pretension, no false facades; "avoiding the irrelevant is the way to emphasize the important" (john pawson)
architectural/engineering principles: geometry, static, dynamic, kinetics, etc. and their application in architecture and engineering; e.g. 'form follows function'
integral design: the different steps of the design and also manufacturing process integrated. no part is treated isolated but always in relation to all the other parts. e.g. material selection should be done under consideration of the usefulness from the engineering point of view but equally looked at it from the environmental perspective.
e.g. does a certain design element has a functional value or only an aesthetic one?
a design element should not be upheld only for its aesthetic value, but must serve a purpose.
materials:
laminated wood, plywood
panels consisting of several layers (plies) of wood veneers. advantages in comparison to solid wood: the aesthetic value is equal or sometimes even higher (e.g. book-matched face veneer), environmentally more friendly, enormous dimensional stability, very high strength.
salvaged/ recycled wood
previously used wood, often salvaged from demolished buildings. often old growth redwood, sometime cedar, occasionally mahogany and teak. the environmental aspect is quite obvious.
walnut, black
a beautiful north american hardwood, often highly figured face. available from sustainable sources.
teak:
a dark, fragrant and extremely durable hardwood. available from sustainable sources.
padauk
a beautiful hardwood of orange to deep red/brownish colour, often deeply textured. not listed as endangered.
western cedar
a fragrant softwood from the pacific northwest. salvaged building material.
redwood
a cinnamon coloured softwood native to california. salvaged building material.
aluminium
offering less strength than steel (no problem if used in the right way and dimension), it gains a great advantage by being 60% lighter than steel and almost corrosion free in regular applications.
steel
high tensile strength and very high, in comparison to aluminium, yield strength (resistance to deforming).