I am not sure if I should go with the colour option or the black and white.
Also, I will only print the people on acetate.
Any feedback would be MUCH appreciated.
I am not sure if I should go with the colour option or the black and white.
Also, I will only print the people on acetate.
Any feedback would be MUCH appreciated.
Editing line weights and dashed lines
Also, an edited liberation text
Liberation is a game designed to break the relationship between theories and diagrams to emphasise that it is not a binary relationship. One simple piece cannot define the whole. The game pieces are basic architectural elements. In teams of two, architectural concepts are built up from these pieces. There is no reduction of theories to a single piece but through additional pieces the theory is established. This is what I will now do with the wall.
Back to more drawing fun
I’m thinking that the ground plane and the people should be printed together on the acetate so that it is easy to move them around.
Working on that and the notations for the rotations and text.
Early stages of the full composition. Playing around with the ground plane (really quickly). Its still missing a WHOLE LOT of detail working on that now.
Also goes back to the argument of the ground user and facade relationship
The left hand corner is the updated drawing.
The index are the parts coloured blue and orange and move into the zoomed in selected moment that is developed.
Blue is the operation of the wall. i.e framing
Orange is the condition. i.e internal to external
Black and white is the situation. i.e building
Working on the right hand side of the drawing to update all of the lines and hopefully one part rendered. So I can discuss how to push this drawing further without wasting time on Tuesday
Its taking a lot longer than I expected mostly because I am trying to filter and not add too much unnecessary bits.
Corridor and Street
The framed and unframed
Includes and Excludes
Thick to thin
Room to Building
Borders of the city
Really quick rotations of the conditions of the wall in the edited BOB. I keep speaking about addressing both sides with the wall and not just the surface so my drawings have to be dual conditions because of it not being at a specific scale. For example, the street and the corridor or the square and the courtyard.
I am working on getting some clear drawings of what BOB the Spobject do.
More updates soon.
My main, jury comments were to involve bob, generate some clear rule sets, a manual AND to allow the panel to participate in the presentation.
So for Friday I am working on including all these comments into the last drawing and I want to develop it into a game board of some sort.
Hopefully a clearer update by tomorrow.
Working on the final dwg composition, will highlight the moments that activate the spobject pieces.
From the object to the spatial object to THE VISIONARY
BOOM! Might be too much but I am rolling with it now
I have my plaster pieces. The ones on the left hand side of the image. The polymer turns it slightly off- white. The other side of the cast is a much darker shade of brown and slightly uneven (I think that is mostly due to my ‘expert’ plaster casting skills)
I am going to try and sand it down but I am not sure how much this will help.
I am not sure if I should laminate the side of the plaster that that is too brown with the glossy side of the silicon. However this is going to give me an edge.
Any feedback would be much appreciated before I assemble the final spobject pieces.
Casting the plaster for the spobject tonight to hopefully assemble it tomorrow.
Working on the text and the drawing in the mean time.
Getting B.O.B ready to be fabricated. Slightly worried if he will be ready on time or not. Also the larger guy dimensions out at being 17x10x9 cm and the smaller one 9 x5x5 cm.
Preparing the files for the physical models. Still debating if I should cast in silicone or plaster. At least I have my 3d Prints for the spobject out of the way.
Working on how the 5 realms (Just for you dodsi XD) join together to make the final spobject building. They might all just sit together places on top of each other strategically rather than actually being physically joined.
1.The Room
2. The Wall
3. The Street
4. The Public Square
5. Borders
Hoping to have a version (more like to have one version) of Bob to discuss for the next tutorial so I can send the file off to be SLSed.
Finally, I need to start developing the drawing from the last tutorial.
It have not been so successful at stripping the spobject down to bob. I have broken the spobject down into physical pieces and designing with this method for a bit.
It is still too big to be tumble-able but since this is the working model I needed some quick assembly.
Also I am thinking because the spobject is using discontinuous materials to make a continuous object and narratives.
While working on the text, I think that I might shuffle the sequence around for the presentation to present the game in the soft room directly after the introduction of the continuous surface and then to move on to the Manimation and the white world.
