03.30 Discussion Questions

III_Terminal Velocities
[The Computer in the Design Studio]
Stan Allen

1. Do you believe that the introduction of computers in the design studio has resulted in better architecture and/or more efficient work methods as advertised, or has it created a greater disconnect between the designer and the architecture?

2. Allen talks a lot about the instrumentality of the computer and its function as a tool in the field of architecture. Do you feel that the computer is more of a tool or a hindrance in your design work? (p. 72-73)

3. Allen states that new “techniques of visualization ignore what has traditionally given architectural representation its particular power of conceptualization – its necessary degree of abstraction.” What is it about abstraction that allows an architect to visually communicate more effectively and why are computers often incapable of achieving this? (p. 75)

4. According to Allen, architecture and planning have traditionally been committed to control separation and unitary thinking. How do you think viewing the city as an information landscape can create more transparent, shared, and unified city? (p. 80-83)

5. Allen points out that well known designers like Greg Lynn and Preston Scott Cohen were already interested in “formal complexity and descriptive geometry” before they had access to computers, and as a result their prior research helped guide/inform their digital design techniques. Does this suggest that the training of a young architect should still begin with the development of manual design skills, or should we begin with computer aided design training? (p. 85)

Picon Questions:
1. How do new computer techniques differ from older ones? Can they both be considered virtual reality?
2. When do architects figure out the best possible solution? Can it ever happen?
3. Should textures be used in digital models?
4. What do you think is the future of technology in architecture? How can it improve the field?
5. "The aim of the architect is no longer to propose an alternative, and allegedly better, world but to take the world as it is, to contribute to the further actualization of its potential rather than bring about the advent of remote utopia." (p.307) Do renderings help to create this alternative world?

Example Work for Poster Project

Here are a few examples of similar work that should inspire you for your poster project.

Design Density:
Jules & Jim
Italian Social Condition - Poverty
A.Y. 2008-2009
Environmental Report 2008

Other:
Good Transparencies Archive
50 Great Examples of Infographics

Added New Links Section

I have added a new section to the links portion of the blog labeled "tools/software." These are online or stand-alone software that may be utilized for data visualization or other related media. I have tried a few of these, not all. I have also taken out some of the "useful/inspirational links" and moved them to this new section where appropriate. Enjoy!

Discussion for March 09

BEAUTIFUL EVIDENCE
1. The most common data display is a noun accompanied by a number. How can Sparklines increase their visual effectiveness?

2.Tufte gives some examples of Sparklines used in a linear fashion ..... medical monitorings, Baseball wins and losses, and Mouse neurons. How can Sparklines be used in non-linear way?

3. Why the construction of Sparklines require thinking about their design and production?

VISUAL EXPLANATION
4. How does Parallelism connect visual elements? How are visual elements disconnected by parallelism?

5. In What ways can parallelism be experiential? Interpretive?

6. How can Parallelism increase the visual effectiveness in Mapping?

7.How can faulty Parallelism lead to misinterpretations?

8.How can we integrate Sparklines and Parallelism into architecture? What are the possibilities and benefits?

By. Blake & Umesh

Great Moments in Sports Diagrams

I love these! There are a series of them here:

Cassius Clay
Pete Rose
Michael Jordan
Bjorn Borg
Walter Payton

While these are done with a tongue-in-cheek approach, I do believe they are great examples of the dynamic diagram that Arnheim speaks of in his essay "What Abstraction Is" from the week 2 readings.

Exercise Two - Paintings

El Lissitzky - Landin, Lima, Arteaga, Biwer, Petermann
Le Corbusier - Seniuk, Bartsch
Malevich - Villwock, Carlucci, Dhimal, Wold, Hoctor

Discussion Questions for 3-2-10

Part 1:

1. If an index is the connection piece between a real object and the symbol we use to represent it in language, do the meanings of pronouns become ambiguous if the index does not reference one thing? Does this ambiguity add confusion or interest?

2. In Duchamp’s works "Tu m’" and "Rrose Se`lavy and I" is it the play on words that makes the piece interesting or the graphic interpretation of the play on words?

3. Andre Bazin describes painting as an "inferior way of making likeness" and an "ersatz of the process of reproduction" and says the photograph is always a reproduction of a model. Is this true of all photography?
Follow up: With new digital photography and editing techniques, do you think Bazin would still stick to his original statement that photographs are always just reproductions?

4. Explain the "verbal doubling" in Duchamp's With my Tongue in My Cheek

Part 2

5. What is your understanding of this statement? (Page 5 (216 in actual text)) “Paintings are understood, instead, as shifters, empty signs (like the word this) that are filled with meaning only when physically juxtaposed with an external referent, or object.”

6. How do indices relate to mapping?

7. In the sense of mapping versus tracing is photography a form of mapping or tracing?

8. In comparison of a traditional dancer and a photograph, why does Krauss call the photograph a message without a code?

9. Consider cinematography: Why were the first silent movies successful as a narrative while photos have a need to link text and image through a caption?

-Dave and Wekeana