ABSTRACT
Gottfried Semper’s four elements of mound, roof/supports, non-structural enclosure, and hearth form the organizational structure of this chapter. The chapter begins with a brief examination into the multiple etymological trajectories of tectonic as they serve to enunciate the subtler connotations this approach to reading architecture elicits. Semper’s mound references numerous architectural modes of expression from masonry to poured in place concrete, it alludes to structural systems that have been extracted from and added to the earth. The roof/supports reference wood structures while the hearth relies on the process of firing earth into ceramics, a plastic building material that can be shaped simply by squeezing one’s hands. His non-structural enclosure leads to a section considering the curtain wall and his additional proves of metallurgy parallels the production of steel and the birth of the skyscraper. After these elements have been explored, the concept of skeuomorph, an object that retains atavistic traces of its original identity through ornamental vestiges of components that previously functioned but are no longer of use, is introduced. This leads to considering details as the modern expression of ornamentation and the idea of “pellicular” spaces.
