Forward 112.indb - American Institute of Architects

Transcription

SUMMER 2012
Published by
The American Institute of Architects
The Architecture and Design Journal of the National Associates Committee
FORWARD 112
PROCESS
COVER IMAGE
Aggregate Modulation Study Using Playing Cards by Wintress Cloud
Architecture Studio, Fall 2011, Prof. Gregory Marinic, University of Houston
SUBMISSIONS
Forward welcomes the submission of essays, projects and responses to articles.
Submitted materials are subject to editorial review. All Forward issues are
themed, so articles and projects are selected relative to the issue’s specific
subject.
Please contact the Forward Director, Olivia Graf Doyle, at
[email protected] if you are interested in contributing.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATES COMMITTEE (NAC) EXECUTIVE BOARD
Wayne Mortensen, Assoc. AIA, NASW - Chair
Ashley Clark, Assoc. AIA - Associate Director
William Turner, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP BD+C - Senior Associate Director
April Trojniak, Assoc. AIA - Advocacy Director
Patrick Weber, Assoc. AIA - Community & Communications Director
Matthew Hart, Assoc. AIA - Knowledge & Programming Director
Gary Demele, AIA, NCARB - NCARB Liaison
Laura Meador, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP - AIAS Liaison
Erin Murphy, AIA, LEED AP - AIA Staff Director, Staff Liaison
NATIONAL ASSOCIATES COMMITTEE MISSION
The National Associates Committee is dedicated to representing and
advocating for Associates, both mainstream and alternative, in the national,
regional, state, and local components of the AIA.
FORWARD MISSION
To be the architectural journal of young, aspiring architects and designers of the
built environment specifically targeting design issues.
FORWARD
Olivia Graf Doyle, Assoc. AIA - Director
Christina A. Noble, AIA, LEED AP - Past Director
Gregory Marinic, Assoc. AIA - Assistant Director
C.A. Debelius, Assoc. AIA - Assistant Director
Meg Jackson, Assoc. AIA - Assistant Director
Joe Lawton, Assoc. AIA - Assistant Director
Cindy Louie, Assoc. AIA - Assistant Director
Janice Ninan, Assoc. AIA - Assistant Director
FORWARD 112
Process
Summer 2012. Volume 12, No. 1. Published biannually by the AIA.
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS
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© Copyright 2012 The American Institute of Architects
Finding Structure, published in the initial release, was removed due to a
modification to the copyright holders publication criteria.
Each article reflects the opinions of the individual authors and not The
American Institute of Architects. © Copyright of Individual Articles belongs
to the Author. All image permissions are obtained by the articles’ authors.
IN THIS ISSUE
64
THEORY + SCIENCE
SPACE TRANSLATED?
BY
WEILING HE
TOPICS
06
10
22
PROCESS
BY
OLIVIA GRAF DOYLE
ART + PRACTICE
74
INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL
94
DATA DRIVEN TRANSMUTATION
BY TOM
MING TANG, AIJLA AKSAMIJA,JONATHON
ANDERSON; AND MICHAEL HODGE
BY
FASHIONED OUTPUTS
BY JOHNATHON
ANDERSON AND FELICIA DEAN
106
PROTOTYPES
BY
KEVIN ERICKSON
38
THE FOUND OBJECT IN DESIGN
52
RECLAIM MARKET STREET!
BY
DIEHL
CHRIS FORD
BY ALI SANT AND STUDIO FOR
URBAN PROJECTS
TEACHING + LEARNING
GENERATIONS
BY
MEG JACKSON AND GREGORY MARINIC
118
TAKING BACK TERRITORY
134
[TEMPORAL] ADAPTATIONS
BY ALEXIS GREGORY
BY GREGORY MARINIC
TOPICS: PROCESS
BY
OLIVIA GRAF DOYLE
“…when he could find no possibility of bringing calm and order into
that arbitrary turmoil – he told himself (…) that the most sensible
thing was to make every sacrifice if there existed even the smallest
hope of thereby freeing himself…”
- Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis ¹
A
s designers, we often look outside our own profession to literature, technology,
culture, art, fashion and engineering to find inspiration for a discovery that is both
structured and liberating. This issue of Forward explores the processes we follow and
invent when learning, teaching and practicing design. To express our own values and
beliefs, we explore these dualities and synthesize a design process by combining the
ephemeral and permanent, the theoretical and practical, the ethereal and tangible. Some
questions this issue seeks to answer include how we balance intuitive inspiration and
rational analysis, how we recognize patterns and points of connection, and how we
weigh the means to good design as well as methods? How might we create something
that is simultaneously functional and an intellectual and aesthetic delight? How can
we create a well-crafted and poetic prototype through a rigorous process of study and
investigation? Where do our design skills and methods originate? How do we develop
a cogent design philosophy?
Learned Process
In architecture school we are taught to look
at and think about the world in new and
compelling ways. Organizing principles such as
composition, datum, grid, or focal point tied to
an abstract or narrative
concept can become
a means to begin an
architectural language.
The design process
includes techniques of
synthesis and analysis,
and our studies lead
to proposals based on
significant theoretical
or experiential spatial
qualities. As graduates, we are well versed in
a process that places a premium on clarity of
design concept and on the graphic description
of concept via a concise, elegant, and poetic
diagram.
putting together a set of construction documents
or a client presentation or a marketing proposal?
As emerging professionals, we hope to use the
guiding principles learned in school to carry
us through the process of
creation at work. Yet, those
with considerably more
experience in practicebased architecture can
sometimes have completely
different attitudes to design
processes than that of the
familiar academic method.
What affects that change?
Have they forgotten those
principles and the strength of a cohesive
concept, replacing that knowledge with budget
consciousness, restrictions from clients and
time constraints? Code analysis, feasibility and
cost studies, sustainable strategies, consultant
coordination, detailing and construction
administration are also part of the process –
perhaps a little less glamorous, but none-theless an important part. An expanded set of
We must question our
transformations and
seek the advice of
teachers, colleagues
and mentors.
Practiced Process
But what about the process of production;
7
rules developed to guide a project from initial
design through detailing to construction creates
a sense of purpose and a connection. It begs
the question of how time and experience affect
the development of a personal design process,
a process that encompasses production and
project execution as well as clarity and richness
of concept. A project with a big idea that is
carried through from beginning to end creates
a perception both ethereal and tangible.
Personal Process
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis describes
the impossible occurrence of how the main
character, Gregor Samsa, turns into a giant bug
by a seemingly supernatural transformation
that is missing cause or reason.²
This
represents that a transformative process is as
likely to be informed
by the unknown as
it is by a more fixed
or rational response.
Unlike Gregor, we
must question the
changes that result,
reflect on them, and
seek the advice of teachers, colleagues and
mentors. We continue to grow, learn, question,
experiment, and evaluate. Forward seeks to
do just that. Where do our design skills and
methods originate and how do we develop our
philosophies through an integral approach?
preferences are formed by personality and
philosophy. The key to maintaining the link
to our guiding design principles is to immerse
ourselves in a process of continual personal
and professional growth and transformation.
We must seek to find a personal process we
can call our own; one that is defined by our
beliefs and experiences, while simultaneously
drawing from the methods of others, whether
from academic, professional, or alternative
careers.
Finally, we must remain open to the adoption
of new tools and techniques. As architecture
continues to evolve, computational and
parametric strategies, digital fabrication and
building information modeling are changing
the way we view, observe and execute
architecture and design. We should explore
the multitude of different methods of creating;
as designers, we are always learning, always
evolving.
Forward 112 raises a number of provocative
questions about the nature of the design
process and explores possibilities for design
discovery. The articles describe a series of
balancing acts, compelling cross-sections of
thought and design process that direct us to
look inward to our own balance of art and
practice, theory and science, teaching and
learning. Most importantly, the trajectory
of a design exploration is, in and of itself, a
personal process of change.
Art + Practice
Teaching + Learning
We transform our buildings, our students, our
artwork, and ourselves.
A new series of illustrated architect
monographs by Moleskine, called Inspiration
and Process In Architecture, features notes,
sketches and stories by four architects: Zaha
Hadid, Bolles+Wilson, Alberto Kalach and
Giancarlo De Carlo.³ My
fascination with diagrams
is that they can describe a
project in one glance. They
are a visual document of
the process of design. A
beautiful diagram can be
a work of art, tell the story
of concept and at the same
time reveal something very personal about
the author: their thoughts and emotions. It is a
tangible connection to a teacher, a student, a
co-worker, a mentor, or an idol.
How do we start the design process and how
does it evolve into a building? The development
of a personal design method begins in school—
or even earlier—and continues over the course
of a lifetime. The fundamental knowledge
and experience gained in the early years of a
career lays the foundation for our development
and evolution as designers. The support we
receive from colleagues and mentors aids in
that development. As we test and alter our
design process, the design process changes us.
We should aim to find
a personal process we
can call our own.
A personal design process evolves over a
lifetime and includes not only the development
of the process itself but the path we take to
enrich, inform, and personalize the process.
It is that internal process of transformation
that intrigues me. By remaining open to the
exploration of new approaches and new
ideas, we rejuvenate our design spirits. We
learn what actually works and what doesn’t,
how to meld academia with practice, and that
Theory + Science
Theoretical discoveries based on established or
new principles, as well as innovations rooted
in science, math or logic, dictate modified
approaches to design. What we are taught,
and what we learn, provides unexpected
insights into both age-old methods and new
philosophies. We must aim to make at least
one new discovery, learn one new thing, every
day.
References:
1. Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other
Short Stories (New York: Dover Publications,
Inc., 1996), 14.
2. Kafka, The Metamorphosis, 11-52.
3. ”Inspiration and Process in Architecture,”
Moleskine, accessed June 19, 2012, http://
w w w. m o l e s k i n e . c o m / a b o u t _ u s / n e w s /
inspiration_and_process_in_architecture.php
Olivia Graf Doyle, Assoc. AIA
Forward Director
Olivia Graf Doyle joined the Forward team as an Assistant Director in 2011, and is
excited to be taking on the role of Director for the 2012 and 2013 issues. Olivia is
a Design Leader at HMC Architects in Los Angeles. She graduated with degrees in
architecture and advertising from the University of Southern California. Olivia has
worked on a variety of projects that range from medical to K-12 and university to
interior architecture, in addition to being a contributer to her firm’s internal blog.
Outside of work, Olivia is actively involved with the local design community; was an
Associate Director on the board of AIA Northern Nevada, started chapters of the Young
Designer’s Networking Group in Reno and Sacramento, and has been published in
several architecture history textbooks.
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FASHIONED
OUTPUTS
by Jonathon Anderson
+
Felicia Dean
... a modified process that integrates
fashion and interior architecture
11
T
his article critically reviews why and how fashion and spatial design principles
can directly inform the design process. It explores the results of two projects that
use various design processes, many of which are pulled from the fashion industry,
in order to develop projects that speak an interdisciplinary process. The process
of design is presented in a digital realm, physical exhibition, at varying scales, and
through non-traditional fabrication methods. The projects were completed in a second
year design studio led by assistant professor Jonathon Anderson, and the thesis work
of Felicia Dean who is working under the guidance of Jonathon Anderson.
Image 02_Student project “Anthropometric Branching”
Image 01_Design process for “Anthropometric Branching” revealing the logic behind the
garment
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Why are these notations important to
the design disciplines?
The human body has been instrumental in
structuring and developing knowledge
about us and the built environment.
For example, Leonardo de Vinci
developed drawings of human organs
so that each drawing became vital to
other disciplines such as medicine
and philosophy. And, Le Corbusier’s
Modulor man established a measuring
device which advanced and developed
our modern understanding of the
standardized systems. Evidence of how
the human body acutely influences the
design process is surfacing in the things
Architects, spatial, and visual designers seek
further understandings of these fundamental
changes/shifts in scale and proportion in order
to gain insightful data that will denote how our
bodies move and operate in an environment
which supports and enhances human’s
spatial design methods. The Anthropometric
Runway is a studio project that explored these
pressing issues as students designed, built, and
showcased a garment in a runway show.
“...the human scale is
always the constant
in the dynamic built
environment…the output
of this exploration
showed the way our
bodies operate under
constrained situations...”
This exercise introduced students to a process
of observing and documenting the human
body through anthropometric and ergonomic
analyses, as it is fundamental to the principles
of spatial design. Young designers must be able
to gain a greater understanding of their own
body in order to design spaces/objects that are
conscious of the human experience. The human
scale is always the constant in the dynamic
built environment and one way to reference
the space you inhabit. With this framework set
in place, each student learned how to measure
their body, log data, and make use of such
Image 03_Student project
“Anthropometric Branching”
Image 04_A garment based on a solid/void study of her body within a context.
Resulting in a coalesced pattern that wrapped around her body and gained its
3rd dimension by extruding blocks based on their proximity to the bodies’ navel.
The garment is a result of extracting and processing of anthropometric data.
15
information to construct a story about their
own findings, discoveries, techniques, and
process. The output of this exploration showed
the way our bodies operate under constrained
situations and produce outcomes that are
aesthetically, structurally, functionally, and
spatially tectonic in quality.
The studio turned to the fashion industry, since
it engages directly with an understanding of
anthropometrics. Fashion designers have a keen
ability to understand
how bodies can be
unrolled,
diagramed, and assembled through a
collection of parts.
This type of pattern
making is a process
in which a trained eye
begins to change and
alter
the body in not only space and time but also in
the techniques used to fabricate complexities.
Beginning designers, in this case second year
interior architecture students, learned about
their scale and proportions by exploring the
fashion industries design process, fabrication
techniques, anthropometric studies, and graphic/
visual presentation.