This is mainly because i feel starting the Manimation straight after the continuous surface precedents seems very forced.
I am not too sure if this will be a better option but will try this set up as a practice run on Tuesday.
Trying to get B.O.B to not be finite, so that you never really understand where you are. So that he will look like his ultimate reference
Also working on declaring more with the text.
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE TS HIGH PASSES LADIES
QUARTZ! ASTRO BURGER! CLOVER CITY!
WORD!
Trying not to over define Bob with too much detail. I am just working with the different thickness of the walls and how the sequences of the detailed model can flow smoothly. It is looking slightly too intense (Waffle-esque) right now but I quite like it. I am going to move back and forth between the detailed model and Bob and maybe it might tone down.
The bit that is sticking out right now is the extension to what I am not sure yet. My text on the sequence of the wall is also changing as I go along so I am trying to give some TLC to that too. SO hopefully I have a relatively a neat-ish set for Friday’s tutorial.
P.s I’d just like to add a little disclaimer that it is really hard for me to try and not OVER detail Bob (I know its an issue and I am working on it :D)
As a starting point for modelling the world of walls in the spobject, I figured it would be best to begin with the Manimation room because that already addresses different scales and develop it further from this point on. It will also start to break from the clear division when the long perspectival street view is added more developed work to (hopefully) follow soon
I have edited the rectangular design to become more tumble friendly. I’m thinking that it is going to be casted in silicone (shatter proof) or if in plaster to be maybe vacuum formed maybe with faceted edges?
Working on two sequence drawings right now.
A little post jury work plan update. Re-working the spobject to become a square box to allow for a tumble and a clearer sequence. Also I am aiming to have a drawing to go with it to show at least (hopefully) two of the sequences.
From an Spobject to a building that is the goal! I haven’t reached there quite yet but working very hard to do it
So a super quick update with knowing that I am definitely going to be last on the tute schedule tomorrow ( dum dum dum! inserted dramatic music)
On a serious note: What I am looking at developing from previews, is the relationship of how Giotto constructed perspectives and the use of the surface and the direction out into the city versus the total opposite of an adolf loos room where the window is only there to let light in.
Also I am considering bringing the game format back with the different wall conditions ( I don’t know how quite as yet)
There will hopefully be some magic between now and the tutes tomorrow
A few screenshots of one side of the wall. I am working on slowing down the conditions of each room/space to craft the shifts between the narratives/wall conditions/ scalar and rotational shifts of the SPOBJECT
This blog post is dedicated to Eleanor Dodman and her spobject.
Working on the scale-less object of the world of walls that generates the views for the different wall conditions.
I am defining the walls with different perforations and thickness (which is an ongoing process)
In preparation for tables, I am thinking about how I should present the manimation. Its either:
1. I flip it live ( I think this might take too long)
2. I have a video of me flipping through it in the background and I speak about it (which I think might be smoother to transition into the white world animation)
Any thoughts?
I am re-taking photos of it this Saturday so they don’t look like this anymore. Spot the hidden hands.
Not relying only images any more, I am working on drawing/constructing my world of walls so that the connection from one world to the other becomes clear-er.
The connections of the worlds are the scalar shifts between the walls that are designed. So that it is an object (a series of walls) that only looks on to itself.
Working through thick and thin wall conditions
My side project: I have my TV screens up and running.
1.1 I put a picture up on a wall. Then I forget there is a wall. I no longer know what there is behind wall, I no longer know there is a wall, I no longer know this wall is a wall, I no longer know what a wall is.
1.2 As a result of the continuous surface, the desire for sanctuary is with us once more. The wall generates an armature that not only excludes us from chaos but includes what we want to generate a sanctuary for us to live in.
Having problems uploading the animation as my connection keeps dropping. Trying to sort it out so that I can upload the the fully rendered white world animation.
Malaparte’s use of the wall to level the ground to build on
Working on the chronology of walls from the primitive wall to the retaining wall to the territorial wall to the inhabited walls to the decorated wall.
