REALM OF DETAILS
by Cheah Kok Ming

Thoughts from six quotes on the value of details.

1 "THERE IS NO DETAIL IN ARCHITECTURE, EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT."
Le Corbusier (Le Corbusier and Britain: An Anthology; Murray, Irena (Ed) & Osley, Julian (Ed); 2008)

For Le Corbusier, Wright and many others, the purpose of details is so critical that every detail is essential in forming a comprehensible harmonious entity. In detail design, integration is one aspect of detail refinement. It counterpoints with the notion of a building made up of several totally independent components, having each detail conceived separately and designed in isolation and each part playing an autonomous role. In this fragmented approach to detail design, a ceiling is just a ceiling; a light fixture is just a fixture; and a duct is just a duct. The flaws are clear—there is an inefficient use of material. The components may crowd a space and make their usage clumsy or ineffective. The details become incoherent. It makes the appreciation of the architectural intention difficult, diluting its aesthetic appeal. The three distinct goals of integrated details are to have the components share a common space, their arrangement aesthetically resolved and to some extent, work together or at least not interfere with each other's roles (Integrated Buildings: The Systems Basis of Architecture; Bachman, Leonard R; 2003).

John Pawson takes an austere but sophisticated approach to integration through the minimalist idea. It is the perfection that a detail achieves when it is no longer possible to improve it by subtraction. This is the quality that a detail has when every component and every connection has been reduced to the essentials; it is the result of the omission of the inessentials (Minimum; Pawson, John; 1996). Wright broadens the idea of integration with the term organic. In one aspect, it is about the importance of designing in context where elements and spaces are integrated into a coherent whole, union between site and building, and form and function are one. Wright provided total design to his project. He coordinated the furniture, fabric, interior, architecture and landscape into one seamless union of design and experience. The detail is never designed in isolation. It relates to a larger entity in which it is situated to serve. It is more than just sorting out the coordination of colours, texture, materials, profile, proportion or the overall coherent composition.

Context is to be understood holistically to take into account the culture, the climate and the locale. Murcutt's exceptional large rainwater downpipes that mark entrances to some of his houses are a response to the climate and the local flora. During a downpour, local tree leaves (due to their inherent flat profile) will gather to form a large mat that flows and chokes up undersized runoff provision. What is essentially a banal rainwater disposer becomes an entrance feature, born out of creative wisdom to "seek the solution in terms of the next largest thing" (Eero Saarinen on His Work, Revised Edition; Saarinen, Aline B; 1968).

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Cheah Kok Ming is a senior lecturer at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore (NUS). He currently coordinates the Design, Technology and Management (DTM) track in the architectural programme. This programme incorporates green architecture design studios and practice-orientated training as an alternative fourth year and M. Arch architectural education. He runs a design studio exploring materiality and tectonics, and has also taught in the architecture diploma course at the Singapore Polytechnic. Kok Ming is a registered architect and his works when he was with the Public Works Department included several schools, ISEAS and the Asian Civilisations Museum.

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