Sang

On behalf of Sang on being able to post...here are her questions

1. The acronym SNAFU which describes a "normal" state where things are a little bit off. Have you used Snafu in your design process? Is a snafu manageable?
2. Tactics are the modes of creative opportunity that operate within the gaps and slips of conventional thought and the patterns of everyday life. What tactic do you use when you first start a project?
3. LTL states, “while the subject changes, the tactics of investigation remain consistent. Each project begins with a close inspection of an existing situation, triggering a speculative “What if…” question that postulates an alternative derived from the logic of the given object of study.” When you are assigned a new project, what type of questions should you ask yourself when referring to case studies?

Week 15

1.     A question for Chris: Why have you chosen to use Snafus as a part of your work? How does this influence the way you start to think about your projects also what do you learn by doing these types of drawings?

2.     LTLs reading talks about the idea of “two seemingly incompatible conditions occurring simultaneously: the normal (regulated military) and the fouled-up (Snafu). lf something is normal, everyday, and ordered then how can it also be disordered, jumbled, and otherwise out of kilter?” Thoughts???

3.     “The old standards of practice have been decisively critiqued by willful destruction.  In order to participate in the building of the reconstructed city, the practice of architecture itself becomes as radically reconstructed as the architecture required by the changed conditions of living. New principles must be articulated by the architect, and new tactics invented and adopted.”  Here Woods says that in order to build a new city new practices or principles must be built or established.  What do you think some new principles have been recently and what form does this take?  Is it in the form of materiality, or function or form?

Ex. 04_personal Research Topic_2018

Your final exercise of the semester is a personal research topic. This topic may be related to your current/past studios, Master's project topic or other topic that you would like to graphically research for this course. Your topic may be directly related, tangentially related or reciprocal to architecture(al) thought. You may critique conventions, processes or projects. You may also decide to explore phenomena that are not directly related to architecture, in that, it is not a building, drawing or other.

By 9:00 AM on December 10, you must submit a 300-word abstract of your research topic via d2L Dropbox. Within your abstract you must clearly state the topic as a thesis of inquiry, your methodology for research and your expected out comes. Keep in mind, this topic must be formatted to fit the final document per the syllabus.

To view examples of previous research topics view the blog archive for April 2013.HERE

Please post any questions as comments to this post so that the entire class may benefit.

The format of exercise four and your final document shall be the same as the previous exercises, 8.5x11 Landscape format.

Exercise four will be included in your final document along with exercises 01-03. Your final document is due at noon on December 21. You will upload a SINGLE pdf file to the dropbox on d2L. Your file size may not exceed 20 MB. I will not open/review any document larger than that, and I will not review multiple files. If you do not meet these requirements your assignment will be considered late.

Label your final document files with only the following:
Final Doc_Last Name

Week 14 - Power Point Sucks and here's why

1.    Tufte states "Especially disturbing is the introduction of power point into schools.  Instead of writing report sentences, children learn how to decorate client pitches and infomercials..."  I absolutely suck at writing.  Even sitting here writing you guys questions is difficult for me.  I find more value in presenting an idea rather than writing about it.  Do you find more value in speaking to an idea or writing about it?

2.  While Tufte is very much against using Power Points, I feel like as architects our presentations differ than the ones that Banks are putting together for their investors.  Are we the exception or have we been doing this whole thing wrong?

3.  I have been always told that during a presentation if I talk about it there should be a diagram or drawing that support it.  Tufte in this paper is arguing the opposite, that we should talk more and show less visuals.  Why is our profession against some of these things Tufte is saying?

4.  Why does it feel that the School or Architecture is arguable disconnected from the practice of architecture.  Every "large" firm in Milwaukee uses PowerPoint for its building pitches, client meetings, staff meetings, basically everything.  They all use templates and are a graphic nightmare, yet they still continue to be the largest firms in the entire state.   Why is this?

week 14 - presenting your work

1.     tufte shares and example of louis gerstner (then president of IBM) shutting down a slide based presentation being given by employees of IBM. displeased, tufte recalls "indeed, gerstner later asked IBM executives to write out their business strategies in longhand using the presentation methodology of sentence, with subjects and predicates, nouns and verbs, which then combine sequentially to form paragraphs, an analytical tool demonstratively better than slideware bullet lists." has peoples dependence on presentation tools such as power point hindered their ability to write analytically, or even structurally sound?