I found this image of a diagram of the development of MVRDV’s double house in Utrecht which is based on Corbs Unite d’habitation section. I can’t see to run away from the Dutch Continuous Surface.
James Wines’s Best building – The wall as expression
And a little bit of Mies
A catalogue of walls and how the story of the wall is unfolding to follow
Developing the wall, I thought that looking at duchamp’s door of how opening one door closes another (LITERALLY) was very relevant because the Manimation is all about the thresholds that allow you to access another world.
Living within walls
How the doors and windows not only frame a view but allow you to access other worlds and conditions.
Set up drawing of inflation/deflation of walls with thresholds to follow and some conditions of walls and thresholds.
A WIP storyboard for the documentation of the manimation in the photo studio later today. Needless to say that the white world needs a lot of work.
I am working on the two wall conditions for Friday ( the ones in the orange text)
Also the scaled up manimation is getting to be a bit massive. Pictures to follow.
Definition
The word catastrophe comes from Greek tragic drama and refers to the sudden twist of development in the plots. Catastrophe theory is a method for describing the evolution of forms in nature. It is particularly applicable where gradually changing forces produce sudden effects. Its interdisciplinary character was, for people with widely differing agendas, a cultural connector linking mathematics, biology, social sciences and philosophy.
It is represented by using topology. Topology is a generalization of geometry that studies spaces with the degree of generality appropriate to a specific problem. One central concern of topology is to study the properties of spaces that do not change under a continuous transformation, that is, translation, rotation and stretching without tearing.
Representation
A new method was needed that would focus on shapes, account for their stability, and explain their creation and destruction. The models are not suited for action or prediction but rather aimed at describing, and intelligibly understanding natural phenomena.
Reflectivity: a=a
Symmetry: a=b then b=a
Transitivity: a=b and b=c then a=c
“Reality presents itself to us as phenomena and shapes.” – Rene Thom
The Fold
There was only one kind of singularity that could occur in the catastrophe theory and that is called a fold.
The fold made possible the definition of flux equilibrium by combining a series of different surfaces to define multiple points of equilibrium.
Mathematical Definition
Catastrophe models come in both dynamic and static forms, the static forms being simply the equilibrium (stable and unstable) of the dynamic forms. Multiple stable equilibriums are inherent in catastrophe models.
Internal Variables = u
Control Variables = a,b
Potential Function = V
The Potential function related the internal and the control variable = V (a,b,u)
Types of Catastrophes
The classification of seven singularities later led to the seven elementary catastrophes.
1.The fold
2.The Cusp
3.The Swallowtail
4.The butterfly
5. The three Umbilics
Legacy
Chaos: When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.
It is true in a sense, the ambitions of the theory failed, but in practice, the theory has succeeded. This is especially true of chaos theory, with which catastrophe theory had important interactions.
Thom never argued for the intrinsic superiority of his method but rather for its greater capacity to explain the world as it is perceived.
Application
The catastrophe theory will be applied as moments of catastrophe by overlapping two opposing situations:
The different moments will be unrolled and unified on a singular surface to create multiple moments of catastrophes. Both the stable and unstable conditions of the continuous surface will be addressed by negotiating between shifts in unstable narratives on stable physical folds and shifts in the stable narrative on the unstable physical folds.
Trying to work out the white magic carpet side of the manimation, and developing life within the walls. Using the catastrophe theory and Lebbeus Woods (of course) as guides for this.
Edited Project Statement
The continuous surface was the ultimate answer to all the problems in the universe. It was the ‘magic carpet’ that would be able to fold on to itself and generate all the activities necessary for human life to unfold. There would never be a moment where one would experience repetitions. The magic carpet was woven with fluid activities and flexible boundaries all of which were promoting constant states of change.
Being the ‘magic carpet’ of multiple and continuous programmatic and circulatory folds, aerial perspectives and overhead views are the only images that do it justice. Plans and sections of it are pointless and near meaningless due to its field – like quality. The individual building/ program have no value without it. It can only be read within the context of the surface that embraces it.
