Tangible & Intangible

in Architecture

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN THEORY - II

Lecture 3
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 Tangible is that which can be touched.

 Only physical things can be touched.
 So all physical things are tangible.

 Intangible is that which can be only experienced.

 Normally it is the qualitative aspect that can not be
touched but is experienced such as beauty,
goodness, delight, joy, happiness and the like.
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 As tangibility relates to physicality, it is measurable.

 Intangible aspects are abstract and therefore not

measurable. Beauty and goodness can not be
weighed or measured.
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 Tangibility therefore deals with the physical world

and intangibility with the philosophical world.

 Tangibility and intangibility can also be seen as the

measurable and the immeasurable.

 The quality of physical existence and of evoking

reactions that are abstract are found in all man
made objects.
Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 Why does this image

‘feel’ good?
 Why is it called
‘beautiful’?
 What are the aspects
that make it a visual
delight?
 If these issues are kept
in mind a designer can
create aesthetic
objects.
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 What is the reaction on

seeing this visual?

 If it seems good, try to

find out why it is so and
if one does not like it,
one should try to find
out why it is not likable
or what would make it
better.
Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 How would you like to

live in this house?
 This is “Falling Waters’
by Frank Lloyd Wright.
 Try to note what makes
this house so
interesting.
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 This is not very

aesthetic.
 It is important to figure
out why it is not good
so that the designer
can avoid making the
mistakes that stop this
from becoming pretty.
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 There is a ‘feel’ of
plasticity in this
architecture.
 This has come about by
the curved lines for all
the elements used to
create this spatial
organization.
 The curved line is the
tangible reason for the
intangible reaction.
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 Note the difference in the two spatial environments.

 How has this difference been created?
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

Note the differences in these bedrooms:

 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 The previous slide showed views that created

different reactions.
 To find why these different reactions were created,
it is necessary to quantify the reasons. Ultimately a
designer has to finally give dimensions and allocate
materials to create designs.
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 Architecture in its final manifestation is a physical

object but both its creation and the reactions it
produces are intangible.

 An architect endeavors to create objects that

produce positive reactions in the users and viewers.

 A designer or a creator, therefore, has to convert

the intangible into the tangible.
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 If a building or a spatial organization is found to be

aesthetic, a designer has to identify the aspects
that make it so.

 This would entail the conversion of the intangible

into the tangible.

 The object could be beautiful because of the form,

proportions, colors or textures which are
quantifiable as these are physical qualities.
 Tangible and Intangible in Architecture

 A designer has to learn to perceive the intangibles

and convert it into tangibles so that these could
become associational facts for designs.