Monday, September 21, 2009

An Architecture of WHAT?!

As this is an architectural thesis, sadly I cannot just keep playing and experimenting forever on the loom...there has got to be a method to this madness, even if it does change on a weekly basis.  As a result of oodles of research this past week, I have been able to draw some initial qualitative design assumptions.  I am newly intrigued with the popularity and effectiveness of architectural installations seen at such venues as P.S. 1 MOMA and the Storefront for Art and Architecture.  As these constructions are temporary and small in scale, they provide a high level of sensorial experience of the space/place without all of the practicalities of an actual building, kind of like a solution for the senses. Priority is placed however on their actual method of construction, due to time restraints, space, and the direct and immediate connection of the designer to the materials and production--which I find to be the most challenging and intriguing element of all.  To restore the designer the experience of direct experience of a medium is the task of today, the words of Anni Albers.  The process of forming has been disturbed by divorcing the planning from the making, since a product today is in the hands of many, no longer in the hands of one.  Most importantly Albers states that the craftsman gives meaning to material beyond itself.  This is quite an empowering statement. 

Below are my qualitative thoughts on program. 

Design Criteria:
  • An ephemeral built environment  based on the literal and conceptual construct of weaving
  • Constructed as an outdoor architectural installation for gathering, connection and learning
  •  Links to maternal thinking and the prehistoric tent suggest a means to remake the world without replacing it
  •  Product is not a building, but an architecture of experimenting in and on the real world
  •  Reveals the process of making, seeing, and knowing
  •  Not permanently sited, relocated and reassembled as required
  •  Conceived as an "Architecture" in residence (derived from artist in residence programs for creative nomadic studies)
  •  Celebrates interactions with it through sensation, demonstration and physical connection
Design Qualities:
  •  Structure dissolves into surface
  •  Never quite interior or exterior, enclosed or open
  •  Organizes simple materials into a thoughtfully constructed visual artifact
  •  Utilizes repetition and placement in design and construction
  •  Omni directional and flexible

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