“A mass is enveloped in its surface, a surface which is divide up according to the directing and generating lines of the mass and this gives the mass its individuality” – Le Corbusier in Vers Une Architecture
When one takes into account that any individual element within the fabric of the continuous surface has a limited value, it becomes clear that the fluid movement and transitions are important. The continuous surface is more concerned with smooth transitions as opposed to the traditional use of a series of framed devices that would allow you to connect between the interior and exterior, the furniture and substructure of the room. One thing is clear though; there is no clear definition of a room with the continuous surface.
The Continuous Problem
The continuous surface needs to exist on the flat plane. In order for it to flourish a tabula rasa must be built upon which a new ground can grow. The continuous surface relishes on being site-less/ context-less and over all just less. It keeps advocating that it is the provocateur of constant change and fluid transitions but the reality of the situation is that the cracks begin to show on its shiny rendered surface the minute scale is assigned to it and this is due to the need to shrink down the urban plan to the scale of the building. It just becomes a sterile condition of nothingness.
Here in lies the problem, what began as a liberating force became a rigid orthodoxy. All revolutionaries often up as tyrants as we are unable to fully liberate ourselves from their utopian theories. What needs to happen with the continuous surface is we need to reassess it by adding in all the qualities that it ignored. We need to link the cultural and scalar stages through the folds to generate the ever changing liberating events. To do this I propose that we re-enter the room to find solace and to take a closer look at the walls that once confined us.
The wall
Thanks to the continuous surface, the desire for sanctuary is with us once more. What used to confine us now generates an armature that not only excludes us from our surrounding context but also creates a sanctuary for us to live in. The space where we are able to find sanctuary and the environment has been modified to cater to our individual desires. The situation is such, we do not just need complete barriers nor do we need undefined boundaries. What we need is an intermediate condition that excludes and includes. A surface, a wall that is in constant conflicting situations: similar to the catastrophe theory. The catastrophe theory shows that the combination of any two or more conflicting forces may result in entirely irregular and discontinuous behaviours if allowed to dynamically interact. The proposal is such to generate a wall that has materials, situations and narratives that are stable and in conflict with one another. To design life within the folds of the walls addressing both the excluded side and the sanctuary.
Chapter 1 - Scale: Urban
The continuous surface was the ultimate answer to all the problems in the universe. It was the ‘magic carpet’ that would be able to fold on to itself and generate all the activities necessary for human life to unfold. There would never be a moment where one would experience repetitions. The magic carpet was woven with fluid activities and flexible boundaries all of which were promoting constant states of change.
“What I mean to say is that what started off as an exploration into projection that how we could inject new life into segments of the world gradually became the project the surface itself, as a project.” – Zaha Hadid on ‘The World Painting’, 1983
Chapter 2 - Scale: Building
The continuous surface was and is one, if not the main project that is commonly associated with parametric and design. Being the ‘magic carpet’ of multiple and continuous programmatic and circulatory folds, aerial perspectives and overhead views are the only images that do it justice. Plans and sections of it are pointless and near meaningless due to its field – like quality. The individual building/ program has no value without it can only be read within the context of the surface that embraces it.
“A mass is enveloped in its surface, a surface which is divide up according to the directing and generating lines of the mass and this gives the mass its individuality” – Le Corbusier in Vers Une Architecture
Chapter 3 - Scale: Room
When one takes into account that any individual element within the fabric of the continuous surface has a limited value, it becomes clear that the fluid movement and transitions are important. The continuous surface is more concerned with smooth transitions as opposed to the traditional use of a series of framed devices that would allow you to connect between the interior and exterior, the furniture and substructure of the room. It can only exist in an urban scale and not at the scale of an individual building + room. It posses the same drastic contrast when addressing the individual scale as Le Corbusier’s Urban proposals do to his individual buildings.
The Continuous Problem
The continuous surface needs to exist on the flat plane. In order for it to flourish a tabula rasa must be built upon which a new ground can grow. The continuous surface relishes on being site-less/ context-less and over all just less. It keeps advocating that it is the provocateur of constant change and fluid transitions but the reality of the situation is that the cracks begin to show on its shiny rendered surface the minute scale is assigned to it and this is due to the need to shrink down the urban plan to the scale of the building. It just becomes a sterile condition of nothingness.
