Week 7_Questions

Visual Explanations: Parallelism: Repetition and Change, Comparison and Surprise

1. In the Edward Gibbon excerpt, what are the layers of parallelism used?
2. How is Gibbon’s message portrayed? Is the tone of the piece clear?
3. In the Notation of Movement on page 82, are Margaret Morris’ symbols effective or is the juxtaposition of photo and title page the only reason any comprehension occurs? Is this an effective method of symbolic representation?
4. Are parallelism-in-space relationships more effective than parallelism-in-time? Does it depend on the subject of comparison?
5. How do the messages differ between space and time parallelism?
6. Referring to the Peter Apian diagrams on page 86; What advantages and disadvantages does graphic simplification hold for investigation of phenomena?
7. When you add many layers of data analysis do you lose the experiential quality of the subject you’re analyzing?

Beautiful Evidence: Sparklines

1. Should sparklines support the text or should the text support the sparkline?
2. Can sparklines stand on their own without text?
3. What are the positive and negative effects in technology of producing data graphics?
4. What is the best way to analyze graphics representing data for their validity? Is there any way to reduce bias in data representation?
5. Is the usefulness lost with the density of data in a diagram such as the DNA graphic on the bottom of page 52?

better than your average walkthrough

http://www.squintopera.com/#/architectural-communications/projects/masterplans/plan-abu-dhabi-2030/4/

takes a minute to get goin, but pretty rad.

WEEK 6 QUESTIONS

RENE DAVIDS

STORYBOARDS: COMPARISONS AND DEFINITIONS

1. Are storyboards limited to design proposals? Can we learn more by doing them after a building has been built? How do storyboards and film differ?

2. What does David Hockney mean states, “There are so many relationships created by juxtaposing each photo, and the permutations of these relationships seem so numerous, that you continue gazing at it, and seeing it in many different ways.” Do you think this is true?

3. Are storyboards still relevant as a media in architecture given the ease of creating virtual walkthroughs? What are the pros/cons of using storyboard vs film?

4. Storyboards can “challenge perceptions about the representation of architecture beyond eye-level”, such as from the point of view of a cat. What do we actually learn from them?

5. In respect to our studio project, how can storyboards be used to enhance design? Presentation?

ANTHONY VIDLER

WARPED SPACE

1. How do we begin to design with descriptive emotion? Should we?

2. Vidler states, “Of all the arts, however, it is architecture that has had the most privileged and difficult relationship to film” (p.2 of pdf), how is this so?

3. When Vidler speaks of ‘spaces of horror’ what is he referring to?

4. What does Panofsky mean when he states, “To prestylize reality prior to tackling it amounts to dodging the problem…The problem is to manipulate and shoot unstylized reality in such a way that the result has style”.

5. Where in some of the films for our first exercise do you see the background being used as a tool to enhance the mood/theme of a scene?

6. Attention, Memory, Imagination, Emotion are the “forms of the inner world”, how are they used in modern design? Your designs?

SCOTT McCLOUD

THE VOCABULARY OF COMICS

1. How would you define the icon?

2. Why does McCloud present himself in such a cartoon-y way as oppose to articulating his face and physical demeanor? Do see this same idea in architecture projects?

3. Can design be abstracted too far? At or past the point of cartoon? How do you decide which level of abstraction is appropriate for your process?

4. What does McCloud mean when he says that inanimate objects become extensions of ourselves? Examples?

5. Why are protagonists often more abstract in cartoon/comics such as tin-tin, while the background or the antagonist is often very descriptive/articulated?

6. How do we separate the message from the messenger in architecture?

7. Is there a way to bridge the realm of the concept with the realm of the senses?

Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud

This TED video of Scott McCloud gives an overview of his book and is helpful in understanding this week's reading (which is now on d2L). This is of great significance if we think about how to represent an architectural experience. There are a number of devices to be utilized by architects. Not that our presentations would be mistaken for comics, but the presence of space, time and sequence in those presentations can give a deeper understanding of your work.

