Creative thinking

Shown below are a selection of original architectural compositions by Newtecnic. For further reading that informs Newtecnic methodology, go to the design sources page.

In the colour sketches, colours are treated as successive blocks of building additions which cannot overlap each other and must follow a rectangular shape to fit in geometrically with its neighbours. What happens in successive ‘iterations’ of development if one starts with a figure-ground of geometrically unrelated sets of buildings? Just as in urban development, what is there cannot be re-invented, but must form the basis of what is to follow.

 The sketches comprise a blend of scales - from the scale of the massing to that of volumes, spaces, walls, floors, furniture, fittings. Not a total artwork but a mixture of the industrially made and craft techniques – from the scale of supporting structure, to facade, roofs, internal spaces and environmental systems.

 Mapping what is there - or what is needed in a design - creates a figure-ground composition of its own making. Internal spaces, volumes, external spaces can be added as links or infills to create a balanced distribution of space – in a pattern that reveals itself through the task of mapping volumes and open spaces. Considering the underlying relationship between functions and changes of use with time.

 A unified approach to both massing and spatial arrangement. From forms spaced apart to a gradual infill of other buildings or additional functions - and links between them beyond dedicated service/circulation route using figure-ground analysis for both massing and spatial arrangement.

 Rule: Rectangles cannot overlap one another and can meet only at corners. They cannot deviate from the rectangle, except at the edges of the ‘field’.

 Rule: Ambiguity in the rules provides opportunities for invention, without going counter to the principles of the interlocking of space - the ‘impediment to action’ quote. Impediments often provide opportunities rather than hindrances. A ‘perfect’ setting can result in worthy but unexciting solutions.

 Experiencing the volumetric arrangement of a city in buildings of different height and size: Experiences close up to buildings and seen from far away. Volumes and spaces seen at different distances – edges of forms reduce visual drama of a composition of facade or plan – edges are best seen as changes in light and shadow – not as thick elements – like heavy door frames – the joints can be explored at different scales – the small-scale applicability of assemblies, which can be seen as expressions of the same buildings in miniature – frames are used as bands to define a geometry. The volumetric experience of near and far – which in Newtecnic design is more the experience of the modernist Oxbridge college. An older experience of modernism made use of industrially manufactured assemblies that were ‘standard’ in their assembly – only the dimensions could be altered within a given size range and single component size. Newtecnic architectural and engineering design blends scales – working with industrially produced systems and their adoption for any given product with handcraft techniques. To achieve this end, Newtecnic sees building assemblies as volumes and spaces made at different scales and interact with each other to create a new piece of architecture.