2.     over and over again tufte expresses his disapproval of power point presentations because of their tendencies to stack information in a way that does not allow for people to learn and draw connection , giving the content a surface level, almost vain quality. he gives a few options that in his opinion enhances the viewers experience, one being "high resolution handout allow viewers to contextualize, compare, narrate, and recast evidence." how do we as architecture students utilize this, and do you think it is as successful as tufte believes it to be.

3.     recount a presentation you have given (slide based or otherwise), how do the tools and methods you used to present your content/work were effective or ineffective?

4.     agrest states "...the understanding of the world based on establishing similarities between things, images, and words-in short, representation worked by establishing analogies." she goes on to give alberti's definition of beauty "...for example, a chain of signifiers that goes from nature to the human body, to proportion, and then to geometry allows for a particular concept of beauty to be transposed to architecture." as designers, how do we use analogies to help us today?

5.     "the representation of the gothic, classical, and beaux arts styles serve to link the old and the new, imposing the new by representing the familiar. architecture becomes self-referential and buildings are representing other buildings, thus transferring their history and myths to the new." what are some examples of modern buildings being represented by other contemporary buildings and why do we do this?

Week 14 Questions

LTL:
1) Throughout the opening few pages, the essay makes reference to the unexpected and chaotic with respect to a conditioned norm. What is your opinion on the necessity of rules or 'the norm' to serve as a backdrop for innovation and chaos to shine?

2) When discussing form and function, LTL suggests renaming the common phrase "form follows function" to "function fucks with form." Why do you think they chose to word it that way instead of simply swapping the object and subject to "form follows function?" Specifically, the choice of words implies that form need not be a predetermined outcome (form) of a set of inputs (function) but that form is a multitude of possible outcomes that takes influence from the inputs, but not in a necessarily deterministic way.

3) LTL describes surrationalism as, "the self-conscious examination of the rational...Surrationalism is first and foremost a conscious, critical, and rational project..." If you consider the rational as "the norm" and surrationalism itself as a rationalizing reimagination of the norm, then would it not eventually result in the same rationalized norm that it seeks to reconsider?

Woods;
1)Woods describes the temporal nature of establishment and innovation by stating, "The architect must become, more than ever, a creature of the present, fusing all that is remembered and all that is dreamt within it..." What are the implications of equating the past with the established and the future (dreamt) with innovation?

2) Though Woods talks about the architecture of old as a service, his pleas for a new architecture with new methods, values, and tactics still treats architecture as a service. Why do we, as a profession, consistently value architecture based on its ability to solve a problem - to "save the world"?

3) Woods states on rebuilding the city, "Because the architect has a more intimate knowledge than others of the city's physical structures and their processes of coming into being, it falls to the architect to act in the void left by the disruption or collapse of institutional authority." He says this despite saying, several paragraphs earlier, "Architects are no longer able...to view the city from high above, as though it were an object to be manipulated and dominated." Do you see a non sequitur here? Is there a way for architects to take charge using our knowledge while still being cognizant of the greater society at large? Do we need to?

Digital

1. In the Picon reading he states, "computer generated images play a role in this crisis of scale", do you believe this statement holds true in your own work? 
2. In the Picon reading he states that architectural form used to appear as the ultimate result of a process of research, he then continues to say a computer generated architectural form can no longer pretend to achieve this status. Do you believe this statement to be true? Can an architectural form solely begin with a computer generated process?
3. In Allens reading he claims traditional architectural representation has power because of its abstracted approach, do you think that oversimplification or over abstraction can lead to a faulty design?
4. Are there new technological advancements in computer generated design that can help solve the problems discussed in both readings? Do you think virtual reality is the future of architectural design?

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WEEK 13_AVOIDING DIGITAL PITFALLS

1. In the reading Architecture, Science, Technology, and the Virtual Realm, Antoine Picon discusses how architecture operates in the virtual dimension. What are the advantages and disadvantages to this? In the future, do you believe there will be advances in technology that could push us closer to full actualization?

2. "From an architectural standpoint, the major consequence of this preeminence is the destabilization of form, a destabilization all the more paradoxical since it is the operations of the designer and the calculations of the computer that simultaneously and rigorously, define form" (Picon, 303).
Does the use of digital architecture help or hurt our abilities to design form? If you believe it helps, how so? If you believe it hurts, how can we fix this issue while still allowing for digital platforms?

3. In both readings, Allen and Picon discuss the dangers of the destroying the field. How can we use technological advances to help redefine the field and keep it from becoming a "terminal velocity"?

4. "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 a remote utopia"(Picon, 307).
Do you believe the idea that we are operating in a virtual dimension plays a role on this trend/do you believe advances in technology has brought this about? Do you believe it is more beneficial to operate in the manner of realism? If you believe so, to the architect or the client?