Here in lies the problem, what began as a liberating force became a rigid orthodoxy. All revolutionaries often up as tyrants as we are unable to fully liberate ourselves from their utopian theories. What needs to happen with the continuous surface is we need to reassess it by adding in all the qualities that it ignored. We need to link the cultural and scalar stages through the folds to generate the ever changing liberating events
Working on the flip side of the manimation (the white ‘dutch’ continuous surface) and presentation text.
Extending the street by half of its original length
Transition from the room to the street
The continuous vista
Still figuring out if I should prop up/down the perspective of the street to emphasize the perspective.
Scaled up version to follow shortly
Scaled up and moving on to the next fold.
I’m thinking that maybe I need to build the table because the folding elements add quite a bit to it.
On wards to the streets of the City!
Continuous Surface History Booklet in the works
Liberation started off as a critique on the absurdity of defining an idea, theory, utopia or movement around a single word defined by its formal attributes, just in the way that the oblique has defined the function of the oblique. When a theory or idea is related to you, it immediately alters your reading of it. It becomes very difficult to contest a theory that is defined by a representation of a form without having experienced its space. The role of the architect is to ensure that the theory may continuously be challenged so that none of its cultural and experiential attributes are ignored. Liberation then evolves to serve the purpose of continuously challenging the preconceived notions of others so that a theory may evolve to become current and relevant.
The most conventional and overly exhausted outcome of the function of the oblique is the continuous surface. The common result of anything that has been over done is that it usually leads to an underdeveloped design that is constantly repeated. The continuous surface has suffered this fate and has met its expiration date. The most common links for all utopian theories and projects is the need to liberate and disassociate itself from the existing conventional architectural styles of the moment. Now that the continuous surface has become a conventional architectural style, what comes next? There is no clear cut answer to this. The only thing to do is to constantly question and challenge existing models in the hopes of developing something relevant to the now.
The Function of the fold questions and challenges the preconceived notions of the continuous surface by generating a continuous surface of narratives. It begins with the flat plane which is ground zero for most utopian theories and slowly folds on to itself to reveal different conditions that have been time and time again used to generate utopian theories. A key feature it possesses is its ability to transgress at different speeds and times, three major scales: which is that of the room, the building and the city by allowing multiple views and folds of a singular object. These transgressions through the folds challenge the disjunction between the utopian reality and the existing reality by creating a walkthrough of the representations so that one may actually experience them.
In order to propel it forward, the idea of transgressing scales needs to be tested within an existing context. The concept is to design a block in a city with the base elements of work, social life and living. Following the uninterrupted circulation of the different users who occupy the block, programs and enclosures are defined. There will be moments where the different circulation paths and users will confront each other resulting in shifts between enclosures and programs. Using the techniques developed in the function of the fold, these programs and enclosure will be defined. It is building a Utopian vision not on a tabula rasa but adapting it to the ever changing existing urban fabric of the city.
Defining the sequence of content for the continuous surface of narratives. (Also known as the Manimation)
Developing a slowed down sequence and reasons for each moment and fold.
Manimation Text
The most conventional outcome of the function of the oblique is the continuous surface. The issue is not the continuous surface but it is the overly exhausted outcome of the continuous surface. The common result of anything that has been over done is that it is never developed with the same precision as the initial models and this usually leads to an underdeveloped design that is constantly repeated. The continuous surface has suffered this fate and has met its expiration date. It no longer acts as an appropriate outcome for the theory of the function of the oblique: A theory that was developed because there was a need to shock people and to liberate them from the shackles of conventional architectural styles at that moment. This is one of the most common links for all utopian theories and projects, the need to liberate and disassociate itself from the existing conventional architectural styles of the moment. The question is how to do this once a particular architectural style has been deemed conventional? The only way to do this is to constantly question and challenge perceptions of the existing models.