Fashion as a design driver of spatial
objects
Extending the fashion industry’s fabric manipulation techniques to the upholstery and structural
systems of chairs reveals the potential of developing construction methods that inform fashion and
furniture. Textile manipulation, upholstery patterning, and sewing methods were explored within this interdisciplinary design process. The developed process transforms two-dimensional flat
upholstered surfaces
into three-dimensional
upholstered forms. It
is imperative that a
dialog
exists between the
making techniques
and the influence of
the object in any context. Here, the exchange of production
practices between the soft and hard networks
greatly influences the design process. Two examples below further explore the process of
marrying fashion and furniture design where
the fabric manipulation technique generates the
forms, a process that does not impose geometry
or forms into the design process.
“...the students underwent
a parametric mindset
where form finding was
used rather than form
making...”
It was a process of which the students underwent a parametric mindset where form finding
was used rather than form making. This exercise
challenged students to visually present, relate,
and diagram information extracted from data
which is not immediately visible or apparent
to the untrained eye. The studies depicted the
body as a system that can be plotted and fabricated through a series of points and lines which
respond to issues such as scale, proportion, and
time. This conceptual mapping revealed how
the body interacts and moves through the built
environment in the form of a garment that would
be exhibited at a spring runway show.
Cocoon Chair
The design process of the Cocoon chair evolved
from focused research on fabric manipulation
techniques employed in the apparel industry.
Felt mockups were integrated into the sewing of
fiberglass for the marriage of the chair’s structural
and upholstery system. A smocking technique
was used to create a truss-like system for a fiberglass structure. The overall material make-up
of the chair included two layers of fiberglass, a
layer of Tyvek paper, one layer of dacron, and
one layer of fabric. It was realized that both
the cushion system and supporting frame could
be integrated through one process of layering
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Image 05_Cocoon Chair
materials and hand-stitching them together.
After patterning, cutting, and layering the materials, a triangular point pattern was drawn on
the fiberglass side; all points of the diagram
were hand-stitched and knotted to gather them.
In the end, it is the hand stitching and resin
process which integrated the upholstery and
chairs shell into one structure. This design
process identifies possibilities for an extreme
restructuring of future seating compositions
by integrating their material organization and
fabrication.
Image 08_Construction process showing the stitch pattern and sewing process
Imgae 09_Construction process showing the lash knotting process
Image 06_Design process showing the pattern layout and material make-up of the chair
Image 07_Construction process showing the stitch pattern and sanding of fiberglass process
Knotty Chair
Knotty focuses on the existence of knots as a
common process amongst various fashion sewing modification methods. In this process a lash
knot technique was used for the fabrication of a
steel frame. Galvanized steel wire, wrapped, and
cinched around two-inch incremental intersections, comprises the metal body. The strategic ties
generate the rigid strength of the chair form where
each lash fortifies the surrounding knots and the
final framework. The upholstery includes a twist
fabric manipulation technique applied to felt. The
two-inch grid of the skeleton influenced the scale
of the stitched motif, which helped to develop a
rich relationship between the structural and the
upholstery systems. The twist pattern investigated
the generation of a multi-dimensional textile form
for seating and created upholstery characterized
by depth and layers.
19
Image Credits
Title Image_Felicia Dean - graduate student at UNCG - Cocoon Chair
Images 01,02,03_Laura Kimmel - 2nd year undergraduate student at UNCG - “Branching anthropometric”
Image 04_Christine Luman
Image 05_Felicia Dean - graduate student at UNCG - Cocoon Chair
Images 06,07,08,09_Felicia Dean - graduate student at UNCG
Image 10_Felicia Dean - graduate student at UNCG - Knotty Chair
Jonathon R. Anderson, MFA
Image 10_Knotty chair
More of the design process for both the Cocoon chair and Knotty can be seen at www.ffddesign.com
Jonathon R. Anderson is an award winning designer and assistant professor of
interior architecture at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and director
of the CAMstudio: IARc Digital Fabrication Facility. He is principal of surFACE
studio + MADcubic and Editor in Chief of IDEC Exchange. His research explores
the impacts on and integration of industrial manufacturing on the design process.
His most recent project critically analyzes the influence of digital fabrication, as it
informs the design process, within China’s creative industry parks. Jonathon has
been published and presented both nationally and internationally, placed in several
international design competitions, and presents his research around the world.
Final Thoughts
This paper presents a thesis where form is found through the design process rather
than using intuition to develop form. The fast pace of the fashion industry provides a
platform that facilitates experimentation and the advancement of innovative construction techniques. Both the anthropometric study and the chair designs were directly
influenced by the fashion industries intensity, response to the human form, innovative
making process, and experimentation of materiality. A variety of applications were
presented, from stitching techniques to extraction of data that drives a form, however,
what is of importance is the fact that designers are cognitively engaged in a multidisciplinary process where logic is defining design.
Felicia Dean
Felicia Dean studies Interior Product Design in the Department of Interior
Architecture at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She helps to oversee
CAMstudio under the direction of Professor Jonathon Anderson. Felicia Dean’s
current research investigates the potential for the transfer of fashion apparel fabric
manipulation techniques into construction processes for furniture and upholstery
design. During her time at UNCG, she has received numerous accolades, including
the opportunity to exhibit in Herman Miller’s student sponsored gallery exhibit at
NeoCon, Chicago, IL, 2011, and published as a “Young Gun” in the May 2012 issue
of Dwell magazine.
21
PROTOTYPES
by Kevin Erickson
Bridging the Gap Between Representation
and Production
23
I
nstead of relying solely on standard architectural and fabrication drawings to
communicate intent and for construction, ROPE pavilion – a 100 sf. design-build
competition project, employed over 25 full-scale prototypes and models to help bridge the
gap between representation and production. Prototypes, often used to verify assumptions
rather than innovate, were pushed in an iterative fashion to develop knowledge about
material, connections, and fabrication, which was used to establish design criteria. This
methodology brought forward various latent potentials and proved invaluable during all
phases of the project.
Through the combination of simple materials,
ROPE pavilion creates a highly articulated
form and space, while nestling itself into
the Assiniboine River Trail’s landscape. Its
relationship of skin – unmanila rope and
structure – birch frame, merge to form a
pavilion whose dense shell blocks winter winds
while still being perforated for light and views.
The wood interior creates a sense of warmth
through color and texture and its multilayered
rope exterior collects snow, further embedding
it within the site. The pavilion’s dome-like form
is optimized for heat retention, bifurcating
only for an entry threshold and oculus to the
sky above.
selected out of 140 submissions in the 201112 open competition.
In Winnipeg, the Assiniboine River Trail is the
Guinness World Record-holder for the longest
naturally frozen skating trail. Stretching west
10km from the city center, it receives over 4
million visitors annually. With temperatures
exceeding -40 degrees C, shelters are placed
along the trail for visitors to escape the cold.
Unlike most wrapped surface materials, rope
is ‘particlized’, allowing us to create enclosure
with porosity. Predicting how this material
would behave was difficult. Digital models
provided information on how much material
was needed but failed to accurately illustrate
the overall geometry, even with multiple
Grasshopper scripts.
In 2009, Warming Huts: An Art + Architecture
Exposition on Ice launched an annual
international design competition to create five
very different pieces of art and architecture each
year, giving visitors a chance to engage the site
in unique ways. Concurrent to the competition,
a prominent firm is asked to design and build a
warming hut – Antoine Predock 2010, Patkau
Architects 2011 and this year Frank Gehry.
ROPE pavilion was one of three proposals
Sited in such an interesting and extreme
condition, creating porosity between the
pavilion’s interior and surrounding landscape
was important. In placing an object within this
field, we put a lot of emphasis on creating a
sympathetic artifact, mainly through form and
material. The form originated from an idea to
create a simple wrapped frame, which could
be shaped effortlessly and the use of rope
carried over from a previous competition
project, which we didn’t win but continued
developing.
The first attempt to use only arched vertical
ribs supported horizontally by rope helped
us discovered the challenge of creating
a curvilinear form with a ‘point-to-point’
material. By developing unique curves on
each rib it generated enough variation to blend
the ropes linear movement in both plan and
elevation. Using a series of digital models,
scaled prototypes, and structural calculations
Image 01_Site Plan
we created a balance between the rope’s
physical behavior and desired appearance.
After testing this system with engineers from
Arup, we realized additional horizontal
bracing was required. Moving forward with
the curvilinear form – because of its visual
relationship to the landscape and ability to
deflect wind – adjustments were made to the
wooden ribs so they could withstand loads
from snow, wind, and weight of the rope
(nearly 1,300lbs).
Originally we intended to use manila hemp
rope. After consulting with a supplier, we
learned this material could expand and contract
up to 10 percent depending on temperature,
humidity, and precipitation. ROPE pavilion
called for nearly 6,000 linear feet of rope,
meaning the surface could shrink by 600 feet,
potentially crushing the wooden frame.
Image 02_Site Image
25
Deciding on which diameter of rope to use
involved several factors – visual pattern,
coverage, and most importantly cost per linear
foot. Due to their varied curvature, each vertical
rib has a different length; so we developed
another Grasshopper script to consistently
distribute the layers of rope across the overall
geometry based on the shortest member. This
resulted in 128 layers of ¾ inch unmanila rope
(made of polystyrene), which proved best in
terms of rope size to coverage cost.
A first attempt to connect the rope and frame
was through steel looped pins. Rather than
adding another component, we began testing
the rib’s ability to hold the rope through a series
of notches on their perimeter edges. Strictly
using notches failed because the rope slipped
from its seating when the frame’s curvature
became extreme. Eventually we developed a
combination of notches and holes to secure
the rope. The rope alternates on every other
rib by either being seated in a notch or strung
through a hole. This oscillating pattern created
a nice subtle texture across the pavilion’s
surface.
After solving the rope’s connection we began
working out how to fabricate and assemble
the wooden structure. With temperatures
exceeding -40 degrees Celsius, assembly time
became a major factor. The frame is made of
12 vertical ribs that span between 12 base
members and a continuous compression
ring on top. It’s further supported by three
intermittent layers of horizontal bracing that
create stiffness through custom steel plates.
The entire system bolts together and was
assembled and dissembled in our shop prior to
transportation to Winnipeg.
The wood structure is a composite of multiple
layers of exterior grade plywood, which
provides stability for load transfer. Each layer
had to be separated into several pieces due
to the 4’x8’ stock material size that were later
bonded together. In order to bond the vertical
ribs together, a special table was constructed
to accommodate multiple clamps and ensure
equal pressure. After each member was bonded
they were sanded, sealed, and the custom steel
plates were inserted.
Image 03_sketch of two cuts
Thirty-five custom steel plates were the only
component we could not fabricate in-house.
Each rib had 3 unique 11-gauge plates inserted
to form a moment connection between the
vertical ‘column’ and horizontal bracing. This
detail proved, by far, to be the most difficult.
The plates were plasma cut, bent on one side,
inserted into the ribs, scored, bent, welded
and then bolted to both the vertical rib and
horizontal members.
The process of creating ROPE pavilion occurred
at a very accelerated pace. After being notified
Image 04_form study model
of winning the competition we had 2 weeks
to complete a feasibility study, another 4 for
engineering & technical drawings, leaving
roughly 7 weeks for fabrication, transportation,
and construction. Prototyping each component
and connection at full scale made this possible.
As with many projects of this type, budgets
are limited. Therefore we tested relationships
such as: form vs. structure, material vs. form,
structure vs. material, and fabrication vs.
material to arrive at optimal conditions for
both production and cost. In the end, physical
artifacts, digital scripting, and time spent on
efficient machining played the most significant
roles in expediting the process. It would have
been impossible to develop this project using
only architectural drawings or a parametric
model.
Working through various media, we realized
the value of testing pieces physically early in
the process – the rope’s behavior would have
been impossible to calculate without gravity
or physically pulling on it (the pavilion was
climbed, on several occasions while on the
trail). Developing a quality script, which
allowed us to populate the rope notches and
holes on each rib, was invaluable. This detail
changed at least 10 times and if we had to
27
Image 06_ribs gluing
manually locate 128 holes on all 12 ribs, we
would never have finished. Finally, testing
how the wooden structure was going to be
manufactured at the beginning saved time in
post processing. Each screw and bolt hole was
located using the CNC router. Careful tool/ bit
selection saved time on sanding while accurate
tolerances ensured each piece fit perfectly both
in the shop and on site, where temperatures
varied by over 100 degrees.
The gap between design ideas and end products
is an interesting and fertile territory. When any
new idea is translated into a product for the
first time, success or failure is often difficult
to recognize while being absorbed within the
process. In the case of ROPE pavilion, we relied
heavily on making full-scale working prototypes
to test and advance our original premises. This
method of working, made possible by the
commonplace of digital technologies, enabled
us to understand our failures and capitalize on
our successes. The ease and fluidity in which
we were able to produce so many prototypes
eradicated many linear processes, enabling us
to produce a highly articulated pavilion whose
final figure was greatly enhanced through the
process of production.
