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).