The Manimation does this by first challenging the conventional perceptions of the continuous surface by generating a continuous surface of narratives. It begins with the flat plane which is ground zero for most utopian theories and slowly folds on to itself to reveal an existing built space as to where the utopian theory will be tested. This is to challenge a second perception of how the utopian theory only addressed one side of an oblique surface and never the reality of its proposal. A key factor of the Manimation is its ability to transgress at different speeds and times three major scales which is that of the room, the building and the city by allowing multiple views and folds of a singular object. These transgressions challenge the perceptions of independency between the utopian reality and the built reality.
In order to ensure there is a constant response to change that prevents the outcome of a theory to the fate of a conventional architectural style the Manimation develops into a game format. Each player has six distinct moves to address at each turn which is the situation:the existing condition of the fold, the question: how to challenge the perception of the existing fold, the positive or negative hypothesis: if you fold in agreement or disagreement with the previous fold, the decider: which way you wish to progress and the outcome: your opponents reaction. The final stage of the game is when there are no longer any more options to fold and the game may begin again at the flat plane but with an entirely different continuous narrative based on who folds what at what time and by which speed. The Manimation challenges the utopian theory by working in the same condition as the city where each move you make is reliant on an existing condition and another person’s move. The Manimation forces the utopian theory to develop based on existing realities.
Slowing down the manimation with renders, line drawings and actual images.
White Book
I was working on the white book and thought it would help if I extracted each of the fold and pair it with a plate so that I can create definition for the Manimation. You will be able to fold up each of the folds in the white book ( although this is making the pages SUPER thick.)
Re-con Conclusion
Summing up the Re-con, I decided to hand bind and make a sleeve for the Game Master’s Guide. I am not too sure why I did it because it was very painful. Actually it felt quite good seeing it bound so maybe I know why I did it.
A delayed post with the trial of the Manimation in colour. I haven’t decided on the colours as of yet. I just know there will be colour schemes and transitions from dull to ‘pop’ as you transition from space to space/scale to scale
Flat-ish Plane
Basic Room
Window opens into brick wall
Brick pattern opens as blinds and new wall slides to close opening moving you further into the space of the interior (Flip to Plan)
back to original room but looking in from the ceiling to the double scaled doors. One scale is open. (Flip to original)
Out into suburbia
Stone path leads in perspective to show a suburban street extending in to infinity(Rotate to new angle)
Which can be viewed from the window of the original room
Working on transitions for the next scale and flip
World’s hardest ‘one thing’ to document.
Testing the types of volumes I can make from a singular surface so that I can now pick the volumes to draw the views on.
Inspirations: Challenging perceptions
Finally done with HTS, I have decided to have a little fun and put up a place holder whilst I work on Studio. I thought I should just put up a list of constraints imposed in the last 11 weeks.
1. Challenge Wordiness
2. Become Clearer
3. No Multiples
4. No Solid Black
5. No Photoshop
6. Don’t represent your project but DRAW your project
7.Bring only ONE thing
8. No Colour
9. No Words in drawings
I must say I died a little inside when number 4-6 were imposed. Anyway, back to working on the ONE thing.
Shifts in scales every time you move from inside to outside of the form.
The box = form that is the constrains the context/content
The context/content = What is constrained by the form and what constrains the form.
The camera orbit = Liberates the context/content from the form by being able to inhabit both to reveal the scale shifts.
Second sequence to enter back in to the box and to focus on a different surface to show a new framed context/content.
A quick fez inspired video I did, you can see my cube in the middle of Paris twisted on an oblique right at the end
Liberating form from context (the form is rejecting conforming to its context)-
1. Contained within the box = form and context is normal
2. Released from the box = the form is normal but situated on a abnormal context
Liberating content(framed view of Paris) from form (the box that constrains)
Liberating form from content to follow.
The flip-side focuses on the other side of double meanings, the doppelgänger and duality. The neglected, the underbelly, the contradiction.
First attempt at a ‘multiple move’ singular game piece. Trying to connect more to make a longer set.
Board to follow.
From today, I have self- imposed a ban. No more than 20 words per post and a 100 words for project statements.