Image 05_exploded axon of ribs
Image 07_interior detail photograph, as built
29
Image 08_process catalog
31
Image 10_section, elevation, and plan
KNEstudio
Design Team
Kevin Erickson – Principalin Charge
Adam Garrett
Johann Rischau
MathewStrack
Martin Grym
Geoffery Clarkson
Structural Engineer
Arup, New York NY
Build Team
Kevin Jele
Alvin Hamilton
Anna Gutsch
William Hodges
Additional Sponsorship
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign,
College of Fine and Applied Arts, Creative
Research Award
Public Artist
Allison Warren
Post Production
Marlo Messier
Image 09_interior photograph as built
33
Image 11_night photograph, as built
35
IMAGE CREDITS
Title Image_Photograph by Brian Gould Photography
Image 01_Drawing by KNEstudio
Image 02_Photograph by KNEstudio
Image 03_Sketch by KNEstudio
Image 05_Drawing by KNEstudio
Image 08_Process Diagram by KNEstudio
Image 10_Drawings by KNEstudio
Image 11_Photograph by Brian Gould Photography
Kevin Erickson
Kevin Erickson is a designer and founding principal of New York City based
KNEstudio,whose worked has been nationally and internationally recognized in
exhibitions, design competitions, and publications. In 2006 he served as Artistin-Residence at the Geoffrey BawaLunagunga Trust in Sri Lanka and following,
he was invited to submit work for the American Pavilion at the 2006 Venice
Biennale. In 2007 he edited a monograph and curated an international traveling exhibition on the works of KengoKuma. RecentlyKNEstudio was selected 1
of 3 finalists in the urbanSHED International Design Competition, to rethink the
1 million linear feet of sidewalk sheds and street scaffolding in New York City
and received honorable mention in the Tokyo 2010 Fashion Museum in Omotesando Street Competition. Kevin is an Assistant Professor at the University of
Illinois and last year, he was awarded a Faculty Design Award by the Associated
Colligate Schools of Architecture and an Un-built Architecture Award by the
American Institute of Architecture for his project urbanCLOUD.
Image 12_exterior rope detail photograh as built
37
THE FOUND
OBJECT IN DESIGN
by Chris Ford
W
hile artists have an established record of scholarship about the role of found
objects in their work, there is a disappointing lack of scholarship that considers
the role of found objects in design. Perhaps this can first be attributed to the different
motivations by which an artist and a designer choose to incorporate a found object.
Image 01_Nightstand
Discipline-centric Motivations
If we generalize, artists are creative thinkers
who produce aesthetic objects that respond to
problems of their own creation. However, designers are both creative and analytical thinkers
who produce functional objects responding to
performance-based problems demonstrated by
the needs of others. Despite the similarities and
differences between the realms of art and design,
the defining characteristic between them is this
level of utility found in the artifacts produced.
Between these two realms however is a thin
threshold that places equal weight upon both
the aesthetic and pragmatic qualities of a specific
object. As this threshold is enjoying an increasing
amount of scholarship, designers are renewing
an interest in the discipline of Craft. Members
of this discipline whose work is particularly
expressive of Craft principles include George
Nakashima, Dale Chihuly, and the Teutul family.
With regards to our interest in found objects, this
difference in attitudes illuminates that primary
reasons for selection are rooted in the source
disciplines themselves. The found object in art
has no responsibility to perform beyond its aesthetic affect, and the found object in design has
no further responsibility beyond its pragmatic
(i.e. mechanical, structural) affect.
Across all disciplines, design solutions typically
require the deliberate processing of raw materials
to produce a new idealized solution that is performatively consistent throughout its entirety. This
holistic approach enables designers to combine
the desired structural and performative attributes
thereby finding an economy in design that is not
burdened with extraneous and superfluous parts.
In turn, the integrated aesthetic dimension of
this designed object can either be of deliberate
consideration or of collateral effect.
The Impact of Found Objects
The incorporation of a found object in a
design solution presents interesting generative
opportunities that are not otherwise available
in more traditional acts of design.
While some designers are personally comfortable
with, and effectively operate within, the openness
afforded by traditionally-formed design problems,
the decision to incorporate a found object
impacts the structure of the design problem with
a high degree of new information. No longer
does design generation begin in response to
an assessment of constraints; now there is a
physical artifact within the larger problem space
that exudes intelligible information regarding its
own structural, mechanical and compositional
qualities. In many ways, this starting point for
design thinking suddenly advances the maturity
of the final design, thereby illuminating the
importance of good decisions in the selection
of found objects in the first place. While the
found object effect can positively disrupt the
performative and aesthetic expectations of end
users and find new appreciation, it can also bomb
when the merit of the final designed craftwork
fails to transcend the incorporated found object
on its own terms, thereby revealing a kitsch
appreciation for the found object incorporated
and exuding an unhelpful reverence for the
original found object.
Because the incorporation of found objects is
non-essential to all design solutions, there is
a need to explicitly understand the benefit of
incorporating found objects, the criteria for their
selection, their impact on design thinking, and
their ramifications for use. This essay identifies
four generative strategies for how found objects
are / can be used within the design discipline:
Resourcefulness, Political Heuristics, Creative
Heuristics and Aesthetic Heuristics.
Resourcefulness
For non-designers solving their own problems of
need, using found objects in an ad-hoc manner is
the most popular strategy found in contemporary
society. While the examples featured on websites
such as www.thereifixedit.com is not the result
of professional design services, the solutions are
very much the result of an act of design by nondesigners, however precarious, short-sighted, or
ill-advised. For these ad-hocist solutions, found
objects present a means for practical solutions
to problems rooted in necessity.
41
Resourcefulness is a strategy typically found at
the lower end of the economic spectrum, and the
work of the Rural Studio at Auburn is particularly
expressive of this. While I do not want to deny
this group any Creative Heuristics that were also
in play, it remains that this group of designers
sought to achieve the most architecturally with
the limited resources that were available to them.
Whether it be dumped tires, road signs, glass
bottles, wax-impregnated cardboard, or donated
replacement windshields, these resources have
themselves become obsolete and have found
new use in an architectural application. However,
Resourcefulness may also be in play independent
of financial circumstances.
Since 1991, RoTo Architects has developed an
approach to architectural design that welcomes
uncertainty and openness. For RoTo, the final
design solution is not conceived in an idealized
state in which additional design energy is invested
in exhaustively-thorough documentation, but
rather is conceived in a comparatively loose way
which allows for the joint shaping of the final
solution by their
conception, by
other stakeholders
such as the client
and builder, and
by the availability
of new resources
that were not
known at the time
of original project
conception. While
their internal office design process works to
eliminate individual authorship, RoTo oftentimes
achieves this with final solutions that capitalize
upon the “availability of recyclable materials
and skills that are within the comfort level of
the builder.”1 RoTo Architects’ designs for both
the Sinte Gleska University in South Dakota and
the Carlson-Reges residence in downtown Los
Angeles express this.
The Carlson-Reges Residence is a design for a
couple already living in a once electric company
cabling structure amidst an industrial salvage
yard with an inventory accumulated over two
generations. This design provided an expanded
ability to publicly showcase a collection of
two and three dimensional art, but without
impeding upon their more private living spaces.
The solution incorporates many components
found throughout the salvage yard, and was
dependent upon the construction skills of the
client / builder. While industrial steel sections
were plentiful for re-use as architectural columns
and beams, cylindrical gasoline tanks from the
client’s materials yard were modified to serve
as a second floor pool. According to Michael
Rotondi, “all non-structural steel detailing [for
the Carlson-Reges Residence] occurred on site in
an improvisational fashion and was determined
by the availability of materials and labor.”2
For designers solving problems of need, using
found objects from a generative strategy of
Resourcefulness requires a suspension of the
level of control
typically found in
professional design
service. However,
for those willing
to entertain design
solutions that are
both uncertain and
open at the time of
conception, then
the opportunitybased incorporation of a found object will
achieve heightened design economy in the
absence of either new raw material resources
or the means to deliberately process them.
“... final solutions capitalize
upon the availability of
recyclable materials and skills
that are within the comfort level
of the builder”
Political Heuristics
When a designer chooses to incorporate a found
object to signify a larger political position, whether
it be a protest of a politico-socio system, or a
personal position in support of a larger political
context, then Political Heuristics are in play. For
Charles Jencks in 1973, Ad-Hocism provided a
vehicle for combating the standardization and
limitation of choice by large corporations and
was believed to trigger a “rebirth of a democratic
mode and style, where everyone can create
[their] personal environment out of impersonal
subsystems…”3
For us in 2012, we find a number of designers
who are incorporating found objects prompted
by their respective position on environmental
issues and who seek to reduce their footprint.
These green-minded
designers intentionally
recycle found objects and
reclaim other materials
that have outlasted their
original usefulness as
it relates to their selfperceived role in a larger
handling of waste.
“to him, almost anything discarded and durable
is potential building material.”4 Found materials
already incorporated into his residences include
picture frame samples for an interior ceiling,
misshapen bricks, broken ceramic tiles and
mirrors, wine corks, worn DVDs, and cattle
bones from a nearby cattle yard. While the
overall look and feel of these residences are
quirky and circumstantial, they are completely
code-compliant and have already proven their
resale value to a more affluent audience.
For those designers using founds objects
as a Political Heuristic, there is a lessened
appreciation for
wholeness, clarity
and legibility of use,
and a heightened
satisfaction from
knowing they
h av e l e s s e n e d
t h e r e s p e c t iv e
footprint of waste
for its design field.
Furthermore, the
resulting aesthetic
achieved is one that, however holistic or not,
cannot be pre-conceived independently from
working with the actual found materials at 1:1
scale.
“rebirth of a democratic
mode and style, where
everyone can create [their]
personal environment out of
impersonal subsystems…”
While the repurposing of
a found object requires
the least amount of embodied energy for
materials for design, this strategy often leads to
solutions that have no larger holistic aesthetic
agenda. At its extreme, this design strategy can
produce aesthetically-schizophrenic solutions
that lack an overarching design vision for
wholeness. However, this is perfectly acceptable
for the designer using political heuristics, as
the resulting aesthetic is of circumstance to the
larger politically-charged act of designing with
recycled and reclaimed material.
Mr. Dan Phillips is the principal of Phoenix
Commotion homebuilding based in Huntsville
TX and has successfully built (14) residences
that incorporates found objects from a political
heuristic sensibility. While Mr. Phillips will
acquire approximately 80% of his construction
materials from other builders’ construction sites,
Creative Heuristics
In this instance, the designer is looking to exploit
the generative potential of found objects that
stem from an assessment of the found object’s
mechanical and/or structural properties, and
then allow that assessment to determine the
program or use for a forthcoming design solution.
If a Creative Heuristic is in play, then no longer
is the final design solution in response to an
articulated need. Instead, the use and function
for the final design is only determined after the
designer has entered into a dialogue with the
properties and qualities of the found object.
43
of others, the pre-selection of a found object for
creative action does not empower the level of
analytical consideration necessary for generating
truly need-based solutions.
Aesthetic Heuristics
A designer who decides to incorporate a found
object from a sensibility of an aesthetic heuristic
is one who believes a found object is either
particularly beautiful or cool. In short, this explains
why designers will incorporate a found object
for its own sake. In this scenario, there is larger
design value in the ability of end users to read the
found object, and recognize its respective origin
while simultaneously appreciating its new role
in a larger design solution. While it is possible
within this generative strategy to allow nostalgia
into one’s design thinking, it can also establish
the underpinnings of distinguished architectural
practices such as LOT-EK in New York City and
Richard Goodwin in Sydney Australia.
ARCH 516: “Modern Craft”
Image 02_Aileron Shelf
For furniture designer Scott Baker of
Baker+Hesseldenz Inc, the moment of design
conception occurred immediately upon viewing
the found object. More specifically, Mr. Baker
was browsing the only remaining publiclyaccessible military aircraft salvage yard in Tucson
AZ when he came upon an aileron bracket sitting
amongst other components and began handling
it. As he rotated it in space, he began visualizing
the aileron bracket as a single support for a
long shelf on a wall. Mr. Baker designed three
new components to be made from cherry wood,
and he fabricated the final Aileron shelf himself.
Although the shelf was a personal endeavor for
Mr. Baker’s own satisfaction, it is currently on
the market as a consignment piece in his art
gallery, Metroform Ltd.
If we recall that found objects incorporated from
a sensibility of Resourcefulness presents a means
for practical solutions to address problems of
necessity, then found objects incorporated from
a Creative Heuristic sensibility either guarantee
a desired condition within a larger final solution
to problems not yet identified or are engaged
only after the creation of the new designed
object. While this generative strategy holds the
most promise for creative design solutions, it
also explains why it is the rarest of types. In a
designer’s commitment to addressing the needs
As a general position for an architectural
educator, all schools of architecture should
have strong respective Cultures of Making. To
this end, it is necessary for our curriculums to
guarantee multiple opportunities for working,
and experimenting with, “live” materials at a 1:1
scale. In light of this, I created a new 3 credit
hour course titled “Modern Craft,” which is open
to students of fifth year, sixth year, and PhD
standing. The course examines Craft as its own
creative discipline at the threshold between Fine
Art and Design, and is composed of equal parts
lecture, seminar and lab. Whereas the seminar
portion anchors the conversation in issues
surrounding craft objects and industrial products,
the lab component effectively offers Architecture
students their first curricular opportunity to
consider material-based investigations. in an
explicit way, for (16) weeks.
FOCO: The Found Object Craft Object
Since first seeing the Aileron shelf by Tucson
designer Scott Baker in 2003, I have become
increasingly interested in the creative heuristics
that found objects provide when incorporated
into a larger design problem. To this end, I
enjoy issuing an eight-week design assignment
titled “FOCO: The Found Object Craft Object,”
in the “Modern Craft” course. This assignment
requires student designers to polemically argue
how found objects ought to be used in design,
and demonstrate their creative effectiveness
firsthand through the conception, development
and execution of a new craft object.
Per this assignment, all FOCOs must:
01.
incorporate a found object that is chosen
only after careful consideration. The selection
of the found object must not be circumstantial.
02.
incorporate a found object that has
structural or mechanical merit. Found objects
with emotional value are prohibited.
be designed using the observable
properties of the found object as a point of
departure. The purpose and use of the FOCO
shall be determined only after the found
object is selected.
03.
incorporate a found object that plays a
performative role within the larger FOCO
solution – The craft object incorporates the
found object, yet the found object does not
equal the craft object.
04.
05. re-purpose the original found object
within the intentional and deliberate design
of a new craft object.
