StudioGang

http://www.dezeen.com/2014/01/09/studio-gang-chicago-boathouse-designed-to-echo-rhythms-of-rowing/

Here's the boathouse, the photos used and the study models that were made are only available in the book that the firm published.

Studio Gang Architects Building / Inside Studio - available in the resource lab

Clayton

Arnheim:

• How did you perceive movement throughout the reading? 
• Can there be examples of movement found in our studies and work of architecture?
• In the section Some Problems of Film Editing do these problems come from our assumptions of previous experiences? Can these problems be solved? 

Allen:

1: "A diagram is often thought of as an after-the-fact thing, an explanatory device to communicate or clarify form, structure, or program. But this overlooks the diagram's generative capacity."

A: Should diagrams be stressed more in architectural education (especially in the beginning and middle of design)?
B: Should 'napkin sketches' be taken more seriously or be used in the final stages of critiques?
C: If diagrams are generative, should we be focusing more on iterative diagraming rather than jumping into traditional design so fast?

2: Invisible : "Notations go beyond the visual to engage the invisible spaces of architecture. This includes the phenomenological effects of light, shadow, and transparency; sound, smell, or temperature but also -- and perhaps more significantly -- program, event, and social space."

A: How can we begin to notate these phenomena? Mapping?
B: In what traditional media could these notations be evident in ( plans, sections, renderings, all, none, etc)?
C: Could a new form of media evolve to project these phenomenological effects?

Arnheim

1: Pg 374 : "the thing really gets to be almost completed in my head, even if it is long so that thereafter I survey it in my head at one glance ... And I hear it in my imagination not in sequence, as it will have to unfold afterword, but, at it were, right away all together"

A: Do some of your architectural ideas and theories come about similar to Mozart on music?

2: Pg 393-4: "If a sports match is covered by two television cameras located on opposite sides of the arena, a cut from one camera to the other will naturally invert the picture. The boxer on the left will suddenly be on the right, and vice versa. The obstacle is best overcome by having the cut occur during a pronounced action, which defines the roles of the antagonists so clearly that correct identification is preserved despite the paradoxical location of movement"

A: With regards to action film, contact sports, and entertainment like wrestling, is this a good technique to emphasize action?
B: Is this similar to transitioning in architectural storyboards similar to Machado and Silvetti's Gateway for Venice discussed in the Narrative Armature presentation?

STAN ALLEN - Notations + Diagrams: Mapping the Intangible

Matt Lathrum

1. Allen says (middle of page 48) that, ". . . technique is never neutral, and the means of representation, the working methods of the architect, will always condition the results." How do you think the 'methods' could 'condition the results?' Can you think of any examples?

2. 'Process-based' design work (e.g.: utilizing trace and projection) is contrasted with the use of notation and diagram (top of page 49.) Allen states that, in the former, "the meaningfulness of the object is understood to reside in information that has been inscribed through the process of design;" whereas, in the latter, ". . . giving up ideas of depth, authorship and intent" are traded for "immediacy and presence." Do you agreed with these claims?

3. The merits of 'diagram architecture' are articulated on page 54. "Meaning is located on the surface of things . . . What is lost in depth is gained in immediacy. Diagram architecture looks for effects on the surface, but by layering surface on surface, a new kind of depth effect is created. A diagram architecture does not justify itself on the basis of embedded content, but by its ability to multiply effects and scenarios." Do you think embedded content/meaning is important? Do you see more value in the results of diagram architecture?

4. Five working definitions of notations are given on pages 64-66. Can you think of any examples of these principles at work in an urban project?

 RUDOLF ARNHEIM - Movement

Matt Lathrum

1. After learning what Arnheim has to say about the perception of movement, how might one apply these dynamics to architecture?

2. Would it make sense to apply these principles of the perception of movement to architecture in two-dimensional images (on paper or screen,) to actual built architecture,  or in video form?

3. Do you see as more applicable to the practice of architecture the perception of movement of objects, or the perception of movement of people?

The form of Data

TUFTE – “Sparklines: Intense, Simple, Word-Sized Graphics”

Ben Otten

1. What is so successful about the Baseball sparkline example?
2. Sparklines are datawords: Data ______ , Design ______  and ______ - sized graphics.
3. Tufte describes sparklines as small, high-resolution graphics usually embedded in a full context of words, numbers and images. What are some examples of what sparklines can be used for both in the book and from your own experience?
4. What is the rule of thumb for sizing a statistical graphic sparkline?
5. What are the three programs required to produce a successful sparkline?
6. What should always be the focus of a sparkline?

TUFTE – “Parallelism”

Jesse Duchon

1. Tufte provides examples of parallelism in space and in time. We see an architectural example using before and after photos of a Humphry Repton remodel. Is parallelism still used today? How is it used in today’s architectural realm?
2. Can parallelism be used in any other aspect besides photography or imagery? Such as real life or first person interactions.
3. Here’s one possible example of a Computer companion graphic. Can you think of any others? Cell phones?  Signage in your daily life?

4. In “Rock and Roll is here to Pay: The History and Politics of  the Music Industry,” What else besides overlaying multiple flows of music and artist make the image so successful? Think about “Divergent Perspective”as mentioned in the text.

5. What is successful about the Salyut 6 Space Flight diagram? What is unsuccessful? How did the use of the diagram change from its original purpose?