Week 9 - Muybridge and Movement

Rachel Hicks & Mary Burke
November 1, 2011

Allen, Stan. Practice: Architecture Technique and Representation. Chapter 2, Notations and Diagrams
1. What are the differences between diagrams and notations?
2. What does Allen say about the use of realistic digital renderings versus the use of notations in representing architectural work? (pg44-45).
3. Allen says, “A diagram is often thought of as an after-the-fact thing, an explanatory device to communicate or clarify form, structure, or program.” Do you think this is the true value of diagrams?
4. In Allen’s book, page 59, he explains that the “advent of mass communication and information technology has undermined the idea of the city as the place of architectural permanence.” Do you think this is true? If so, do we as architects attempt to stop this change of perception, or do we embrace it as the contemporary city?


Arnheim, Rudolf. Art and Visual Perception. Chapter 8, Movement
1. On Page 375, Arnheim says, “Every newly arriving percept finds its place in the spatial structure of memory. In the brain every trace has an address, but no date. The structure of a performance derives from the interaction of the traces it leaves within us.” How can we relate this idea into architectural design?
2. Arnheim talks about forms of non-sequential narrative. In the linear succession of a design narrative, is there a benefit to portraying events in an objective sequence, or in a meaningful path of disclosure?
3. Can the three factors of the visual experience of movement—physical, optical, and perceptual—act alone, or can they affect each other? (Page 379)
4. The visual field of objects represents a complex hierarchy as to which others are seen to depend. (Page 380) What are some examples of these dependencies?
5. Arnheim discusses the way we assign emotions and human attributes to the attributes of movement, especially with organic objects. He alludes to how we may perceive a vine crawling up a wall as “indicative of anxiety, desire, and happy fulfillment. What are some other examples of this? (Page 385)
6. We normally view objects moving at a range of speeds logical to the capabilities of that object. What happens when there is an ambiguity of visual dynamics—when our perception of the speed is changed? (Page 386)