06. commit to a particular type of site (i.e.
stands on floor, anchors to table, wallmounted, suspended from ceiling) without
committing to a site-specific Place.
07. recognize their role as craft objects in
the 21st Century, and consider their own
materiality.
45
Across the course enrollment, there is typically
a genuine enthusiasm for this assignment, as it
presents an opportunity that students have not yet
experienced in their design studios. Since its first
issue in Spring 2008, I have tweaked the source
and methods for Found Object acquisition in
order to make refined observations about this
design methodology, and it also prevents future
students from anticipating forthcoming designs.
In the most open model, I have asked the class
to do some found object reconnaissance over
their Spring Break in salvage yards, pawn shops,
antique shops, auctions, yard sales, or their
grandparents’ garage.
Each student was required to bring three found
objects to class for discussion, and the group
then took turns speculating upon the various
ways in which each found object in the room
could function in larger structural or mechanical
applications. This produces the greatest range
of found object types: In one particular year,
students selected an engine dolly, a 75-lb steel
caster, a cast aluminum combustion chamber
from a Mazda RX-7 rotary engine, a pair of
suspension swingarms, a clutch assembly, a pair
of ice skate blades, a poker chip holder, and
a hand-operated apple peeler. In a less open
model, I have asked students to meet me at an
automotive junkyard, and I give them a two hour
window of time in which they are expected
to identify, select, and purchase no more than
three found objects of interest. The students do
not have to commit to a particular single found
object by this time, but the object ultimately
chosen must have been identified within this
window. In the most closed model, I install a
series of pre-selected found objects that I have
acquired in a small room, allowed students to
preview them, have numbers drawn, and then
according to their number, release each of them
to choose their respective found object.
Since the purpose or use of the larger forthcoming
FOCO was to be determined after the selection
of the found object, students were dealing with
a design problem in which purpose or use no
longer preceded their search for design solutions.
In turn, they must enter into a dialogue with the
found object, assess its structural and mechanical
characteristics, and only then design uses for the
found object. Across the various solutions that
have emerged, the final FOCO solutions vary
widely in terms of their utility, level of found
object incorporation, and overall compositional
complexity.
it became possible to perceive the swingarms as
structural supports that would allow the circular
ends to become the actual bearing points for the
forthcoming assemblage. Once this observation
was made, the use of the FOCO was determined
to be a low coffee table.
Front-End Suspension Swingarms
Image 04_Coffee table
Image 03_Coffee table
Mr. Dodson was attracted to both the structural
and compositional qualities of these swingarms.
As kinetic structural horizontal supports found
in a vehicle’s front suspension, these swingarms
can resist considerable weight and force.
Compositionally, these cast steel swingarms
have several large “lightening” holes within its
profile, and also features several bolted hole
connections.
During preliminary design, Mr. Dodson would
position the swingarms in an upright position, and
After considering some design options with a
blockish symmetrical proportion, Mr. Dodson
decided to elongate the proportion of the
structural gesture in order to showcase the table
elements that would require new construction.
The structural spine was shaped from a single
piece of maple, and was accentuated at both
ends with walnut bearing points. Whereas one
end is a modest shaped footing that comes in
contact with the ground plane, the other end
is a shaped connector stout enough to receive
the ½” diameter bolted connections with both
swingarms. Mr. Dodson subcontracted a local
glass supplier to provide a shaped tempered glass
profile, and this glass rests on three new rods.
While these rods were conceived as appropriate
attachments to the found compositional qualities
of the swingarms themselves, an identical rod
was used in an identical geometry and attached
directly to the maple structural spine.
Engine Dolly
While Mr. Mielke produced three found objects
of varying scale for consideration, he was drawn
to working with his largest since this was the
scale he was most comfortable. The found object
is a dolly for lifting and storing pulled engines
from automobiles. The dolly is essentially three
pieces of tube steel butted and welded together
to form “T” configurations in both plan and side
elevations. The dolly meets the ground with three
¾” diameter rolling casters and interfaces with
engines only through a pipe fitting that caps the
top of the single vertical tube steel member. This
particular dolly became obsolete when one of
its small steel casters jammed, and no one took
the initiative to service or repair it.
The dolly originally had a bright orange painted
finish, but this finish has weathered from both
heavy use and lack of care. Mr. Mielke decided
early that he was interested in retaining the
weathered finish quality of the dolly, and wanted
to creatively contrast it with highly refined new
construction.
From its side “L” profile, one notices the
composition of this dolly anticipates cantilevering
the engine over its lower half. In response to this,
Mr. Mielke projected regulating lines from hard
material edges found on the dolly and allowed
these 2d lines to act as planes to demarcate the
extents of two large three dimensional volumes.
Furthermore, just as a suspended engine would
have airspace trapped below, then so do these
volumes hover over the dolly assemblage and
connect back only at the vertical support. These
two persimmons-wood volumes are physically
identical to each other in overall dimensions, and
both work together as saddlebags to balance
the load about the high structural support arm
made of steel flatstock. However, one volume
is a chest of drawers with full extension glides,
and the other is a single vertical drawer with
47
adjustable shelving. To the best of my knowledge,
the one steel caster remains jammed.
the caster’s side profile as a point of departure
for his larger design thinking.
The final desk design is characterized by two
steel bases with white painted finish which
are rigidly attached to an orange desk surface.
Although this orange desk component appears
as one piece, it was fabricated from a solidcore door and laminated plywood shapes for
the downturn. Both of these pieces read as one
due to several layers of bondo work and several
coats of automotive-grade painted finish. The
desk surface has integrated handles for moving
the desk and its repositioning.
Image 05_ Chest of Drawers
Industrial-Scale Caster
Image 07_An end table
At a curb weight of 75 lbs., this large caster is one
from a set of four identical casters that supported
an automotive sled used by body repair services
to move car chassis within a garage.
Mr. Reimers started his process with a series
of sketches of upright furniture pieces that
integrated the caster as a heavyweight footing
and bearing point with the ground plane. After
considering the likely physical awkwardness of
moving these upright pieces, the proportion of
the furniture piece then became low and long.
This proportion was found to offer more leverage
and ease to the user, and would allow for moving
the piece with less effort and greater control. After
diagramming a wheelbarrow-like proportion to
the FOCO, Mr. Reimers determined its purpose
would be a new desk. Beyond knowing that
this desk would require a prominent horizontal
surface to accommodate various desk-based
actions, Mr. Reimers found it difficult to explore
design options without using a photograph of
Iceskates
Image 06_A desk for a home office
Mr. Williams’ found object(s) with the best
creative potential was a pair of antique ice
skates. These ice skates possessed a number of
attractive material features including the worn
leather ice skate envelope, the excessively-long
cloth laces, the shaped steel ice skate blades,
and their nailed connection to the underside of
the skate’s sole.
Upon further evaluating the skate blades, Mr.
Williams became interested in the creation of
a FOCO that would become structurally codependent with the skate blades themselves.
In order to best focus upon this compositional
expectation, he was encouraged to work in a
scale relatively smaller than his colleagues, and
he then decided to design an occasional table.
The first iteration of this table design was drawn in
marker pen, and was dismissed by the author due
to its resemblance to a woman’s shoe. However,
the second iteration had a changed proportion
and still possessed the trait of structural codependence between the two found objects
and the new construction. Mr. Williams began
fabrication of this table by laminating a series
of plywood shapes to then be shaped using
electric and hand sanding methods. Once the
ice skate blades were attached to the new wood
construction, this assemblage served as the table
base. The table surface itself was a single piece
of 16 gauge sheet metal shaped in an ovular
form, and was connected to the neck of the
wood base with a series of piping connections
that intentionally resembled the eyelets found
on the original ice skates. All steel edges at this
connection were brought to align with the outer
surfaces. of the wood.
49
References
Image Credits
carter, brian. rotobook. michigan architecture
papers one. ann arbor: university of michigan,
1996, p23.
Title Page_Graphic design by Janice C Ninan
carter, brian. rotobook. michigan architecture
papers one. ann arbor: university of michigan,
1996, p45.
Image 02_object by Baker + Hesseldenz Inc.
jencks, charles and nathan silver. adhocism: the
case for improvisation. garden city: anchor press,
1973, p15.
Image 04_object by John Dodson
murphy, kate. “one man’s trash…,” home &
garden, the new york times. september 02, 2009.
Image 06_object by Brandon Reimers
1
Across the course enrollment, the polemical
arguments for how found objects ought to
be used in design varied, but otherwise
reveal the impetus in which each student
found the incorporation of a found object
to be personally meaningful. In turn, it
was an analysis of their written responses
that helped to forge the four larger design
strategies presented earlier in this essay.
2
3
4
Image 01_object by Casey Roberts, Spring 2011
Image 03_object by John Dodson
Image 05_object by Karl Mielke
Image 07_object by Chris William
Image 08_tudents at work in Studio
Chris Ford
Associate Professor & Assistant Director
College of Architecture
University of Nebraska
Upon graduating from North Carolina State University, Chris joined the New York
office of Richard Meier & Partners where he assisted the design development of several
international competition entries and commissions. The majority of Chris’ tenure was
spent in assisting the execution of the 173 / 176 Perry Street residential towers located on
Manhattan’s west side. Chris also worked for Rick Joy Architects and Rob Paulus Architects
in Tucson AZ as both an architectural project manager and construction manager. While
an Associate with RPA, Chris was also an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Arizona,
School of Architecture.
In Fall 2005, Chris joined the University of Nebraska College of Architecture where
he regularly teaches design studios at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He is
a former coordinator of the Architecture Internship program, a past chair of the Hyde
Lecture series, and was the 2008-2010 Steward Professor in Sustainable Design for his
funded research project titled “REIs: Renewable Energy Infrastructures.” This REI project
was also a recipient of a 2009 AIA Upjohn Research Initiative grant. Chris maintains
scholarly interests in infrastructure, design methodology and modern Craft.
Websites
www.chrisfordoffice.com
http://architecture.unl.edu/people/bios/ford_chris.shtml
Image 08
51
by Ali Sant & Studio for Urban Projects
Temporary Urban Experiments for Creating
C
ontext: San Francisco’s civic and
commercial spine, Market Street,
will be reconcieved in 2015. The design
of the street will be the culmination
of a four-year process of public
engagement and discussion initiated
through the Better Market Street
Project. Central to this dialogue are a
number of questions, about how (and
by whom) Market Street might be used.
In preparation for permanent changes
to the street, the city government
inadvertently began a process of
experimentation and testing in 2008 by
asking a provocative question: could
the city evaluate new schemes before
making them permanent?
The first modifications to the street rerouted
eastbound private car traffic south, through
mandatory right turns at 10th and 6th streets.
This simple change was found to increase
the number of pedestrians and cyclists on
Market Street, reduce Muni running times and
have no adverse effect on traffic in the SoMa
neighborhood. Based on this success, the
six-week trial was extended and ultimately
made permanent in March 2011. In addition,
green bike boxes, and separated bike lanes
on Market Street between 8th and Octavia
continue to bring faster buses and more people
biking and walking on Market Street. Bicycles
now outnumber motor vehicles during rush
hour. The Market Street trial is part of a new
movement in urban planning: rather than
expensive top-down changes that are assumed
to work, cities can test and evaluate multiple
cheap and temporary strategies for urban
improvement.
Image 1_Plaza
RECLAIM
MARKET
STREET!
Reclaim Market Street!, a project created by the
Studio for Urban Projects and exhibited by the
San Francisco Planning and Urban Research
Association (SPUR), has augmented these
municipal process and experiments by staging
a series of temporary interventions provoking
us to re-imagine the ways in which the street
might be configured. These interventions ask
us to consider questions about the social life of
the street: Beyond commerce, business and the
movement of the automobile, what do we want
to use our streets for? Can we claim the street
for conversation, action, play, lounging and
making? Can we make this space hospitable to
those who walk, bike or take public transport?
Can we prioritize the social life of the street?
These interventions responded to three of
the street conditions; the sidewalk, plaza,
and street; and were created in collaboration
with with artists, activists, designers and city
officials.
“We have given a
disproportionate
amount of our street
space to vehicles,
and the time has
come to start giving
some of it back to
the pedestrians from
whom it was taken.”
–William Whyte,
The Social Life of
Small Urban Spaces
(1980)
Image 2_Exhibition
57
Interventions:
Sidewalk
“Poetry is in the streets.” –Situationists
“How does our
relationship to the street
change when we tend it,
plant it, or perform for it?
Image 3_Sidewalk
This one-day event, held on October 8,
examined the ways in which we can redefine
the social life of the sidewalk. Amidst the
hustle and bustle of commerce and business
how do we slow to the pace of conversation,
interaction or reflection? Can we create places
to sit, make or play? How does our relationship
to the street change when we tend it, plant it,
or perform for it? The day profiled six artists’
projects along Market Street from UN Plaza to
Powell Street.
Michael Swaine and Paul Benny created a
project called Broomtrade in which they created
a series of brooms that required groups of two,
four, and six people to operate, transforming
the simple act of sweeping into a collaborative,
public dance event. Futurefarmers enlivened a
derelict marquee between 5th and 6th streets
with their project After the Market. Passersby
were invited to write statements imagining a
new Market Street that were applied to the
marquee and left remaining at the day’s end.
Amber Hasselbring hosted Urban Hedgerow,
a public think-tank of artists, designers, and
plant experts engaged in a discussion and
workshop, set in a temporary native habitat at
UN plaza. Genine Lentine created Listening
Booth, a piece which invited stangers to sit
down and talk with an attentive listener for
five minutes. Finally, Joshua Short facilitated
Red Carpet for the Commons at various
locations around the Civic Center and Powell
Street BART stations. Unsuspecting citizens
found themselves walking across a red carpet,
greeted by applause and reverence.
