Task Week 7

This week work on the items that we identified individually over the phone last weekend. Here is a summary of the key comments

- Think about the deliverables for the final presentation as a competition entry: show the full capacity of your specific approach and find ways of representing it that are more engaging than abstracted plan, elevations and sections. Seductively composed images will carry you a long way towards getting people exited about your projects.
- Having said this, it needs to be clear that your design is not just an engaging conceptual fantasy, but that a credible translation into a building has been started.
- Be clear about your concept and how you translate it into architectural parameters. Annotate and render your drawings specific to your themes and include conceptual diagrams.
- show as much context as possible (ground floor plan, sections, 3D models & renderings) and be graphically clear about elements that are related.

Other items:
- Here is a link to the requirements for the final presentation that will be due on Sunday evening, September 30th. Sketch mock-up postings for yourself and identify what drawings you need to focus on.
- I'll send out a new sign up list for a last round of phone calls this weekend.
- I am looking forward to seeing your work completed! You have exiting ideas: present them as sharp and crisp as possible.

Lots of energy and luck,
Enno

Interaction

All,
Your commenting effort has been great this week: it's good to see your suggestions and thoughts accumulated. I have the impression that this might me a useful tool.
Keep up the momentum and think about posting interim progress, if you would like to get a quick feedback.

Tip of the day

Use the photos of your models to advance your design by adding colors, textures, changes in opacity, or sketching over them and then overlaying the sketch into the file, and cutting and pasting elements in the image. Don't try to make it photo realistic, the result can clearly be artificial.
While adjusting the physical model will be necessary as well, this is a quicker way to study your project in conjunction with the sections. With this method, you can even play with the massing where appropriate.

Task week 5

This week's main focus will be on building sections (1/8") and facade sections (1/2"). While the building sections address the vertical relation (stairs, multiple height spaces, light and program) between the floors and their relation to the facade (=views), the facade sections show a. the programmatic activities along the building edge and b. how they relate to the views outside and the natural daylight. Both section types will also impact the way the building will be seen from the public space (day- night views)
Task
Cut two building sections that show the building and the adjacent street side. Choose the location wisely in order to show vertical circulation and key relations to the exterior (entry, views,facade orientation). The facade sections are details of those sections and should identify materials, depth and layering of the facade and activities on the building's interior and the side walk.
You will need to also work in plan (focus for next week) in order to get there.
Don't forget your narratives and use these drawings to make your point clear, both as it relates to the site and the program.
If you use hard line drawings, please make sure to lavishly sketch over them to indicate the atmosphere and activities within the building. 3D model cut are OK, but need to be annotated as well. The drawings should not look like from an SD set, but be informative, suggestive and poetic.
Due date: Sunday night

Intensive summary postings

All,

Looking at your postings I noticed that some of them are hard to figure out in terms of what the central idea is. The ones that start with the "executive summary" work best.

Imagine someone who is not familiar with your project spending two minutes with your blog and still get the key ideas. What would it take to get there? A. limit the amount of images to 3-5. B. State your theme in the title C. start with the "money" shot and a short paragraph elaborating on the theme. Don't ramble on - be concise in all annotations C1. Address how you translate your theme into architecture - diagrams, short narrative, list, etc D. annotated site-plan, site- observation photos and diagrams(manipulated only-photos merely showing the existing condition does not count)E. some of the images will need to be composed of different components F. include diagrams G. clearly address how you articulate the boundary between the city and the digital store and what the nature/meaning of that relationship is.

Not only will this help you to communicate your ideas, but it also brings you closer to what the requirements are for the final presentation and even helps you to develop your theme and design. Don't be afraid of a tight structure for the presentation: on the contrary, it will greatly help you. The more organized and tight the presentation will be, the better will your ideas and design come to the forefront.

I suggest to do the following: After you complete the model building task you present the model photos (in context!) as part of the above executive summary. Take the other elements from the recent posting.
Do not "post" the exec. sum. as a post, but include it as a permanent item at the top of the right blog column. This way it's always on top and you can permanently update it. Support information (other images, texts that do not belong in the summary) will be posted conventionally and can be commented on.

By the end of this coming Monday, please add this item to your blog.

Commenting

All,
Now that all the posts with the intensive summary are up, please start commenting on each other's work. This is not limited to your affinity groups.

Please also change your blog settings to allow anyone to comment on it (not google users only). I am going to invite others architects and teachers to comment on your work.

Keep cranking!
Enno

Keeping the momentum

All,
I enjoyed the last week with you immensely! You teased out some remarkable approches both in terms of inquiry and translation into aesthetic architectural form.

The final review was a good opportunity for you to check for yourself, where each of you stands in relation to the rest of the class. Those who feel that they did not get so far in this week got a road map sketched out to catch up, but even those who have defined their approach pretty well, still need to work a lot to complete the design task.

