Herzog And De Meuron, The Phil :: essays research papers

Herzog and de Meuron work together as architect partners. Their designs for most of their buildings have a common or similar nature. This nature carries out the simplicity of the shape of a box, which consists of a flat roof and large windows. This design gives the characteristics of Herzog and de Meuron’s buildings. In other words, we can say that this is their buildings’ identity. Indeed, this design is very similar to Frank Lloyd Wright’s design, which also shows today’s modern style of architecture. Their designs both carry the philosophy of â€Å"organic architecture†. This means the building is designed to fit its natural surroundings. Even the form of the building is designed to develop from its environment. So to speak, we can say that the building seems to grow out of its natural surroundings. In short, Herzog and de Meuron, as well as Frank Lloyd Wright, both design building in their natural form, assimilating its form to the environment. As we notice the design in Herzog and de Meuron’s Plywood House shows the organic form of architecture, we can say that they believed that the architectural form must ultimately be determined in each case by the particular function of the building. Thus, the building’s environment and the type of materials employed in the structure carries out the reason why such material is chosen for the building. Clearly, plywood is the main architectural material for the Plywood House. Indeed, this is a very suitable material for the surrounding environment. The reason is because this material provides the organic feel of the countryside. In fact, this chosen material has very much influenced the shapes of the building. There are no curves, nor bay window in the design of the building, and therefore, as we can see from the plan of the building there are only straight lines of the walls of the building. (See plan of drawing) Metaphorically speaking, the building is like boxes that co nnect to each other. Consequently, we can say that plywood is not a very flexible material that it would be difficult to provide curves for the building. Plywood consists of several layers, or plies, of wood thoroughly bonded to one another by glue or synthetic resins. The layers are laid with the grain in different directions, generally perpendicular to one another, and therefore, the resultant sheet of plywood is equally strong in all directions.