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 architectural thought. You may critique conventions, processes or projects. You may also decide to explore phenomena that is not directly related to architecture, in that, it is not a building, drawing or other.
On 04.20 you must present your topic. A 500-word written explanation of your topic must be included. Within your presentation 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 formated to fit the final document per the syllabus.
06 April 2010
29 March 2010
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?
[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?
18 March 2010
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
Design Density:
Jules & Jim
Italian Social Condition - Poverty
A.Y. 2008-2009
Environmental Report 2008
Other:
Good Transparencies Archive
50 Great Examples of Infographics
13 March 2010
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!
08 March 2010
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
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
05 March 2010
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.
04 March 2010
Exercise Two - Paintings
El Lissitzky - Landin, Lima, Arteaga, Biwer, Petermann
Le Corbusier - Seniuk, Bartsch
Malevich - Villwock, Carlucci, Dhimal, Wold, Hoctor
Le Corbusier - Seniuk, Bartsch
Malevich - Villwock, Carlucci, Dhimal, Wold, Hoctor
01 March 2010
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
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
16 February 2010
09 February 2010
02.09 Class Cancelled
The university has canceled classes starting at 4:30 and later. This week's readings will be discussed next week. Your film diagrams will now be due 02.23. I will make changes to the syllabus to accommodate this cancellation. Stay tuned...
08 February 2010
Discussion for Feb 09
Beautiful evidence
1. Which map strikes you as the most successful and why?
2. Which map strikes you as the least successful?
3. Compare and contrast the Maps " The Vigilante" Page no 22 & 23 with Ernst Mossel's mappings of the artworks.
Page no 29 & 30
The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention
4. Philosophers Gilles Deuze and Flix Guattari quoted: " Make a map not a tracing!". In your opinion, What is the difference between Mapping and Tracing?
5 Discuss the different Mapping Techniques
6.How can Mapping be helpful in your Design work/ as Designer?
7. In your opinion is technology helpful in Mapping? and why?
1. Which map strikes you as the most successful and why?
2. Which map strikes you as the least successful?
3. Compare and contrast the Maps " The Vigilante" Page no 22 & 23 with Ernst Mossel's mappings of the artworks.
Page no 29 & 30
The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention
4. Philosophers Gilles Deuze and Flix Guattari quoted: " Make a map not a tracing!". In your opinion, What is the difference between Mapping and Tracing?
5 Discuss the different Mapping Techniques
6.How can Mapping be helpful in your Design work/ as Designer?
7. In your opinion is technology helpful in Mapping? and why?
03 February 2010
Charting The Beatles
Charting The Beatles
This is a very interesting set of graphics that visualize the music of the Beatles. Because the subject matter is time-based media, you can use these as inspiration for your film diagrams.
01 February 2010
Discussion questions for Feb. 2nd
Discussion leaders: Arteaga & Carlucci
Beautiful Evidence. Tufte
What are the six analytical design principles Tufte cites in reference to Charles Joseph Minard's data map?
The purpose of the analytical diagram is to aid in thinking and provoke reasoning among the consumer, how is this presentation more or less effective than other organizations of information such as an essay?
What graphic elements are used to describe the content of the diagram? What role does visual heirarchy play?
Visual Thinking. Arnheim
Can and how does abstraction bridge the notions of perception and thinking?
According to John Locke, "abstraction is an organization of the mind that passes beyond the concrete and has freed itself from it." In this case, are inracerebral perceptions (memories, feelings) abstractions?
What is the relationship between grouping/classification/generalization and abstraction? How does each feed into the other?
How is perception limited and how does abstraction aid in a more specific understanding?
Describe the difference between a container concept and a type?
Beautiful Evidence. Tufte
What are the six analytical design principles Tufte cites in reference to Charles Joseph Minard's data map?
The purpose of the analytical diagram is to aid in thinking and provoke reasoning among the consumer, how is this presentation more or less effective than other organizations of information such as an essay?
What graphic elements are used to describe the content of the diagram? What role does visual heirarchy play?
Visual Thinking. Arnheim
Can and how does abstraction bridge the notions of perception and thinking?
According to John Locke, "abstraction is an organization of the mind that passes beyond the concrete and has freed itself from it." In this case, are inracerebral perceptions (memories, feelings) abstractions?
What is the relationship between grouping/classification/generalization and abstraction? How does each feed into the other?
How is perception limited and how does abstraction aid in a more specific understanding?
Describe the difference between a container concept and a type?
28 January 2010
Spring 2010 Discussion Leaders
Week 02 Adriana Arteaga, Alison Carlucci
Week 03 Mary Biwer, Umesh Dhimal
Week 05 Wekeana Monese, David Landin
Week 07 Blake Villwock
Week 10 James Lima, Kelly Senuik
Week 12 Ted Peterman,Alan Wold, Ryan Bartsch
Week 14 Patrick Hoctor, Ehson Rad
Week 03 Mary Biwer, Umesh Dhimal
Week 05 Wekeana Monese, David Landin
Week 07 Blake Villwock
Week 10 James Lima, Kelly Senuik
Week 12 Ted Peterman,Alan Wold, Ryan Bartsch
Week 14 Patrick Hoctor, Ehson Rad
12 January 2010
Art of Architecture Exhibit
January 15 - February 14
BYOStudio
2246 S. Kinnickinnic Avenue
Milwaukee WI 53207
414-699-7033
Gallery Hours:
Thursday: 1-5pm
Friday: 1-5pm
Saturday: 1-5pm
Sunday: 1-5pm
Come see some of the work of SARUP students and faculty.
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