To keep the momentum going, I want to remind you to follow the blogging requirements within the affinity groups in terms of commenting and also posting your progress twice a week.

The new tasks will be posted to the right (see W4). As discussed, we can also touch base on the phone, if the need comes up.

Take care,
Enno

Final Presentation Requirements

1. Concept narrative(s): site, program, attitude -executive summary
2. Site:
2.1 Site plans: a. macro- Copley square , b. micro - corner
integrate analysis and proposed design, explain what you relate to
2.2 Other: sketches, images, diagrams, sections
3. Program: store + ?, space distribution, relation to context/facade/views
4. Entry level partie, one upper level. 3D OK
5. Section diagrams: building & facade
6. Facades: 3D best

! show as much context as you can in all drawings
! make sure to highlight your "money shots"

Nouvel in NYC

What do you think of that? Contextual response? Driven by the desire to "create" visibilty? By imaginative extension a contemporary version of the curtain that John Berger described? It's time to stretch your mind and explore what cannot (yet) be observed.

Any references to the themes on top of the blog? Dare you tie this back to some of the readings last week.

Don't hold your comments back!

Readings week 2 -Email repeat

Hello all!

The Holl text is really only a teaser for your time in Boston: the book will be on reserve as will the other publications that were the source of the readings. It addresses the "phenomenological context" of the sense of sight. It will be worthwhile to browse through these books, as they might inform how you will frame your projects.

The emphasis is on the Jan Birksted text, which not only is thoughtful analysis of a building which is in close dialog with its setting, but also gives some theories on the sense of sight from a phenomenological standpoint.

Please read the text before you come to Boston, since there will one other reading assigment that week. Postings in regards to the readings are not required, but they do count for the required blogging activity. The last week has been by nature pretty slow in this regard - with some notable exceptions - but now you all should get into the blogging habit this week.

As you can see in the syllabus, we will sketch on site and in the studio: please bring adequate supplies. The specifics -paper, pens, pencils, etc - are up to you. If you have a preference for model building, you may bring supplies as well, but model building will not be required during the intensive phase. The emphasis is on sketching by hand, diagramming, writing and 3D modeling.

Intensive Week overview

All,

Please follow the "overview" link to the right to get some idea about what will wait for you in about week. The tasks are probably more prescriptive than they really need to be - there is always room to improvise -, but the focus of the intensive phase will be to come up with a conceptual design and an enticing project narrative.

I am looking forward to see your first drawings and observations. There already some postings and comments on the readings. Please check them out and get the comments going.

Tip of the day

You can link each others blogs to the google reader page, which then will give you an overview of the activities on one page. This will make it a lot easier for you to comment on each other's progress when you'll start uploading your work.

Unfortunately, this will register only posts and not comments.

Check this video on the Seadragon software: this would vastly improve how we share and look visual data on a screen.

Readings Week 1

The first reading by John Berger "The White Bird" addresses some fundamental social and cultural/philosophical aspects of aesthetics that concern both art and architecture. The second one is equally philosophical in nature, but grounded in very precise perceptions of visual phenomena.

The reading by Robert Irwin is an excerpt from a larger text. Before this section he establishes the notion that looking at a painting on a wall is quite different than looking at the environment which contains the painting. He clearly prefers the second option and establishes a sliding scale of how a piece of art might relate to its setting. The parallels to architecture are striking and it is one of the best descriptions of how a building might relate to its context. It's especially useful, because it does not mention style, historic significance and other elements that tend to obscure the issue at stake.

If you get curious, follow the link to the Robert Irwin lecture. About 5 minutes into his talk there is a little anecdote on his relationships with architects. Anyway, if there is some time during the intensive we will watch some parts of a movie about Irwin (The beauty of questions).

If you have some thoughts on the readings, please share them and comment below.

Kick-Off

All,

The links to your blogs are now almost complete and I hope that by mid week we will see the first postings and comments. The following text is a repeat of the email I sent yesterday.

I activated the links to the first two tasks in the blog. Please already take a look at the exercise for the second week, since there are potential synergies with the first one. You may choose the same site for both, if you deem it appropriate.

Blogging
Use the first week to get in the habit of a. posting at least twice a week to your blog and b. checking the other blogs and comment ( 3 comments per week minimum) on the progress that you see. This activity is central to get a good momentum going and also will be considered in the final grade. It will be reason to fail the class, if no blogging activity occurs for longer than a week.

In case you have questions in regards to the tasks, please leave a comment on the class blog to share the information.

Readings
Readings will generally not be discussed separately, but will be referred to during the design process. I hope that you find them inspiring and stimulating. You are more than welcome to comment on them.

Context and Phenomenology

If you want to productivly waste some time, check the entries "leaves" and "rock" by Jean Nouvel and "Sails" by Steven Holl on eikongraphia (link to the right).

Introductory thoughts on the studio - Updated

On Perception