The Lion's Pride Lion's Pride Volume 12 (Spring 2019) | Page 63

Engineering without Engines
In 1964, there was an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA) in New York called “Architecture without Architects – A
Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture,” by Bernard
Rudofsky. According to Ingels’ second book, Hot to Cold: An Odyssey
of Architectural Adaptation (2016), “The exhibition highlighted the fact
that, with the rise of the international modernism, buildings had started
to look the same everywhere” (p. 9). Traditionally, buildings were well-
designed and functioned by themselves. For instance, the thickness of
walls, solar orientation, proximity of windows, and the operability of
windows were thoughtfully considered when they were built. However,
due to improvement of technology, architects and designers began to
rely on building systems and many mechanical components in the
buildings. Consequently, many buildings became boring boxes. Since
sustainability and sustainable design have become common nowadays,
we have started to reconsider replacing an elevator with a ramp, an air
conditioning with a natural ventilation, a motorized shading with an
adaptive shading, and a mechanical heating with a passive solar heating.
Ingels (2016) also mentions that “Instead of simply outsourcing
environmental performance to engineers or product manufacturers, we
want to see if the permanent physical design of the building can once
again play an active role” (p. 9). His vison is to bring back the essence of