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# System prepended metadata

title: Micro-Architecture

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# Micro-Architecture

## “Micro-Architecture”

 ### 1.Sum
   * Questions of form and style from 1978 onward:
-- from Bauhaus and Art Deco(20 30s) to ”Post-”
-- questions of form and style are being approached with an adventurousness
   * Result in:
-- adds a new cultural dimension  to mundane objects 
-- brings the designer back into the public eye,and effectively polishes up corporate images 企業形象.
   * In the design of utility objects approach:
-- about “attaching” decorative elements to a basic shape or highlighting the various constituent parts 
-- is rapidly gaining ground over the integrative approach of Functionalism (which seeks to present the image of an organic whole without extraneous ornament )
- [ ] electrical appliances:  
-miniaturisation of the technical components
- [ ] table culture:
-the problems of working such materials 
(as glass,earthenware,porcelain or metal )
 that may impose limitations on the agglomerative
 
 #
### 2.Evidence
  * Architectonic principles - "table-top"accessories as "Micro-Architecture" 
-- was originally coined in Italy
-- Scale and proportion 
-- most of the leading figures in the field are architects (Post-Modern paladins like Graves,Hollein)

  * early 80s:
- [ ] Italian metal goods manufacturers Alessi :
a series of the silver "Tea and Coffee Piazzas"(pl.435-445)
-- <Piazza, 廣場>
-- limited, 11 stars*99 sets (E 12000),
-- premiered in 1983, at the Brera gallery in Milan and at the Max Protetch architecture gallery in New York

  -- Institution:
as channels of distribution serving to emphasise the "cultural"quality of these wares.

  -- silver: 
in the tradition of similarly ambitious projects of the Vienna Workshop
(30s, Art Deco tableware)

  --For the first time in many years,the theories and principles that govern industrial design are again the same as those applied in architecture.
  ![](https://i.imgur.com/XJZCH7e.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/AFmZV7H.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/xow9Vyd.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/anfKth0.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/u1eBtxW.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/QncsLri.jpg)


- [ ] Ceramic objects
-Matteo Thun, founder member of the Memphis
-appeals unashamedly to the emotions (borrowing elements from the cultures of ancient Egypt and the Mayas or zoomorphic in its imagery, ornithological theme)
(pl.446-455)
![](https://i.imgur.com/85aZ2CH.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/OuolUgc.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/edFj2g2.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/WuNC7OV.jpg)


### 3 Semantic chaos and way out:

* new nternational network "iconophiles"

  -- the intermingling of the various fields of culture 
  -- constitutes a semiotic continuum: boundaries begin to dissolve -between reality and its interpretation, facts and opinion or comment -so as between different arts form, such as film\graphic art\design\fashion)

* the "semantic chaos" in our postindustrial society

  -- but to which we should attempt to give some sort of structure
  -- Thun shows us where it could lead: the product designer should avail himself of this repertoire, without becoming bogged down in nostalgia…he should create new combinations that are meaningful in our day and age.

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## “Micro-Architecture” thinking in design

### 1.idea-life style-“table landscape”-commercial strategy 
1) Designer as consultant -Thun
* “Style” in market
  * "cool"neomodern design;  Memphis; Archetype…
   *Das barocke Bauhaus (pl.456-459)
   << 
   -Stylistically,"Bauhaus Baroque"stands for the paradoxical combination of aristocratic extravagance( i.e.gold and ornamentation) with the austere formal discipline of classical Modernism 
-this,a degree of mancipation is required that has most nearly been achieved in milieus/context(where design is open to the influence f mass media such as advertising and film) 
-California or Japan rather than in Europe-accordingly,Thun advocates the enrichment of European design with a "fresh breeze of Pacific fragrances".>>
![](https://i.imgur.com/keiSQiw.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/ytUUXVt.jpg)

- [ ] WMF
- [ ] Quartetts

![](https://i.imgur.com/B6gF0Nb.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/GsT7d7j.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/YHWAcT3.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/jMJBCQ6.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/MzaqITo.jpg)

- [ ] Swid Powell
![](https://i.imgur.com/MTTbNkq.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/cKl0K9K.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/Ji2dXuI.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/UxoVaIU.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/h5xuCpu.jpg)

2) independent brand
- [ ] family-run manufactory, Heide Warlami (Vienna Workshop)

![](https://i.imgur.com/sEOSW05.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/gDLgUl2.jpg)

### 2.technic-material-style
- How architectural associations can be pushed into the background by the choice of material and technique (pl.505-515).
- “style”:
 *Archetypal reductionism, Memphis, Minimalist items
 *High-tech, but more focus on aesthetic, emotion between object and human
 
![](https://i.imgur.com/P9Yvce8.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/IkqEVZ3.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/RP6T92m.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/MeyyoPK.jpg)
 
### 3 Micro-Architecture and jewelry
- occupy as important a place as items of table landscape
- diversity of creations
- [ ] goldsmith's workshop, "Four Orders in Gold and Stone'in allusion to the classical

![](https://i.imgur.com/Aumi2tG.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/GrSVCQT.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/O1M7TV6.jpg)

## Conclusion
- self-identity by object----fasion
- emulation, comsuming and mass media