Architecture as machine; Towards an architectural system for human well-being

Abstract: Le Corbusier’s well-known phrase ‘The house is a machine for living in’ suggested a kind of machinic aesthetic that became an important concept behind the functionality, standardization and rational order that together laid the foundation of modern architecture. This paper attempts to expand on Le Corbusier's idea of machine by particularly examining architecture as a machinic system and how it could potentially depict spatial qualities that fulfill their functional purpose for human well-being. The idea of machine became a way to introduce scientific and logical reasoning as the basis of designing architecture through the establishment of standards. There were, however, some criticisms against the idea of machine since it tends to dehumanize, by assuming that human being had the same basic needs that could be standardized. This paper attempts to highlight that the establishment of standard becomes necessary, not in generating standard architectural forms but in defining the performance standard of architecture for human well-being. Resumen: Conocida frase de Le Corbusier ‘The house is a machine for living in’sugiere una especie de estetica maquinica que se convirtio en un concepto importante detras de la funcionalidad, la normalizacion y el orden racional que juntos sento las bases de la arquitectura moderna. En este trabajo se intenta ampliar la idea de Le Corbusier de maquina en particular examinar la arquitectura como un sistema maquinico y como se podria llegar a representar cualidades espaciales que cumplan su proposito funcional para el bienestar humano. La idea de la maquina se convirtio en una forma de introducir el razonamiento cientifico y logico como base de diseno la arquitectura a traves del establecimiento de normas. Hubo, sin embargo, algunas criticas contra la idea de la maquina, ya que tiende a deshumanizar, asumiendo que el ser humano tenia las mismas necesidades basicas que podrian ser estandarizados. Este trabajo trata de poner de relieve que el establecimiento de la norma hace necesario , no en la generacion de formas arquitectonicas estandar, pero en la definicion de la norma de rendimiento de la arquitectura para el bienestar humano. Keywords: machine; system; standard; well-being; users. Palabras clave: maquina; sistema ; norma; bienestar; usuarios. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/LC2015.2015.679