TED Video embeded

Idea Origination

I found this video on TED, which I feel completely aligns with our current studio design problem. Check it out! The overall message is that ideas are not spontaneously conceived, but instead are the resultant of a number of disparate issues, which the individual is continuously mulling over and refining. Specifically, the speaker uses the example of Darwin's discovery of the theory of evolution. In his journal Darwin actually had all the information for his theory four months before making his discovery. What does this mean for our question about ideation and collaboration?

http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html

Notes on the Index by: Rosalind Krauss Post by:
Megan Lomas and Richie Hands
1. How is an index different than a symbol or an icon?

2. What are some examples of indeces from last week's lecture?

3. From Roger Brown's artwork?

4. Does an index always have to be visual?

5. Would an echo be considered an index?

6. A scent?

7. Is an index made stronger by adding a caption?

Andre Bazin states "The photographic image is the object itself, the object
freed from the conditions of time and space that govern it."

8. Who agrees with a photograph as an index?

9. Is it possible to abstract a picture? For example with use of framing,
extending shutter time, etc?

10. Would you consider a painting an index?

11. Which would be a stronger index? -a photograph or painting?

12. Why did Krauss place so much emphasis on the shifter, or referrential
pronoun?

13. Are pronouns a type of index?

14. What do you think Duchamp intended when titling works with plays on
words? Ex. Tu m', Rrose Selavy

Week 3 Readings:

Kelli Kaspar and Richie Hands

Mapped Pictures: Edward Tuft

1. What was your overall sense of this reading?
2. What made the slave shop diagram so effective? Did it convey its purpose effectively?
3. Do the diagrams of the Cezanne paintings help the viewer understand how the painter viewed the world?
4. Sculptures: is it truth or just an anomaly? Does it affect the mapping process since its off a 2-D, not 3-D object?
5. What makes the ski diagrams or line dancing diagrams so effective?
6. Rock, Braque, and Picasso: Does adding the scale in the 2 artist renditions make the map legible?
7. “Mappings help tell why the image matters.” –Do you agree with this?

The Agency of Mapping: James Corner

1. How do you define mapping? Since Corner gave so many examples of what it is.
2. Does mapping actually help find new things?
3. How do we use mapping in our projects in school?
4. Is there anything that can’t be mapped?
5. Does every map have an effect?
6. What is site? How does it relate to mapping?
7. 3 essentials in mapping: creation of the field, extraction/isolate data, and plotting. Are these the only ways to create a map?
8. Do you believe young architects are bringing mapping back into the design world? Do you feel mapping should be brought to the forefront of design?
9. 4 themes of mapping: Drift, Layering, Game Board, Rhizome. Which do you feel you use the most? Which is the most interesting to you? Which seems to be the most useful?
10. Napoleon Diagram: do you feel this complies with any of the 4 above themes of mapping?

A different way of looking at the globe that I thought was interesting...this first link is an animation showing income/day, you can click other categories to see animate by clicking the npr link.

http://www.worldmapper.org/animations/income_animation.html

if the flash doesn't work for you, you can see the different categories from the npr article I found it from:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/09/02/129609503/oh-my-gosh-what-happened-to-paraguay-and-china-you-are-so-big#more

Exercise 01 - a film

Vertigo - Lomas, Murphy, Heikkinen, Lattimore
Being John Malkovich - Hands, Hosler
The Fall - Francis, Kaspar, Pletz, Donald

Lomas, Hosler, & Murphy

Arnheim. Visual Thinking

1. What leads one to the process of abstraction?

2. What are some pros and some cons

3. Arnheim bases his thesis on the premise: One cannot have perception without thinking or thinking without perception therefore every level involves abstraction and must be examined with care.

Do you agree with this?

Is it possible to simply take something in without analyzing, dissecting, categorizing, or relating it to something else

Can you discuss an idea without picturing it or relating it to something concrete?

