Placelessness

Frampton gives an example of the modern art gallery and how it typically “renders the work placeless” due to the artificial lighting of the room and blocking out natural light which allows a handful of site specific ideas to be perceived such as “time of day, season, humidity, etc.” This can also be said for the air conditioner of the building. The two of these together (A/C and artificial lighting) allow for complete control of inside space with total disregard for what is happening right outside. Frampton’s solution for allowing daylight into the gallery without damaging the art was to allow light in through the top of the building, controlled by monitors to provide ambient light that can be arranged in different ways under different conditions. “Such conditions guarantee the appearance of a place-conscious poetic.”

A main idea Frampton presents for connecting building to place is the idea of tectonic rather than scenographic. This is saying that through the construction of the building we should demonstrate how its “form [adapts] so as to give expression of its function.” Also the building should need to be experienced by touch through actual presence in the building. If the building can be adequately “experienced” from a distance or even though a simple image, that building is placeless. The materiality and presence of the building should evoke emotion to one experiencing it and hat will further develop the building as “place-conscious.”