Where: Paris
What: Sacred spaces
Who: The people who make up the metropolitan ( the artist, the plumber, the factory worker, the banker)
Fragmentation, individualization and globalization are all words of the past. The attempts to create spaces and places that protect the individual and harbour communality have only given rise to tension between internal and external, private and public, art and utility, the artist and the plumber. In these dualities, we have exhausted the design of private life confined within a building and public life that is produced on the streets. Like Venturi, I am in favour of ‘both-and’ rather than ‘either – or’.
Utopia, in the words of Thomas More, is described as an island that is nowhere. ‘It is a place which has no place’. Is this why most of the visionary projects are represented as either foreign to an existing city or as a new city starting from scratch. It is always easier to work on a blank canvas that extends into infinite space.
My utopia wants to be situated within the context of an existing city. As buildings are constructed and deconstructed at rapid rates, the only stable factor in a city is the circulation on the streets. If the 70’s focused on architecture of transient circulation, I will focus on architecture of stable circulation. It will no longer just be about focusing on the external sculptural form and the constant state of flux of the interiors. It will be about both that and the relationship of the stable ground of circulation in the streetscape. It is the creation of a maze in the city where you are allowed to embrace the transgressions of change, the rapid patterns of growth and destruction that you are never able to escape. In other words, it shocks people by not proposing a new architectural language but by proposing a stable curated path, a sacred space as to where they may both bear witness to the mish-mash of different architectural styles and isolate it from themselves. It is a circulatory sanctuary of the metropolitan city.
It is still very broad and I am trying to narrow it down.
When you access my reality, you will have to bypass each level which are uncanny (in a Freudian sense of a simultaneous feeling of familiarity and estrangement) that allow you to feel that you are in control. Once you reached the last stage you realise 3 new paths have emerged and you can keep going. Always under the impression that you are in control of your actions and experiences because of the options that you are given. The reality that you do not understand is that you are a puppet in a stage set created and controlled by your puppet master.
Declaration to follow.
Stepping away from the function of the Oblique (so that I can zoom out from the re-con), I was looking for a HTS book in the library today and saw a book just on FOA’s Yokohama terminal. Skimming through it one of the things that I know I am taking with me to formulate the brief is how the utopian theory was lost when the means of representation changed. This to me is when the drawing shifted to the diagram. Below are a few extracts from the book which illustrates what happens when the form is dictated by the diagram an how the cultural resonances (which they seem to say there was none) are lost.
What is most interesting about the development of the competition is precisely how factual and “meaning-less” the sequence of decisions that led into the project was, despite the many associations that have been made between the project and certain philosophical, cultural or formal trends.
We now see the meaninglessness as the order that builds multiple cultural resonances.
Once we decided that the building would be a warped surface, we needed to produce an argument of consistency between the no-return diagram (provided the building with a particular spatial performance) and the surface as a geometrical argument.
In many respects we actually feel closer to Mies than to the architects that we are often compared to in virtue of formal similarities; it is his attitude of uncompromising commitment to the organisation and matter, his exploitation of contemporary construction technologies without formal prejudices, combined with his capacity to obtain buildings of piercing beauty that interest us, more than the analogy of formal results.
Working on an updated Table of Contents (the D- word) when I saw Natasha’s comment and then I felt sad. So I thought I would put images of the booklet I brought in for Tuesday’s tutorial so it is one less d-word on the blog’s home page. That is till I upload my new table of contents (D-word)
A few more selected composition of the model pieces. Working on a conclusion booklet for tomorrow at a bigger scale 22.5 x 22.5 cm
The last few volumes.
Working out what goes into the boxes. Taking on what was said during the last tutorial. Every box will have the same pieces with a variety of scale. Each team will get one brown box and one black box.
Edited Text
Liberation is a critique on the absurdity of defining an idea, theory, utopia or movement around a single word defined by its formal attributes, just in the way that the oblique has defined the function of the oblique. When a theory or idea is related to you, it alters your reading of it. It becomes very difficult to contest a theory that is defined by a representation of a form without having experienced its space.