Plaza
“Play is freedom.” –Johan Hizinga
On October 15th, UN Plaza was temporarily
transformed into a play space for children,
parents and friends. The Imagination
Playground, a kit of “loose parts” designed
by David Rockwell, was configured and reconfigured over four-hours during the day by
over 120 kids. The intervention looked at ways
in which children may be better integrated into
the life of the street. In the evening this space
was transformed to host a public screening
attended by 200 people. Archivist Rick
Prelinger showed films from his collection
focusing on the history of Market Street as
captured by amateurs, newsreel cameramen
and industrial filmmakers. San Francisco
filmmaker Melinda Stone showed the 1906
film A Trip Down Market Street and its 2005
remake by herself and Liz Keim. Inspired by
Jane Jacobs’ writing in the Death and Life of
Great American Cities, how plazas might be
made more dynamic by serving different age
groups and interests over the course of a day?
Street
“Space is a practiced place.” –Michel de
Certeau
Our final intervention was a bike tour and
mock up of potential new bike lanes along
Market Street created in collaboration with
Rebar, a San Francisco based art and design
group. Over 70 participants used chalk paint to
stencil a new bike lane that meandered up onto
the sidewalk and Market and 1st. On Market
Street between 3rd and Grant, we temporarily
blocked traffic to create a two-lane bikeway
with a slow and fast lane. The stencils we used
featured traditional street graphics including
arrows and dashed lines as well as more
whimsical elements such as a stencil of the
59
Tiger Swallowtale, a native butterfly that has
adapted to the non-native London Plane Tree
planted along Market Street. These elements
were included in the lanes in which bikes were
meant to slow or detour. “Space is a practiced
place,” a quote by Michel de Certeau in his
book The Practice of Everyday Life was also
stenciled along the freshly chalked lanes.
Flanking these two guerilla bike lane
interventions, the tour featured talks with city
officials, bicycle advocates, and artists. Our
guests included Sabrina Merlo, the former
Regional Advocacy Director of the Bay Area
Bicycle Coalition and co-creator of Civic
Cycle; Will Tabajonda of the SFMTA who is
helping to launch San Francisco’s bike-share
program, Andrew Lee and Nate Chanchareon
of the Sustainable Streets Division of the San
Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency;
Chris Carlsson, author, historian, and cooriginator of Critical Mass; Kit Hodge, Director
of the San Francisco Great Streets Project;
Brian Smith of Huckleberry Bicycles, the newly
opened bike repair kiosk on Market Street; and
John Bela, a collaborator in Rebar.
Throughout the day we discussed bike
sharing, bike lane trials on Market Street, and
the history of bicycle protests. We visited the
newly opened Huckleberry bike repair shop
created in a defunct newspaper kiosk. Several
bikes were also outfitted with Contrails devices
fabricated by ULICU, to leave a trace of our
route. The event concluded at UN Plaza, where
participants relaxed in Rebar’s Bubble Lounge
with refreshments powered by their Juicecycle.
All of these events attracted large groups
of participants, including passerby, visitors
from other cities and countries, and even
participants in San Francisco’s Occupy Wall
Street protests. The Studio’s interventions were
direct and participatory rather than theoretical:
participants were exposed to new urban
experiences, not just new ideas. Our aim was
to create an inspiring spectacle of what is
possible on Market Street and to engage the
public in helping to create a new vision for the
street.
Exhibition
The accompanying exhibition at SPUR
provides further context to the interventions
by highlighting the many ways in which cities,
nationally and internationally, are engaged
in reimagining their public spaces- streets,
plazas and sidewalks- through experimental
urban planning. These efforts are part of a
broad movement of urban experiments, trials
and prototypes. A few examples from the
exhibition include:
Permanent Breakfast is a temporary urban
intervention in which participants are invited to
a public breakfast and then asked to continue
the action by staging breakfasts of their own. By
occupying public spaces, participants change
the nature of the places they are in, converting
sidewalks, plazas and parking spots to spaces
of food preparation, eating and conversation.
According to the snowball concept of the
project, 1.6 million people would have
participated in a public breakfast by the 10th
day of the project. Permanent Breakfast began
in 1996 in Vienna’s Schwarzenbergplatz, as an
intervention by artist Friedeman Derschmidt;
since then the event has been staged in many
cities, including Prague, Berlin, Oslo and
Melbourne, and hundreds of breakfasts have
been documented.
PARK(ing) Day is a daylong global event where
citizens, artists and activists collaborate to
temporarily transform metered parking spaces
into temporary public places. The project
began in 2005 when Rebar, a San Franciscobased art and design studio, converted a single
metered parking space into a temporary public
park.
A quintessentially “open source” project,
PARK(ing) Day has since been adapted and
remixed to address a variety of social issues
in diverse urban contexts around the world.
Over the years, PARK(ing) Day has expanded
to include a broad range of interventions
well beyond the basic “tree-bench-sod” park
typology first modeled by Rebar. Participants
have created interventions ranging from free
health clinics, urban farming and ecology
demonstrations to political seminars, art
installations, free bike repair shops and even a
wedding ceremony!
part of the commons—a site for generosity,
expression, socializing and play. And although
temporary, PARK(ing) Day has inspired direct
participation in the civic processes that
permanently alter the urban landscape. In
San Francisco, it has inspired the city’s official
parklet program and is a model for how artists’
interventions can help to provoke official city
policy.
Occurring annually on the third Friday in
September, in hundreds of cities around the
globe, PARK(ing) Day has effectively re-valued
the metered parking space as an important
Image 4_Street
61
Paris Plages
First initiated in 2002 by Mayor Bertrand
Delanoë, Paris Plages (“Paris Beaches”) is a
month-long annual event where the City of
Paris creates temporary urban “beaches” along
the right banks of the Seine River. A major
motorway clogged with heavy traffic most of
the year, the Georges Pompidou Expressway
transforms into an outdoor getaway. This
temporary pedestrian promenade offers sandfilled beaches with deck chairs, palm trees,
hammocks, a swimming pool that floats
on top of the river and fine-water misters to
cool off in. The beach is animated day and
night with activity, including dance lessons,
beach volleyball, music concerts and sandcastle building. Now, in 2011, there are three
different beach areas along the Seine River
running from the Louvre to Pont de Sully to the
Port de la Gare and the Bassin de la Villette.
The event has been duplicated in other cities,
including Rome, Mexico City, Amsterdam,
Berlin, Budapest, Prague and Vienna.
Ciclovías Recreativas are events in which
streets are temporarily closed to vehicle
traffic, providing a safe space for people to
bike, walk and engage in other social and
recreational activities. The concept originated
in the 1970s in Bogota, Colombia, then was
greatly expanded by that country’s progressive
mayor, Enrique Penalosa, in the 1990s, as part
of a broader strategy to make Bogota safer and
more livable.
Today, Ciclovías are enacted on the main
streets of Bogota every Sunday. Parks and
sidewalks along Ciclovías are filled with street
vendors and performers; temporary stages
host live music, dancing, aerobics and yoga
classes. On a typical Sunday, two million
people—a third of the city’s population—are
out on Bogota’s streets.
civic pride and public engagement, and
helping to effect a dramatic reduction in the
city’s crime and accident rates. Due to its
enormous success, the concept has spread
to cities and countries around the world,
including San Francisco’s Sunday Streets,
which began in 2008.
These projects, and many others documented
in the exhibition, are part of a broad national
and international movement in which people
are claiming streets and making experiments,
trials and prototypes. All over the world
people are closing roads to the automobile
for a day, a week, a month or a year and
exploring new ways to define our city streets.
These experiments are being propagated by
artists, advocacy groups and progressive city
governments. They stand in marked contrast
to the top-down planning model of previous
generations, in which expensive urban renewal
schemes were enacted, and only afterwards
did the urban and social consequences
become clear.
Experimental interventions help us to imagine
what is possible in our cities, test different
possibilities, and ultimately become catalysts
for permanent change.
Image Credits
Title Image_Photograph by Studio for Urban Projects
Image 1_Photograph by Studio for Urban Projects
Studio for Urban Projects
Founded in 2006, the Studio for Urban Projects is an art and design
collective that perceives art as a means of advancing civic engagement and furthering public dialogue. Our interdisciplinary and
research-based projects aim to provoke change by re-framing our
perceptions of the city and physically transforming elements of the
built environment. Engaging the broad themes of ecology and urbanism, our projects have taken the form of audio tours, interactive
websites, exhibitions, urban interventions, and architectural environments. Through these projects we reflect upon the cultural dynamics
that shape our urban landscapes.
Ciclovías have been credited with building
63
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by Weiling He, PhD
D
esign translation is an increasingly notable phenomenon, both in academia and in
the practice of architecture. Many architects take an existing artwork as a departure
point to formulate architectural designs. This is an issue of both transformation and
translation. For instance, influenced by the composition of a painting, the architect designs
a space with visual similarities to the original painting. Further, ideas are translated into
designs of spaces that are visually dissimilar to the original work of art. In many cases of
design translation, unconventional designs are the goal. The original artwork becomes
the generator of progressive forms of architecture. Design translation seems to be an
alternative strategy for form-finding. However, design translation can be more than just
a design strategy because its assumptions and implications tackle the core relationship
between form and meaning in architecture and its design processes.
Questions
The assumptions of design translation prompt
questions regarding the nature of form and
meaning in architectural design. The process
of design translation makes architects aware of
the following four questions and their philosophical implications. The questions are: how
does architecture “mean”? How is meaning
constructed in architectural space? How are
spatial meanings received? How are intentions
embedded in architectural space?
How Does Architecture Mean?
Assumptions
Design translation is based on four major assumptions: architecture has symbolic meaning,
there is a constructive way of understanding
both the original work and the new work, the
design languages in both the new and the old
work make sense in their autonomous systems,
and the new work is a motivated partial restatement of the original work.1
Architectural space has symbolic meaning over
and above functional meaning. Architecture
negotiates the different agendas of its symbolic
and practical aspects. A building is not merely
a shelter that protects, or a container that
functions, but a place that has significance,
meaning, and symbolic content, and makes
references to a range of precedents. As Nelson
Goodman argues, only when a building
signifies does it become a work of art.2
Like other works of art, the design of
architectural space can be understood as a
process of construction. In “design translation,”
one must understand how an original work
was constructed and how that way of making
can influence the new work. Therefore,
construction, rather than mere recognition,
connects works through generative processes.
In addition, design translation does not imply
that the meaning of a work resides in its ability
to refer to another work. Each work should be
considered in its own right. The tension among
works in different media must be studied not
from the point of view of reference, but rather
from the point of view of design language.
Finally, in design translation, the new work
is specifically motivated by, and a partial
restatement of, the original work. Such
restatement not only depends on what is
explicitly stated in the original work but also,
and more importantly, on what the architect
looks for and perceives. The latter leads the
architect to approach an original work with a
previously established motive.
The assumption that architecture has meaning
leads to the question of how architecture
“means.” How architecture “means” is a
concept from the article “How Buildings
Mean,” in which Nelson Goodman discusses
how architecture gains meaning. Goodman
proposes three concepts as elementary
varieties of symbolization in art: denotation
(representation),
exemplification,
and
expression. According
to Goodman, denotation
includes “any labeling,
any application of a
symbol of any kind
to an object, event,
or other instance of
it.”3 Architecture is
essentially an abstract
art, like modern abstract
painting; it does not
contrive meaning by
literally referencing other objects. Instead,
architecture “means” by referencing properties.
As Goodman writes, “reference by a building
to properties possessed either literally or
metaphorically is exemplification, but
exemplification of metaphorically possessed
properties is what we more commonly call
‘expression.’”4
If architectural meaning is more relevant
to exemplification and expression than to
denotation, restatement across media involves
two kinds of meanings: commonly exemplified
qualities and commonly expressed concepts
and feelings. Qualities of the original work
can be exemplified in varying degrees in the
restatement. What is exemplified and then
restated could be literally shared properties.
For example, a composition in painting may
be restated as a composition in architecture –
a straightforward connection from the visual
to the visual.5 Another case might involve a
certain structure embedded in a non-visual art,
which may be registered visually and spatially
in architecture. Musical rhythm (measure
and punctuation of time) may be restated in
architecture as the occurrence of spatial changes
or suggested movement changes (measure
and punctuation of space). However, this is
a less straightforward
connection
because
it is a transition from
non-visual to visual art.
“Architecture is essentially
an abstract art, like
modern abstract painting;
it does not contrive
meaning by literally
referencing other objects.”
An even more complex
case occurs when what
is literally exemplified
is more qualitatively
complex. For example,
one may read Juan
Gris’ painting Still Life
as an exemplification of frontally-aligned
objects in a shallow, abstract space and then
embed his or her own architecture with this
quality. This quality is not achieved through
measurement, nor can the composition of the
67
painting be directly borrowed. The architect
must find a unique language rooted in the
medium of architecture to exemplify the same
quality. Further, one may abstract the qualities in
Gris’ Still Life, as Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky
did, by formulating the concept of phenomenal
transparency. This is the moment when
exemplification moves towards expression: it
involves abstraction of thought.
Commonly expressed concepts and feelings,
the two kinds of symbolic meaning expressed
in art, are also important to consider in
restatements across media. The distinction
between concepts and feelings is that concepts
are logical and feelings are not. A concept
is an abstract form of varied appearances of
multiple situations while a feeling relates to
one situation. Further, an “actual feeling”
differs from the understanding of feeling.
While an “actual feeling” is subjective, the
understanding of feeling is objective. Expressing
concepts and feelings involves a mechanism
in which specific exemplification leads to
specific expression. For example, a study of
the relationship between Sergei Eisenstein’s
cinematic form and its expression may lead
to a design of a space that embeds both form
and expression. Since restatement is a mediaspecific construction of meaning, we must
understand not only the specific medium that
involves meaning but also the mechanism that
relates exemplification to expression in order
to allow the new work to express concepts or
feelings (Image 01).
