As stated by Vitruvius, firmitas, utilitas, and venustas are three interrelated terms which can be applied to any and all architectural research, rationalization and design. Loosely translated from his Latin texts they mean structural stability, appropriate spatial accommodation, and attractive appearance, and it is these design principles that have been engaging us (the students of QUT’s DAB310) for the past 5 weeks.
To be specific as to what we have had to do exactly, here are the project Aims and Objectives as laid out in the design brief handed to us by QUT,
This project aims to establish an understanding that architectural design is informed through the availability and analysis of exemplary knowledge. It is assumed that influences established through the consumption of theoretical and historical literature, and the subsequent practice of precedent selection, is essential to the ongoing study of architecture.
Furthermore the identification of discreet concepts in architecture; a house is an environmental filter; a house is a container of human activities; and a house is a delightful experience; all reveal themselves to be aspects essential to the understanding of architectural excellence that is argued to constants in the discourse of the discipline. Finally this project is also concerned with architectural communication through the recognition and application of drawing excellence – connecting the observation with representation.
In order for myself and others to complete this brief, we were required to research three exemplar houses, one being international and two being local, then go on to further research one of them so as to form the basis of the final element of this project, the cabin design. In my case I have chosen Bamboo Wall House by Kengo Kuma Architects (international), Mooloomba House by Britt Andresen and Peter O’Gorman (local) and Dunbar House by Jennifer Taylor and James Connor (local).