4. Rene Pellet says: "Abstraction is an organization of the mind that passes beyond the concrete and has freed itself from it."

5. Is it possible to completely free a thought of concrete influence? In either respect is this necessary to constitute abstraction?

6. In your own words, how would you define abstraction?

7. What do you or how would you classify home?

8. Where did you last see an example of an abstraction?

Tufte. Beautiful Evidence

1. How do the idifferences between the physical and social sciences change the way we take/measure data?

2. What are the qualities of human nature or behavior that change the way we think or understand?

3.How is Minard's Russian Campaign poster anti-war and why does he intentionally not mention Napoleon's name?

4. Why would anyone logically want to limit themselves at the very initial stages of compiling data? And how would someone layer multiple pieces of information with analytical design?

5. Why is Documentation such an important part of analytical design?

6. What questions should someone ask themselves when trying to copile data?

7. How are principles of design derived in relation to human behavior?

2010 Chicago - Discussion Leaders

Week 02 - Lomas, Hosler
Week 03 - Kaspar, Hands
Week 04 - Lomas, Hands
Week 06 - Murphy, Francis
Week 07 - Pletz, Heikkinen
Week 09 - Russell, Francis, Donald
Week 11 - Lattimore, Heikkinen
Week 12 - Pletz, Kaspar, Lattimore
Week 15 - Donald, Hosler

Because of the smaller class size, please email two dates you would like to lead. Every week should have two leaders and some will have three.

Mariano Rivera's Cutter

This is an incredible video explanation of Mariano Rivera's signature pitch, the cutter. As a baseball fan (but a Yankee hater) I found the video compelling. As a connoisseur of infographics, I was really struck by how well they explain what he does, how it differs from other pitches and how they explain what he is doing to the ball from both the hitter's and pitcher's point-of-view.

Enjoy!

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/29/magazine/rivera-pitches.html

Final Doc Crits

I will see you in pairs for 20 minutes. Please email your selection for both dates.

05.04
6:30 Lima, Arteaga
6:50 Hoctor, Rad
7:10 Monese, Carlucci
7:30 Seniuk, Landin
7:50 Bartsch,Villwock
8:10 Petermann, Wold
8:30 Dhimal, Biwer

05.11
6:30 Lima, Seniuk
6:50 Petermann, Arteaga
7:10 Hoctor, Rad
7:30 Landin, Monese
7:50 Bartsch, Villwock
8:10 Wold, Carlucci
8:30 Dhimal, Biwer

Please bring a hardcopy of your document progress for critique.

04.27 Discussion Questions

Agrest Questions:

Tufte Reading
The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint

1) How can we improve our presentations?

2) What does Tufte describe as corruption of evidence and analysis? What should consumers of PowerPoint presentations look out for?

3) What is PowerPoint Phfluff?

4) While Tufte states on pg 169 that PowerPoint slides that accompany talks have much lower rates of information transmission than conversation, can Power points be used by the middle 80% of user in a constructive presentation?

5) Why are bullet lists unsuccessful?

1) According to Agrest, is it architectural representation or built architecture in which ideological changes (renaissance, baroque, and modernism) manifest themselves?  Why? (pg.165)

2) According to Agrest, representation "works as a shifter that allows codes of one system (science, geometry, mathematics, or physics) to be switched to another (culture, painting, or architecture)."  Because of this "there is rarely representation of a 'reality,' or even of an idea or a belief. What representation represents is another representation in a chain of signifiers that circulates from one medium to another..."  What does Agrest mean by this and whose definition of beauty does he use to explain this? (pg.167)

3) During what time period was there a distinguish made between architectural practice and theory?  Why? (pg.168)

4) What is the most pertinent form of media to be used when representing the contemporary city?  Why? (pg. 174 & 175)

5) What 2 paradoxical situations have resulted from the use of the computer in architecture?  Where is the impact of these situations the greatest?  Why?  (pg.176)