Image 1_Experiments from the author’s studio. Top: Space emerged from a painting. Center: Space emerged from music. Bottom: Space
translated from the narrative of the film: Slide Doors.
How is Meaning Constructed
in Architectural Space?
The second assumption – that design translation
is a way of understanding both the original
work and the new work – leads to the issue of
spatial construction. The medium of physical
space differentiates architecture from music,
painting, dance, and film. Meaning is medium
specific.6 Just as intriguing is how expressions
of concepts and feelings are established and
built into spatial properties; 7 architects employ
spatial properties to express thoughts beyond
these properties.
If we assume concepts and feelings can be
expressed through spatial properties, we are in
fact assuming an objectivity of the relationship
between expression and spatial properties.
What can be objectified in the relationship
between thoughts and physical properties?
They seem to be linked with the idea of
structure. According to Susanne K. Langer, “the
bridge that connects all the various meanings
of form–from geometric form to the form of
ritual or etiquette–is the notion of structure.”8
Structure is a set of logical relationships, like
concepts, which may share a common form
with physical construction. That is, concepts
and construction may exemplify the same
logic. Thus, the form of concepts and the form
of construction can be related under the notion
of Isomorphosis. For example, Peter Eisenman’s
“Romeo and Juliet” Project for the Venice
Biennale in 1985 expresses the concept of
love in three structural relationships: division,
union, and the dialectical relationship between
the two lovers.
Although these relationships are drawn from
the original Romeo and Juliet narrative, they are
not embedded in the form of the play. They are
thoughts that are highlighted in the narrative
and embed strong physical connotations
of structure. However, the concept of love
differs from the feeling of love. That one
understands division, union, and dialectical
relationships as logical relationships of love
does not necessarily mean that one is in love.
The concepts of love represent distanced
understanding. The feelings of love, on the
other hand, are internalized states.9
69
How are Intentions Embedded
in Architectural Space?
Image 02_Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum Berlin.
Image 03_John Hejduk’s Diamond Museum in relation to Piet
Mondrian’s Diamond Series.
How are Spatial Meanings Received?
The third assumption – that the autonomous
system of architectural space makes sense
within its own medium – raises the question
”How does one perceive meaning embedded
in architecture?” There are two ways in which
meaning in space is conveyed to the viewer:
an externalized view and an internalized view.
The former focuses on the logical relationships
among the spatial elements. The viewer’s body
is outside the space. The latter focuses on the
experiential aspects of space. The viewer’s
body is inside the space.
From an externalized view, the structure
of space is foregrounded. Spatial structure
corresponds to relevant concepts, as well as
abstract and intellectual principles embedded
in the construction of a work. For example,
the concept of “wall corner condition” and
certain rules derived from this concept may be
perceived from an analysis of the main building
of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona
Pavilion.10 By recognizing specific structures
visually, the viewer understands the logical
form of the space.
However, what is examined through the above
example are two-dimensional representations
of space. What is required for the spatial
structures to be understood experientially?
Architectural space is occupied by bodies
so its meaning is contingent upon what
is inferred and experienced through such
occupancy. Spatial challenges to the body
are registered on various levels such as
elementary conditions and spatial sequences.
Elementary conditions are immediate spatial
challenges to the body. They involve senses
such as sight, hearing, touch, and even smell
and taste. Direct stimulation of the five senses
arouses feelings in viewers. For example,
the Holocaust Hall of the Jewish Museum
in Berlin, designed by Daniel Libeskind, is
a room of average size. Its extensive height,
tapered-in walls, and a single light source
from the top traps the viewer’s body, evoking a
feeling of claustrophobia. Furthermore, when
immediate spatial challenges to the body are
strung in a sequence, a structure of elementary
conditions is unavoidably formed. Once an
understanding of such structure is established,
viewers’ feelings of claustrophobia may
intensify. For viewers who pass through the
Holocaust Hall and find themselves at the
garden, the claustrophobic experience has
been exhausted. Facing the garden with its
tilted columns, the viewer may be still adjusting
to a new horizon of views. Understanding
the past and the present, she is relieved by a
feeling of survival (Image 02). The embodied
experience within the space eventually leads
to a realization of a spatial metaphor.
An architect has to formulate and embed an
intention in her designs in order to make working
across media purposeful. This task becomes the
actual design task that synthesizes the previous
three questions: how does architecture “mean”?
How is meaning constructed in architectural
space? How are spatial meanings received?
For example, flatness was the intention of
John Hejduk’s Diamond series. Hejduk always
stressed the appearance of drawing or space,
particularly in the construction of flatness.
He made interesting observations on how a
45-degree rotation of a diamond shape in an
oblique projection drawing can result in the flat
appearance of the diamond shape. Based on
this observation, he eliminated the depiction
of the third dimension in the drawings of the
Diamond series; these drawings became a
clear statement of the intention of flatness for
his architecture.
The diamond configuration, as imagined by
Hejduk, also involves a perspectival effect
whereby the two sides of a diamond appear to
flatten out onto the hypotenuse when the viewer
approaches the building from the exterior, or
looks at the building from the inside. Flatness
as a visual effect gives way to flatness as an
essential concept. However, such flatness is
not visually overt in the real-scale diamond
space. That is because one cannot perceive
the space of the whole diamond shape from
any angle within the space. The space is only
activated for an intimate communication with
the one who moves through the different
spaces in the building. The viewer’s body
mediates the space. When moving along the
periphery of the diamond space, the viewer
recognizes the diamond shape of the space
through its rotated fin elements (Image 03).
With this diamond shape in mind, the viewer
realizes the angle sustained between herself
71
and the two side corners is gradually flattened
out when moving from one corner of the
diamond across to its opposite. Hejduk’s
Diamond series demonstrates a comprehensive
process of translating a visual appearance to
an architectural piece. Architectural space is
occupied by bodies.
Conclusion
Examining the implications of design
translation, we proceeded through fundamental
discussions on architectural space in terms
of form and meaning. The construction of
meaning in architectural space is not through
arbitrary associations. Instead, it is rooted in
a system composed of the medium of space
and the embodiment of space. Therefore,
the partial restating of artworks, insights, or
feelings across symbolic systems can function
as a trigger for an experimental interrogation of
the systems themselves. The tension between
works in different symbolic systems makes
an architect manipulate her own symbolic
system critically. Being conscious about such
interrogation ensures design thinking through
various processes.
Keynotes
References
1 The position of this paper aligns with Jorge
Silvettis’ “criticism from within” elaborated in
his article “The Beauty of Shadows.”
1. Eisenman, Peter. Moving Arrows, Eros and
Other Errors : An Architecture of Absence.
London: Architectural Association, 1986.
2 Nelson Goodman, “How Buildings Mean,”
in Reconceptions in Philosophy and Other Arts
and Sciences (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing
Company, 1988), 31-48. Goodman points out
how the formalists’ argument that pure art must
be free of all symbolism “rests upon a cramped
conception of reference.”
2. Goodman, Nelson. Languages of Art.
Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing
Company, Inc., 1976.
3 Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art
(Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing
Company, Inc., 1976), 369.
4 Goodman, Languages of Art, 372. To
minimize the confusion, as Goodman
does, “exemplification” is short for “literal
exemplification,” and we reserve “expression”
for metaphorical cases.
Weiling He is an associate professor at
the College of Architecture in Texas A&M
University, Texas, United States. She
received her PhD from Georgia Institute of
Technology in 2005. Her research field is
design theory with particular focuses on
translations across different forms of art,
metaphors of making, diagramming and
visual thinking.
4. Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson.
Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind
and Its Challenge to Western Thought. New
York: Basic Books, 1999.
5. Langer, Susanne K. An Introduction to
Symbolic Logic. 3rd Edition. New York: Dover
Publications, 1953.
5 This kind of exercise seems common in
foundation year design studios. The premise
can be transforming a two dimensional
painting into a three dimentional space.
6. Langer, Susanne K. Philosophy in a New
Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite,
and Art. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press. 1979.
6 This is not to say that works in two different
mediums cannot share the same meaning.
Instead, how meanings are constructed in two
different mediums is specific to the nature of
the mediums.
7. Silvettis, Jorge. “The Beauty of Shadows.“
Architecture Theory since 1968. The MIT Press,
2000.
7 Other aspects of architecture besides space
that can be constructed are color, texture, and
icon; however, this paper will deal with its very
essence, space.
Weiling He, PhD
3. Goodman, Nelson. “How Buildings Mean.”
Reconceptions in Philosophy and Other Arts
and Sciences. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing
Company, 1988, 31-48.
8 Susanne K. Langer, An Introduction to
Symbolic Logic, 3rd ed. (New York: Dover
Publications, 1953), 24.
9 Eisenman, Peter. Moving Arrows, Eros and
Other Errors : An Architecture of Absence.
London: Architectural Association, 1986.
10 This study by the author focuses on how
walls meet in plan as well as its implication in
spatial connectivity.
Image Credits
Title Image_Graphic design by Joe Lawton,
Background Graphic by Bruce R. Baxter
Image 01_Top: Art by Jennifer Albrecht (Painted
by Pablo Picasso), Center: Art by David Seifert,
(Music composed by Morgan Jenks) Bottom:
Art by Bruce R. Baxter (Film Directed by Peter
Howitt)
Image 02_Photograph by Weiling He, Work by
Daniel Libeskind
Image 03_Art by Weiling He
73
by tom diehl
75
I
n a world where even the most speculative and exploratory approaches to design
appear possible, both in the studio and the profession, the design of buildings of
cultural significance require intentions grounded in organizational and representational
strategies that prioritize “internal”, language-based attributes of design. It is important
to know and understand the role of decisions governed by internal intentions in
relation to “external” aspects of design, those impacted by the site, program, and
other performance related design issues. These areas, while vital, do not always
impact visual, language-based concerns. Language-based intentions assist in maturing
the design process and incorporating strategies for further conceptual development,
creating designs resolved with additional depth.
It can be argued that the missing component in the design process is a methodology that
establishes precise positions and rules of operation. This is of particular importance in
relation to the creation of an architectural language. Intentions influenced by external
issues do not carry the singularity of language authority as those grounded in purely
internal architectural issues. Intentions conceived regarding these internal issues add
validity and relevance to the creation of a comprehensible and accessible architectural
language. Identifying the framework within which these intentions operate is the focus
of this article. The goal is to describe strategies that add both clarity and depth to the
thought process. This is to aid the development of more coherent architectural form,
space, and experiential quality.
Recent Historical Context
The word “order” does not have the gravitas
that it once possessed. In the recent past, when
one spoke of an architectural order, one was
not just describing the mechanical guidelines
that organized columns, windows and other
components, but an underlying essence, spirit or
understandability. Issues of design intentionality
were guided and informed by an underlying
assumption that good design incorporated
strategies that had an intended outcome that
“made sense” even if the logic was trying to
transform established conventions.
Challenges to the conventional acceptance
of modern architecture started with the
redefinition of design standards beginning with
the literal passing of the Mies, Wright and Le
Corbusier heroic triad and the figural death
of modernism ushered in by Robert Venturi
and his book, Complexity and Contradiction in
Architecture, published in 1966. A search for
inventive strategies forwarding and/or revising
the dominant modernist architectural language(s)
ensued. A logical rationale undergirding an
expanded theoretical discourse directing
architectural design
became the focus
of an expanded
discussion, and was
manifested in two
primary domains.
M. Stern, Jaquelin Robertson, Charles Moore,
Romaldo Giurgola and Alan Greenburg, wrote
an article published in the Architectural
Forum entitled Five on Five. Their position
challenged the modernism of the Whites as
less concerned with foundational issues such as
appropriately responding to the users program,
site orientation, etc. While numerous critiques
involved performance related issues, a larger
commentary focused on the formal languages
of the Whites and many of the accepted
directions of modern architecture in general. For
the Grays, a more
accessible and
comprehensible
architectural
language was
desired.
Theoretical debate
was disseminated
in journals such
as Oppositions
that
sought to
provide a forum
for new directions
in architectural
thinking. From
within the practice
of architecture,
two divergent
viewpoints emerged.
Those favoring an
advanced modern
architectural
language became known as the “Whites” and
were often associated with a book published in
1972, The New York Five. This book featured
the work of Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves,
Charles Gwathmey, John Hedjuk, and Richard
Meier. The projects and tenets of that position
were critiqued by another group of architects
who aligned their thinking with principles
outlined in Venturi’s book, and became known
as the “Grays”. These architects, Robert A.
These views frame
the
paradox
underlying the
diverse modern
architectural
directions and the
languages created
to define them. On
one hand there is
a desire for greater
accessibility and
an increased
understanding
of
modern
a r c h i t e c t u r e ’s
r e l e va n c e a n d
appropriateness to society. This approach
suggests multiple continuities, traditions and
viewpoints be understood and maintained for a
shared, relevant and comprehensible language
to occur and gain a level of acceptance. On
the other, there is the desire for a language
of transformation, equating architecture to a
constantly evolving modern world. This position
suggests architectural intentions grounded on
continual change and invention.
“... It is the conceptual
linking of languagebased intentions with
decisions required for the
external-based aspects of
design that provide the
continuities necessary
for the creation of an
understandable and
accessible architectural
language.“
77
Unless an unanticipated event or force creates
a shared design belief, one utilized by many
architects, this diversity of approaches will
remain. Given this freedom to develop individual
directions, utilizing
language- based
design strategies is
required to establish
a more inclusive
design process.