5. Both readings discuss scale through computer-generated images. In what ways do you believe scale is being lost/advanced through digital platforms?

6. Allen mentions that a disadvantage of working through a computer is that everything is accumulative and nothing is lost. Have you ever found this to be a disadvantage in your own work while designing through a digital software vs by hand?

Week 12: Research Methodologies

1 Let’s take a poll and see if there are any overwhelming majorities. How would you classify yourself? (anonymous – write on a piece of scrap paper - pick just one)

Herzog and de Meuron or {{{{Operations}Projects}}}

Aranda\Lasch or {{{{Operations}}}Movement}

Le Corbusier or {{{}Projects}Theses}Movement}

OMA or {{{{}Projects}Theses}}

Bruno Taut or {{{{}Projects}}Movements}

Enric Miralles or {{{{}Projects}}}

Diller + Scofidio or {{{{}}Theses}}

Are the results a product of the faculty/curriculum of this school, or mostly a personal choice?

Is your classification the same as your favorite architects?

2 “Movements are usually defined as organized effort to achieve a common goal” – Pineiro II

What are the current overarching (or most exciting to you) movements of architectural practice? Do we expect these to change in the next five years (or near future?) – Thinking about what we will encounter as we enter the working world.

3 “The process of design and construction is characterized by constant tactical adjustments made to the demands of clients, codes, consultants, budgets, builders, and regulatory agencies, not to mention the complex logistics of construction itself?” – Allen XI

Do any of these types of demands worry you more than the others in studios or as you think about entering practice?

4 “It is precisely when practice and experimentation turn up inconsistencies in the “normal science” that new theories are produced” – Allen XII

Which of the classifications as presented by Pineiro best facilitate the balance of practice and experimentation required to produce new theories?

5 “…doubt returns thought to openness before the world; it involves a loss of control which places thought in a more vulnerable relation to the world than before” – Allen XV

How much does doubt weigh on your thoughts throughout the design process? Is it a tool or an impediment? Is it more prevalent in the beginning (when choosing what the project should be), at the end (when thinking about what the project could have been), or some other time? (I’m thinking of doubt as “hard-headed” skepticism here. Self-criticism, client desires, best approaches, etc…)

week 12_research methodologies

Allen, "Practice vs. Project" Introduction, Practice, pp X-XXIII:

1. "Constraint is not an obstacle to creativity, but an opportunity for invention, provoking the discovery of new techniques." (p. XV)

How does constraint benefit and/or effect our own work in studio and what are some of those constraints that we are faced with?

2. "Meaning is not something added to architecture; it is a much larger, and a slipperier, momentary thing. It is not located in the architecture; it is what happens to and around architecture as part of a complex social exchange. It happens in the interval, as the result of an encounter between architecture and its public, in the field" (p. XIV)

This idea of social infrastructure and interaction creating meaning in architecture is very powerful, developments can create social and architectural impact on a multiplicity of scales. How do we as designers create these scenarios? In the context of Milwaukee, I think of developments such as Fiserv Forum, The Hop, and the Summerfest grounds.

3. "Two important senses of the word practice intersect here: practice designating the collective and peripatetic improvisations of multiple inhabitants in the city connects to practice as the creative exercise of  an intellectual discipline by an individual." (p. XIX)

Where these two senses of practice intersect there is spectrum of intensity between strict and creative. Are there nodes along this spectrum that are more applicable to different aspects of the design process? The above quotes relate to the Lopez-Pineiro reading as it describes a bridge between practice and production in both a professional and academic construct.


Lopez-Pineiro, "How to do a Thesis: Practice Models as Investigators for Academic Theses", pp 1-9:

4. In regard to the categories described within the Lopez-Pineiro reading (p. 3-7):

• Herzog and de Meuron or {{{{Operations}Projects}}}
• Aranda\Lasch or {{{{Operations}}}Movement}
• Le Corbusier or {{{}Projects}Theses}Movement}
• OMA or {{{{}Projects}Theses}}
• Bruno Taut or {{{{}Projects}}Movements}
• Enric Miralles or {{{{}Projects}}}
• Diller + Scofidio or {{{{}}Theses}}

  How would you classify your own design characteristics/process in relation to the above categories?

5. Pre-thesis students: 30-second elevator pitch of your current thesis research (i.e. topic, location, advisory, concept, etc.). What are your personal opinions of the process so far?