What are the cultural and experiential attributes that are too often ignored and forgotten? Architecture is the space in which a variety of readings should be allowed to blend and clash. There is only one place where these readings may exist and this is in the conversations and means of representation. The role of the architect is to choose an appropriate method of representation of the theory that does not limit it to that of a singular reading primarily focused on its formal attributes and not its cultural and experiential ones.
Edited Categories
Manifesto
The game we are playing is Liberation: Freeing concept from form. It is designed to emulate the collaborative process between Paul Virilio and Claude Parent when they defined the utopian theory ‘The Function of the Oblique’. A theory that was only developed due to the duplicity in the readings of each word and form by these two men of very different cultures.
This game exposes the true nature of the theory, which was the need to shock people by proposing an architecture that was incompatible to their tastes and habits in order to liberate them from the shackles of the architectural styles of that moment. The reality of the situation is that the definition of their theory has been repeatedly re-authored to reduce it to a singular word that represents its form devoid of its concept.
In the words of Buckminister Fuller, You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete and this is the objective of the game. Working in teams of two you will be given categories where your aim is to liberate the concept from its form through collaboration with your teammate.
Game Rules
(The review of the categories will give insight into the parts of the cultural and experiential attributes of the theory behind the function of the oblique that have usually been overlooked)
Categories
End note
Liberation is a critique on the absurdity of defining an idea, theory, utopia or movement around a single word defined by its formal attributes, just in the way that the oblique has defined the function of the oblique. When a theory or idea is related to you, it alters your reading of it. It becomes very difficult to contest a theory that is defined by a representation of a form without having experienced its space.
What are the cultural and experiential attributes that are too often ignored and forgotten? Architecture is the space in which a variety of readings should be allowed to blend and clash. There is only one place where these readings may exist and this is in the conversations. This will allow us to eliminate the singular reading of architecture that has primarily focused on its formal attributes and not its cultural and experiential ones.
In order to preserve the balance of universe, all things that can go wrong must go wrong in the last few days leading up to the jury.
Feeling very pleased with myself and the submission of my CNC and 3D print files with no problems. I went to purchase translucent silicon because I the fumes from the Resin nearly put me into a coma this weekend.
The plan was to colour the TRANSLUCENT resin to be black and white. So at 5.30 today with my CNC moulds all glazed and ready to be casted. I open my can of silicon which ended up being RED. -.-
So i decided to not cast all the pieces and just two because I don’t want all the volumes to be red! SO i will only be able to cast them tomorrow.
On the plus side, Maria has ordered some canvas that I can print on that will be in tomorrow for the swoop bags.
From Friday’s tutorial, it was clear that I had to filter our the game pieces so each of the six bag will contain similar pieces. The materiality and the scale of the pieces will differ from each bag the shapes will be the same.
Also, I am 3d printing a few space frames so that creating joints will be easier (instead of blue tac) there will be a couple more volumes such as double scaled stairs and continuous surfaces that will be cnced and casted.
Also, a how to make a lego sack bag tutorial
http://tonicoward.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/lego-sack-tutorial.html
Also I am going to try and print this image on canvas this image with 5 other background colours at Maria’s tomorrow (thanks Eleanor). The colours will be similar to the earlier post with the lego swoop bag colours. Dimensions for the print 80 x 50 cm.
A filtered set of categories (Thanks Natasha and Ari)
Hello fellow Dip 9-ers
If you guys have the time, would you mind voting on the categories for my game that tell my story on the function of the oblique. If you could leave comments and add on categories that would be great. Thanks for helping out.
The game is a critique on the absurdity of defining an idea, theory, utopia, movement around a single word defined by its formal attributes just in the way that the oblique has defined the function of the oblique. What are the cultural and experiential attributes that are too often ignored and forgotten? Architecture is the space in which a variety of readings should be allowed to blend and clash. There is only one place where these readings may exist and this is in the conversations. This will allow us to eliminate the singular reading of architecture that has primarily focused on its formal attributes.
Model piece catalogue still to come.