Understanding the
role intentions, and
the strategies required
for their expression,
play as agents for
the creation of a
unified and coherent
architectural language
is vital. Whether derived from highly ordered
determinate qualities, or ones exploring themes
deriving from more indeterminate preferences,
it is the conceptual linking of language-based
intentions with decisions required for the
external-based aspects of design that provide
the continuities necessary for the creation of
an understandable and accessible architectural
language.
based intentions. Language-based intentions
relate the external factors to the “larger,” purely
architectural, concerns of the design. These
larger aesthetic concerns must exert priority
over the local
concerns to which
the externalities
typically relate.
External functional
and performance
related ideas
must be vetted
through intentions
that
control
architectural
themes if coherence
is to emerge. The
authority of the
language has to be understood and maintained
from initial investigations and diagrams to the
design of final detail considerations.
“The concept of coherence
in and of itself may be
debated as current design
themes often rely on
positions that question its
conventional definition.“
Internal vs External
Spatial, formal, material and phenomenological
qualities deriving from intentions and strategies
that organize them, yet express transcendent or
“poetic” design themes, all relate to what are
described as internal issues. These qualities
require the development of a language that has
an authority over the external factors influencing
the design of a building. External factors do
not typically possess comprehensive language
attributes with the visual qualities necessary for
binding together the entirety of the aesthetic
related decision-making process. Incorporating
these externalities so that they do not become
a set of independent unrelated form-giving
attributes requires the use of clear, language-
The concept of coherence in and of itself may
be debated as current design themes often rely
on positions that question its conventional
definition. Today, a variety of organizational
types representing directions exploring various
arrangements of elements and spaces less directly
ordered are frequently employed. Examples
from the work of OMA, UNStudio or Coop
Himmelb(l)au may ultimately be understood
as practices defining this field. Yet even these
strategies promote an intention, its expression,
and ultimately a desire or belief that that idea
can be comprehended or “make sense”. This
returns the discussion to the development of
design strategies and the rationality underlying
them.
The intentions of the heroic modernists, conceived
to usher in new, transformative approaches to
architectural design, nonetheless maintained a
rational underpinning in relationship to the search
for a “truth” underlying their viewpoints. These
transformations were expressed not through new
understandings of the program or relationships
to the site, but through the creation of new
architectural languages. The transforming visions
expressed in structures such as the Robie House,
the Villa Savoye and the Barcelona Pavilion
established clearly understood relationships
between intentions and language, providing
clues to new directions in architecture. While
these structures did not avoid issues relating to
site and program, ideas driven by those criteria
were not seen as critical to the success of their
transformative goals. The nature of the operative
strategies underlying the internal language-based
themes can be understood as falling into two
domains; one is an organizational domain, the
other representational.
Organizational
While the Robie House, the Villa Savoye and the
Barcelona Pavilion use established determinate
modern architectural organizational strategies
s u ch a s a x i a l ,
l i n e a r, n u c l e a r
and field forms of
organization for
the arrangement
of space and
form, today these
organizational
types are joined
by additional
“indeterminate”
ones such as
splaying, wrapping,
warping, perforating, etc. The common aspect
of these approaches is that all require an
understanding of the unifying strategies that
give coherence to the decision making process,
even if the intention is to create an anti-cohering
effect. For successful design, clear organizational
strategies have to be understood. This does
not relate only to how organizational themes
can impact the arrangement and definition of
components constituting the plan, as is often
the case, but also how the same strategies can
affect section, elevation, and material jointing
conceptualizations.
Representational
As with the structures of early Modern
Architecture, many designs start with a global
design interest that is often representational in
nature. The use of this term is not to be confused
with metaphorical associations, but rather with
the development of a design decision-making
process. Today, one example of design intentions
that are representational in nature is found in the
work of Morphosis. The evolving character of
the design interests and how they are conceived
is seen most clearly in the representational
shift occurring between the Crawford House,
continuing through the Diamond Ranch High
School, and “completed” with the building for
Cooper Union. The evolving differences in these
structures are due, in large measure, to a shift
in representational
interests from
themes dependent
on
strategies
that represent
“conventional”
ordering systems
reflecting a desire to
represent “articulated
wholes,” to ones that
are less orderly, ones
based upon a growing
interest, on the part of
Thom Mayne in representational themes that
explore the more indeterminate, less predictable
and mysterious side of experience.
“... Internal language-based
themes can be understood
as falling into two domains;
one is an organizational
domain, the other
representational.“
The plan of the Crawford House, while not
based upon a grid, exhibits an interest in
modern architectural organizational principles
of bays, rhythms, regulating lines, lines of
extension, etc. Diamond Ranch presents
a less regulated plan and section given, in
79
Process
Through research, investigation or input from
other members of a design team, the designer
becomes aware of the significance of the site,
as well as the programmatic and code based
issues impacting the direction of the project. This
information, largely external to the issues affecting
the formation of an architectural language, plays
a significant role in the project’s development.
However, what have been referred to as internal
language-based strategies are necessary for the
project’s full conceptual development. It is the
employment of these intentions and strategies,
which transcend the required external design
criteria, that mature the design effort through
adding the necessary conceptual depth to embed
the project with a framework to create a cohering
language.
Image 01_Diamond Ranch
part, that the representational interests derive
from both a reinterpretation and re-creation
of the surrounding topography and the larger
global interests of Thom Mayne outlined earlier.
However, in comparing the “indeterminacy” of
Diamond Ranch to that of Cooper Union, one
can see a number of regulating systems still in
place. Different organizational systems, multiple
repeated modules, lines of extension and other
established ordering tools clearly demark and
link, through a system of clear formal and spatial
relationships, the definition of precise “worlds”
where specific language-based tools are used
to identify one zone as distinct yet related to
another.
In the new facility for Cooper Union, themes
deriving from interests originating from chance
and indeterminacy impact the design of the
primary interior public spaces and facades.
Conscious strategies are employed to create
formal and spatial conditions promoting an
intended effect of imbalance, an overall disquietness and a condition where intrigue is created
through the utilization of non-straightforward
configurations of space, form and structure.
Previous language-based rules such as regulating
lines, bays and repetitions are replaced by ones
inserting twisting and curving lines, angled
and rounded elements and other architectural
components placed with a strategy allowing
multiple indeterminate relationships and
orientations.
At a point early in the design process, it is
necessary that the designer become acutely
aware that ultimately, every decision must be
understood in
its relationship
to languagebased concepts.
Understanding
the domain in
which one is
working, either
organizational or
representational,
is significant as that understanding assists in
the targeting of precise conceptual utilization.
In familiarizing oneself with the existence of
these domains, the designer is able to utilize
concepts appropriate to each and ensure that all
intentions have been understood in, and vetted
by, each domain. Typically, an over-reliance on
one domain produces design shortfalls.
lack an understanding of (or development
of) the narrative or representational nature of
design. Concepts corresponding to what the
building eventually represents, even if mere
functionalism or technological expression, are
left unattended and the spaces and architectural
components defining the building are typically
under-conceptualized in section and elevation.
They often become generic responses created
by the upward extrusion of the architectural
elements developed in the organization of the
plan.
Conversely, processes that overly rely on
representational themes do not often develop the
rigor required to create a design that resonates
on a level other than superficial metaphorical
imagery. Representational concerns are not
understood as having organizational biases or
requirements and appear unresolved in relation
to a fully integrated design strategy. The requisite
internal organizational strategies are unknown,
or not understood as attributes necessary for
the enrichment of
representational
concepts. The
outcome
of
this lack of
developmental
and organizational
rigor is expressed
in a “thinness”
that is related to
a conceptual image, one less concerned with
readings and experiences that derive from
material essences, construction based aesthetics
and foundational clarity.
“Internal language-based
strategies are necessary for
the project’s full conceptual
development.”
Approaches that excessively utilize organizational
processes frequently have clearly organized
plans expressing strong ordering qualities, yet
Consequently, it can be anticipated that both
organizational and representational conceptual
fields are required for the development of a
mature project. Intentions that incorporate
both domains ensure that the project is not
under-conceptualized. This under-utilization
of language-based intentions defines outcomes
81
common for many buildings in that the external
based influences derive from necessary
information that is both practical and defensible,
while language-based intentions often originate
from broader, more abstract positions. However,
as has been stated, the external based influences
do not possess information having the authority
of language because they are external to purely
language-based concepts. For language-based
intentions to mature, architects must define their
process precisely and consciously, with a clear
use of intentions emanating from both domains.
Without incorporating both, one domain will
be utilized as a conceptual armature without
understanding the validation the other provides.
The role of language-based intentions in the
development and diversification of design
narratives has been expanding from the beginning
of the initial heroic period of modern architecture.
This phenomenon will continue as modern
architecture, intertwined with the continued
ascendency of democratic forms of expression
and the growth of individualism in society, will
constantly be shaped by these cultural forces
and by architects seeking to define or re-define
them. It is the impact of these forces, and the
issues underlying them, that will remain the
primary stimulant for continued diversification
of design directions. The range of information
impacting the design of buildings deriving from
the external influences of site, program and other
performance related aspects will remain fairly
consistent. The ability of this external-based
information to create wholeness in relation to the
larger narrative of the design will remain minimal.
Narratives will primarily be created and defined
through the understanding and development of
language-based intentions. It is the narrative
derived from these language-based intentions,
with mature organizational and representation
strategies employed, that remains the primary
responsibility of the architect to create in order
to instill an experiential, moving spirit into a
building.
Image 02_Rachofsky House / Gallery - Interior view at second floor
Precedents
Given the diversity of design directions today, it
is improper to suggest that one domain should
carry greater value than another. The precedents
documenting this discussion are defined by
a range of architectural intentions that are
expressed in diverse architectural languages.
It is to be expected that some language-based
concepts originate more consciously in one
domain or other. While a fuller analysis of
the use of the various intentions is beyond the
scope of this paper, a brief synopsis of intentions
discernable in each project accompanies the
documentation.
The four projects selected incorporate both
representational and organizational intentions
into their design. There is a temptation to suggest
that the Rachofsky House / Gallery and the
Nasher Sculpture Center exhibit stronger use of
organizational strategies and Diamond Ranch
High School and BMW Central place greater
emphasis on the representational aspects of their
design intentions. This is not necessarily true, but
the assessment does raise a relevant point. Both
the Rachofsky House / Gallery and the Nasher
Sculpture Center do, in their representational
modes, accept a role of conferring and uplifting
common values that have resided in much of
architecture, past and present. The architecture of
Diamond Ranch High School and BMW Central
explores the potential of design intentions to
challenge expectations or transform them. The
importance of this aspect is that buildings will
always represent something, whether expressing
values and timeless principles or expressing the
realities of basic commercial necessities and
second-rate construction expressed through
cheap materials and inferior assembly.
In each project description the representational
intentions are discussed first, followed by an
outline of the organizational concepts and
strategies. A hallmark of these projects is that
often a certain blurring occurs regarding to
83
which domain the various design intentions and
attributes most clearly belong. One is sometimes
forced to enquire which domain is more useful,
more important to the experiential quality of
the building. The blurring is valuable; it is an
indicator of a mature use of strategies emanating
from each domain.
Rachofsky House / Gallery
The representational aspects of much of Richard
Meier’s work derive from global themes
adapted from the early work of Le Corbusier
and are couched in general statements such
as “Openness and clarity are qualities that
represent American architecture at it’s best…. 1
and ”one must be concerned with constructing
a physical fabric that is equally durable, rational
and architecturally vibrant”. 2 While these
statements and the adopted Corbusian language
represent positions that are very broad, they
do set themes that establish representational
attributes. These attributes qualify - whether
through the re-establishment of the analytical
origins underpinning Le Corbusier’s early work
or through themes implied in the use of
words like “clarity” and “rational” - the use
of white, spatial types promoting transparent
linkages, precision in relation to regulation and
construction, and other highly ordered aspects
of Meier’s work. A desire for “…an emphasis
on the character of the whole” 3 acknowledges
representational aspirations marking an
architecture defined by an expression of
knowable relationships and intangible essences.
These themes extend into the organizational
realm as the “knowable” is defined through
a rigorous employment of regulating systems
establishing a common framework for making
a unified set of decisions. These decisions, in
turn, exhibit a coherent strategy for integrating
architectural space and form. Spatial qualities
are defined through multiple components bound
together through intricate regulating systems
made understandable through analysis of the
ordering systems used to relate the diverse
components and, more importantly, made
visible as one moves through and experiences
Image 04_Rachofsky House / Gallery
Image 05_Diagrams indicating formal / spatial
relationships and organizational methodologies
85
the integrated and open spatial quality of the
building. A quality of wholeness is achieved
by employing organizational strategies where
underlying ordering systems such as structural
and modular repetitions, alignments extending
and relating one space to an other, and the
continual reference back to a system where one
component’s relationship to another can always
be indentified, provide controlling frameworks
to which elements are placed upon, align with
and extend from. Looser, more offset spatial
qualities are allowed, yet remain integrated and
true to the system regulating points, lines, planes
and masses through very clear relationships.
Diamond Ranch
Diamond Ranch High School marks a point in the
transition of Thom Mayne and Morphosis’ focus
on representational aspects expressed in their
architecture. In Diamond Ranch formal and
spatial coherence remain a focus, but one that
is refined. Evolving global intentions underlie
modifications in the understanding and use
of different representational themes, which in
turn impact the decision making process. “I’ve
been interested in the space between chance
and intention. I am fascinated with that as a
part of life. I probably put a preference on
chance.” 4 While the representational intentions
are different, the understanding of the need
for cohering strategies remains. “Without the
intentions creating a guiding framework through
which all decisions must pass would be like a
minister directing a ballet; you probably can’t
do it. It is the same in design; it is the constant
rebuilding or reuse of the initial intentions. 5
In Diamond Ranch these intentions are twofold.
The reinterpretation of topography and the growing
87
interest in relationships more casually ordered
define primary intentions. The transition to a
different representational position necessitated
the creation of different organizational strategies
for the building’s spaces and forms.
