Apr
08
Here is the final assignment, the collage catalogue – a series of six collages analyzing one built work of architecture.
Please sign up for a time slot next Thursday afternoon [2-5] to meet with me individually about your final project proposal. You should bring the following with you:
1. 6 collages
2. digital folder containing 300 dpi scans of each collage in jpg format, 6 project statements combined into a single pdf, 6 rubbings [1 pdf] and 6 diagrams [1 pdf].
3. journal with reading notes and questions
4. background information for the work of architecture you intend to analysis, in text and graphic form. This information will have to be summarized and formatted to 1 or 2 11×17 landscape format sheets for the pin-up, if not for this meeting.
5. project proposal: outline each of the six themes as it is embodied by the work you’ve selected. Remember that you must have visited this place personally in order to have a fuller understanding of the multi-sensory experience and context.
Apr
01
Authenticity, to Pallasmaa speaks to an architecture that allows an individual to find a source of identity that is so difficult in the context of the universalization of culture. This can only be achieved through a considered interaction between a building and its temporal and cultural conditions. A work must provide multiple readings, allowing each user to identify with their context autonomously. Our memories are associated with sensory, bodily experiences of place – the subconscious aggregated experiences affect our perceptions and reflections on new encounters with works of architecture. In order for a building to reveal a deeper and broader meaning to us, we must identify with it on both personal and cultural levels.
In a way, we can understand authenticity as the culmination of the six themes, as it embodies all the others. Pallasmaa describes Authenticity in works of architecture as constructs that support ‘a confidence in time and human nature; it provides the ground for individual identity,’ as physical, material expressions [in contrast with Idealization's formal or metaphorical references]. A building must simultaneously identify with its cultural and physical context while remaining tangible to the individual, provoking a greater sense of connectivity to his/her position in space and time.
Here is the lecture on Authenticity for your reference.
Mar
28
The intent of Idealization in architecture is to represent the best qualities and goals of a culture – this theme is most clearly demonstrated in works that address the scale of the city. In The Architecture of Happiness, Alain de Botton describes the purpose of idealized architecture as ‘not to remind us of what life was typically like, but rather to keep before our eyes how it might optimally be, so as to move us fractionally closer to fulfillment and virtue.’ On a personal level, De Botton speaks about beautiful architecture as that which fills a void, supplying us with qualities that we are lacking in our lives. In this sense, works of architecture embodying the quality of Idealization are a response to cultural context, first and foremost, rather than physical or environmental conditions. It could also be viewed as works that mediate between the ideal nature and the reality of the society in which they were built.
Here is the lecture on idealization/the city for your reference.
For our discussion of Authenticity, please read the following:
Pallasmaa’s “Tradition and Modernity: The Feasibility of Regional Architecture in Post-Modern Society”
Pallasmaa’s “Artistic Generosity, Humility, and Expression”
Kenneth Frampton’s “Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance“
Mar
17
Here is today’s lecture on Slowness/Site.
Sanda Iliescu discussed Latz’s Duisburg Nord as evidence of architecture as collage: here are a few images of the project.
For next week’s discussion of Authenticity, please read the following:
Alain de Boton, The Architecture of Happiness [Chapters 1, 2 and Chapter 4]
Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space [Chapters 8 and 9]
Feb
26
For our discussion of Slowness/Site, please read the following:
Sanda Iliescu’s “Cut and Paste”
Robin Dripps’ “Groundwork”
Sverre Fehn’s “The Poetry of the Straight Line”
Per Olaf Fjeld’s Sverre Fehn: The Thought of Construction [excerpt]
Mohsen and Leatherbarrow’s On Weathering [excerpt]
Feb
24
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia is a supreme example of the capacity for a medium, in this case film, to capture a multi-sensory experience. Here is the assignment for the film essay and spring break collage and analysis.
Collage diagrams:
Shannon White created these diagrams to demonstrate her collage-making process in studio.
Chelsea made this rubbing of a collage for studio:
Feb
18
I hope you all found yesterday’s pin-up to be productive – Greg made a number of important points about the process and intent of collage-making in general. As these collage are analytical [as opposed to generative collages you might create in the design process], there is a necessary level of precision and intentionality in the selection and positioning of fragments. The resulting collage should have a clarity of concept while maintaining the potential for multiple readings [an inherent characteristic of collage].
By next Thursday, please email me a single pdf containing one page per collage and one page per statement – you may have more than six pages if you have multiple iterations of the same collage.
In preparation for viewing Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia next week, please read Pallasmaa’s essay on the film from his book “The Architecture of Image: Existential Space in Cinema.”
Feb
10
Here is today’s lecture on plasticity. In the construction of your collages, you should consider plastic space as created through the sculpting of space and light. Refer to the work of the Russian Avant Garde, their investigations into geometric abstraction and the infinite depth of the canvas. Avoid using imagery of the work being analyzed; you may use a figure to give scale to your composition.
We’ll be in the salon at 3:30 next week for our collage pin-up with Greg.
El Lissitzky - Tatlin at Work
Feb
03
Here is today’s lecture on Silence/The Room; and the Collage Genealogy for your reference.
For next week’s discussion of Plasticity/Building, please read Part 1 of Pallasmaa’s The Eyes of the Skin.
Jan
27
As we talked about today, Sensuousness addresses multi-sensory versus purely visual architecture, experienced at the scale of the human body. Sensuousness goes beyond solely looking at the tactility of materials. Engaging multiple senses also includes ephemeral qualities perceived through the skin, such as light, air flow, temperature, and humidity. Blurring the threshold between interior and exterior permits a greater haptic experience of space. These indistinct boundaries [fragile form] can reveal the palimpsest of culture and time through materials to facilitate an embodied experience.
Here is today’s lecture on sensuousness and detail.
For your reference: the bibliography and collage assignment.
For next week, you should read part two of Pallasmaa’s The Eyes of the Skin.
guest barn at night
guest barn stair
corn crib typology
Here are a few images of the project I was talking about: the first image shows how the stair glows at night, and the second image shows the interior of the stair space. The corn crib images aren’t exactly the same as the one in my memory, but you get the idea.