6. Even if you are not in thesis, how could these ideas described in the reading be applied to daily studio/seminar work to better evolve projects and create more innovation? 

week 12 - research methodologies

1 allen states "theory's promise is to make up for what practice lacks, to confer unity on the wildly disparate procedures of design and construction." in your experiences interning with or working for an architectural firm, how hove you found practice and theory interact?

2 because visual and material practices have rules that differ from those of textual practices, allen says "...architecture has never been particularly effective as a vehicle of criticism." that it is inherently affirmative and instrumental. as architecture students who receive criticism in regards to our visual and material based architectural projects, do you agree or disagree with this?

3 "...image culture belongs to the new ways of thinking and seeing that have emerged with modernity: shifting mental schemas that mark our uncertain position in the modern would and force us to see how the practice of architecture has been constantly revised by the complex current of twentieth century thought." how are imagerial representation (images, film, graphics, etc) seen as fleeting (or are they not?) and help us better understand ever-changing contemporary architecture?

4 lopez-pineiro wonders of traditional thesis rituals in schools of architecture "why do we-the architectural community at large-ask students to do a thesis if most practicing architects do not work in this manner?" as a first year grad, i also wonder. for those of you currently in thesis, are you 'enjoying' the process so far/would you prefer another way of structuring thesis? if so what would that look like for you?

colllage

1. Shields writes “a work of architecture contains accumulated history as it is lived and engaged rather than observed.” How as students are we able to convey a sense of history or engagement with a studio project? How can collaging aid this process?

2. Through your own projects what has collaging been most effective at conveying? Was this information easily comprehended by the audience?

3. On page 163 Corner states he is “struck by the range of types and forms of representation in comparison to the relatively small number of techniques used in the landscape, architectural, and planning arts.” Do you think this limit in representation is due to the field of our study?

Week 11

1.  “collage has transformed throughout the past century as the conception of space has evolved Materially, the choice of fragments is also distinctive, revealing evidence of the time and place in which the collages were constructed” (Shields : 9) Since collage has gone through evolutionary changes, in what ways does that effect how people think about collage and how it has an effect on the design of architecture. 
2. “The collagist’s tools are simple: a scalpel used in tandem with a probe or a pair of tweezers and small tabs to keep things in the right place prior to the gluing operation.” (Nicholson: 20) How has technology changed or replaced the tools necessary to create collage? 
3. “Any recovery of landscape in contemporary culture is ultimately dependent on the development of new images and techniques of conceptualization.” (Corner: 153-154) Before the contemporary culture, 1945 to the present, how would collage helped the recovery of landscape issues?... like the Great Depression, 1929-1939, or WW2, 1939-1945.  

WEEK 11_COLLAGE

1. On page 22 Nicholson states, "Making requires living with something that is knowingly incorrect. It is this anti-idealistic incorrectness which mysteriously permits the work to advance." This reading also suggests that the act of collage making is as productive as the outcome. Have you used collage as a generative tool during the architectural design process?
2. On page 2 Shields states, "The practice of collage has the capacity to capture spatial and material characteristics of the built environment, acting as an analytical and interpretive mechanism." Can the rendering software that we are taught in school, such as v-ray, capture the spatial and experiential qualities that collage is capable of achieving? What are the shortcomings of v-ray/lumion/ sketchup in comparison to collage and vice versa?
3. How can digital tools successfully be used in conjunction with collage, so that the full potential of collage as suggested by the readings is not lost? Are there any examples that come to mind?

WEEK 11_COLLAGE

1. Throughout all three readings by Nicholson, Shields, and Corner, each brief on the the process of collage making. The readings discuss the advantages of collages as a physical process, but are there any advantages to using digital production in the collage making process? If so, what do you think they are? If not, what advantages could our architectural representations benefit from by using collage outside of the digital platforms?

2. "The practitioner must have the skill to free the weight of the body, so that it can pirouette about the scalpel blade whist constant direction and pressure is applied to its point" (Nicholson, 20). In this quote from the reading, Collage Making, Nicholson discusses that one must understand the collage making process but also allow the mind to free itself during the process. Do you believe the most successful collage is one that is preplanned or on the spot? How do you create an architectural representation to convey a certain layers of meaning if it is not preplanned?

3. Do you use collage in your architectural representation to reveal layers of understanding to yourself or others?

4. Within the reading by James Corner, he discusses landscape and image being inseparable. Do you think landscape in collages heightens or hurts the image? If applied to an architectural representation such as a rendering, do you think it should display "realistic" landscape types or something as imaginative as a collage?

5. In the readings from Shields and Nicholson, both discuss collage being a tool to allow for layering of information. In this collaged image by Henry Stephens, what are the different layers of information he is trying to portray? Which are the most important?