“The whole project becomes a resolution of
two systems: the organizational strategy of the
program and the conceptual land strategy. We
intentionally shifted them in order to make
evident the tension that exists between the
operation of the school and the fabricated
landscape. Everything in this project has to do
with resolving this opposition. While the forms
take on a certain sculptural quality as a result
of these operations, they really have nothing
to do with sculpture. The process is absolutely
rigorous and rule driven”. 6
In the plans the organizational rules are evident,
but different, as splays, rotated orthogonal
systems, repetitions of ovoid shapes and linear
components all correspond to define a new
topography. In section and elevation similar
topographic manifestations occur as splays,
rotations and diagonal slopes of roof planes and
material claddings contribute similar qualities.
not only from the influences of automobile
production but also interests in maximizing
continuities. “In terms of my own work, I
would say that after twenty years, an interest in
fragmentation gave way to an obsession with
fluidity” 8 The representational quality of the
spaces was seen as “articulated complexity”.
“In the building, we attempt to deploy architectural
language and formal discipline to organize a
series of connections and to orient various flows…
The architecture is characterized by key decisions
made early in the project: We employed only
homogeneous, continuous materials such as
concrete and welded steel: we strove to eliminate
as many columns as possible; and we minimized
the number of corners.” 9
This process, one utilizing surface continuities,
represents a simplified, more fluid form of
articulation, permitting a clearer expression of
linear flowing space.
BMW Central
An “infill” building on a site measuring 295’ x
950’ and surrounded on three sides by existing
manufacturing facilities, The BMW Central
building acts as the nerve center for the entire
factory complex. Given that the essential
attribute of the production aspect of the building
revolved around movement, whether of product,
automobiles or people, Zaha Hadid Architects
envisioned a complex linearity deriving from
automobile production lines. “This project is
about making space through lines. In each
case, the space derives from a linear process,
an exploration into the way a system of twodimensional lines can devise a three-dimensional
space.” 7 These spatial characteristics derived
Image 08_BMW Central_site plan: - Parking and vehicular circulation configured to relate to building representational and organizational themes.
Image 09_BMW Central Perspective: Linear flows
and cascades organized and expressed in stairs,
handrails, structure, lighting and sprinkler systems.
89
The “obsession with fluidity” and linearity
becomes an organizational strategy in which
created parallel bands of weaving forms, spaces
and materials impact decisions ranging from the
configuration of the arrival sequence, layout of
the parking lot, organization of the structural
systems - whether concrete or steel - and ceiling /
lighting systems. In section, fluidity and linearity
are organized as a series of “cascades” impacting
and shaping the load-bearing concrete walls
to remove a structural reading from them. In
addition, the organizing attribute of cascading
sets multiple floor levels and provides an
articulation strategy for the stairs connecting
them.
Curiously, the exterior elevations fall short of
the continuities of the linear flows defining the
decision making process on the interior. Many
elevations represent an example of organizational
strategies not fulfilling representational intentions.
Punched orthogonal windows and doors stand
out as distractions in contrast to the seamless
integration of lighting, HVAC ductwork, sprinkler
systems and other components placed by the
organizational rules of parallel and bifurcating
linearity. Cascading is replaced by pinching
and abrupt terminations as exterior cladding
systems intersect in decidedly non-organized
expressions of cascading or flowing.
timeless presence complemented by a glazed
roof represented as a thin rendition of technology
articulately detailed to admit only northern light.
The timeless attributes of archeology are further
reinforced through the concealment of “external”
realities. Gutters and downspouts are located
within the walls, which, in turn are given further
solidarity through precise mitering of the end
corners achieving a look of solid stone blocks.
Representational themes are united with
organizational strategies by incorporating the use
of neutral ordering systems. To promote the idea
of transparency the stone walls are organized
in a repetitive array spaced 34 feet on center,
perpendicular to a glass entry façade paralleling
the street. The regular bays and singular height of
the walls, in addition to the conscious repetition
of different modules - whether the stone blocks,
Image 11_Site Plan
Nasher Sculpture Center
Landscape, or more precisely, garden-space,
archeology, weight, lightness, transparency and
quietness all become representational attributes
of the Nasher Sculpture Center. 10 Designed to
accommodate an extensive sculpture collection
and not compete with it or a context dominated by
large scale buildings and freeway infrastructure,
Renzo Piano Building Workshop chose to create
a building that was both archeological and
technological in its creation and definition of
space. Stone clad walls 2 feet wide by 144
feet long mark the building and the site with a
closely spaced curved roof beams or delicately
repeating light screening panels on the roof - all
support a quietness created by the utilization of
simple and clear systems of order.
Image 10_Nasher Sculpture Center_Exterior Photograph Elevation showing archaeological and technological attributes
the outdoor sculpture space at the rear of the
building, to the front. Additionally, an alee of
trees, aligning with and extending the interior
entry space into the sculpture court, maintains
similar organizing rules.
Modularity, linearity and lines of extension are
also used as site organizing strategies. A tight
tree module for planting perimeter trees along
the sides of the site, along with segmented linear
perimeter walls, provide privacy and definition
to the exterior sculpture space. Tree plantings
at the front of the building align with the stone
walls, extending the garden quality that defines
91
References
Image Credits
Richard Meier, Introduction to the Atlas of American
Architecture, 2009, http: www.richardmeier.com
Title Image_Graphic design by Janice C Ninan
1
Richard Meier, Richard Meier Architect 3
(Rizzoli International Publications Inc., 1999)
Acknowledgements.
2
3
4
Thom Mane, Personal Interview, July 2009.
5
Ibid.
Jeffrey Kipnis and Todd Gannon, eds. Source Books
in Architecture 1, Morphosis Diamond Ranch High
School (Montecelli Press, 2001) 25.
Todd Gannon, ed, Source Books in Architecture
7, Zaha Hadid BMW Central Building (Princeton
Architectural Press, New York, 2006) 14.
7
9
Ibid, 19.
Image 04_Photograph courtesy of Richard Meier
Image 05_Photograph courtesy of Richard Meier
6
Ibid, 17.
Image 02_Photograph by Duke Fleshman
Image 03_Photograph courtesy of Morphosis
Ibid.
8
Image 01_Photograph courtesy of Morphosis
Image 06_Photograph by Tom Diehl
Image 07_Photograph by Tom Diehl
Image 08_Sketch by Tom Diehl
Image 09_Sketch by Tom Diehl
Image 11_Photograph courtesy of Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano, Renzo Piano Building Workshop,
Complete Workshop Volume 5 (Phaidon Press Ltd.,
London, New York, 2008) 152.
10
Tom Diehl
Image 12_Interior Photograph_no “external” distractions of HVAC components, gutters, downspouts
Tom Diehl is an Assistant Professor at the Gerald D. Hines College of
Architecture at the University of Houston. In addition to his teaching
responsibilities he is a co-principle investigator in the development of
POWERPACK, a prototype solar parking shade structure to be constructed
on the University of Houston campus. He also maintains an architectural
practice in Houston.
93
DATA DRIVEN
TRANSMUTATION
by Ming Tang; Aijla Aksamija, PhD;
Jonathon Anderson; Michael Hodge
an Investigation of Performance Based
Design and Adaptive Systems
95
erformance-based design is a process where information and data-analysis augment
prior design experience with the goal of improving the design decision-making process.
For example, building performance analyses are an integral part of the design process for
energy efficient and high-performance buildings. Information and data analysis aid the
investigation of design options and simultaneously assess the environmental and energy
impacts of design decisions (Augenbroe et al. 2004; Aksamija 2009; Wetter 2011).
P
Energy and thermal simulations, daylight studies,
and solar exposure analysis are additional
examples of performance-based design (Image
01), where the objective is to develop an energy
efficient building. Thus, buildings are designed
to improve overall building performance,
reduce energy consumption required for the
building’s operation, and improve the comfort
of the occupants. Quantifiable predictions and
simulations can help in identifying strategies and
methods to improve building energy efficiency
and the overall building performance.
Building Performance-Based
Design Method:
A design method that integrates energy,
environmental, and other types of analysis at
early design stages is the basis of performancebased design. The differences between this
approach and those of traditional design
methods are:
A performance-based design process can
be integrated with various generative and
parametric design methods. Many architects
have employed methods such as decision trees
and rule based systems as a means of solving
design problems. Some of the emerging aspects
in contemporary architecture include the
utilization of genetic algorithms in the design
process, as well as the use of simulations and
performance-driven design approaches to
generate complex building forms that respond
to environmental criteria.
Comparatively speaking, genetic evolution
and transmutation are successful in biology,
Traditional Method:
Image 01_Solar position and daylight simulations studies for interior light-well design; Right: Shadow studies and daylight levels within interior spaces surrounding
the light-well. By Ajla Aksamija.
Is deficient because: (1) the method may include
simplified assumptions based on rules-of-thumb
that may be inaccurate; and (2) the method
may not provide performance measurement/
evaluation of a certain design solution.
Has the ability to estimate the impact of
a design solution since: (1) performance
measures are investigated with actual
quantifiable data and not rules-of-thumb; (2)
the method uses detailed building models to
simulate, analyze and predict behavior of a
system; (3) the method produces an evaluation
of multiple design alternatives (Aksamija and
Mallasi, 2010).
97
generated through the use of performancebased design processes. The design process
integrated computational tools, simulations,
and fabrication techniques while responding
to the criteria of performance-based design.
This platform provided a method to investigate
innovative design methods, observe the
design development phases, implement
novel fabrication techniques, and document
the experimental results of introducing
performance
based
design
principles.
Students explored computational methods for
generating designs through in-depth studies
of digital model generation and analysis,
and design prototyping. Students applied a
parametric design sequence associated with
procedural modeling, performance-based
decision making, and digital fabrication.
Through the utilization of several digital
design tools, including Galapagos engine
in Grasshopper, MEL scripting in Maya, and
Revit API, students explored parametric design
approaches. The entire process relied on
quantifiable performance data, coming from
analysis applications, to influence and impact
form, performance, and geometry.
Image 02_Generative modeling with L-system. Left: house archetype. Right: courtyard archetype.
but the use of these processes in the architecture
field is limited by a major constraint: the lack
of a “shared body plan.” As described by
Manuel De Landa, a shared body plan is “a
kind of ‘abstract vertebrate’ which, if folded
and curled in particular sequences during
embryogenesis, yields an elephant, twisted
and stretched in another sequence yields a
giraffe, and in yet other sequences of intensive
operations yields snakes, eagles, sharks and
humans.”
In other words, by changing the proportions
of the components in the shared body plan,
various types of creatures begin to be generated.
Manuel adds “…if evolved architectural
structures are to enjoy the same degree of
combinatorial productivity as biological
ones they must also begin with an adequate
diagram, an abstract building corresponding
to the abstract vertebrate”. (De Landa, 2001).
Architectural objects may lack the common
ancestors found in natural life forms that
pass their shared body to offspring however,
emerging digital tools and parametric design
approaches offer flexibility and computational
methods for the adaptation of architectural
forms, geometries, and elements (Image_02).
Coupled with performance-based design, this
approach allows architects to develop forms,
geometries and building forms using data
that responds to environmental constraints.
(Image_03).
Performance-Based Design
and Prototyping
In 2011, the authors launched a collaborative
research and teaching project between the
University of Cincinnati, Perkins + Will’s Tech
Lab1 and nD group2, and the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro. This collaboration was
based on a close working relationship between
academic institutions and the design practice.
The primary focus was on the design and
fabrication of adaptive building components
Image 03_The geometric morphing and transmutation of paneling
system is interactively driven in real time by the solar access simulation. Tools: Rhino, Grasshopper, Geco, Ecotect, Maya.
99
Digital Prototyping
In these explorations, performance data is
represented as sets of numbers illustrated and
processed through computational methods.
The relationship of performance data and
building form were examined in real time.
Digital models were the primary medium for
representation and performance evaluation.
Once a digital model was generated, the
performance data was obtained through
Vassari, Ecotect simulations and/or predefined rules in Galapagos. It is at this point
that the performance-based design process
acts as a system where the performance data
drives parametric controls. As a result, the
revised model and simulations are processed
as a feedback loop until the intended level of
performance is reached (Image_04). Instead of
separating the design and analysis processes,
the performance analysis became the driver for
Image 04_Genetic Evolution computed with Galapagos. The massing diagrams are generated by a single Grasshopper script in conjunction with
the Galapagos tool to produce multiple iterations. Each programmatic mass is defined by a set volume and distance or relationship to another
program. The rules of predefined spatial adjacency create a score system for the evolution engine to compute.
a set of iterations and form finding. For instance,
students used a Revit Plug-in, developed at
Perkins+Will, to generate a building skin based
on the solar radiation patterns on each façade.
This proprietary plug-in allowed for use of
analytical data, coming from applications
such as Ecotect, to parametrically control BIM
families in Revit (Aksamija et al., 2010). The
data (e.g., incident solar radiation striking
a surface) was imported into Revit through
Excel spreadsheets. This data can be used
to parametrically position and size shading
elements, apertures, and other facade elements
by manipulating geometry and properties of
the Revit families. For example, solar radiation
levels can drive the depth of a shading device
or the density of the wire mesh across the
building skin (Image_05).
Image 05_Solar radiation data became the driver to make adaptive curtain wall system.
101
Image 06_Digital + physical prototyping, adaptive wall panel.
Image 07_A computer generated CNC milled high density foam mold serves as the casting medium for the flat-cast liquid urethane component. A tooling path is embedded in the mold to allow a subtle surface texture to capture and reflect light qualities.
Physical Prototyping
The authors realized the necessity for expanding
the performance-driven form seeking process
into the physical realm through fabrication
and physical prototyping. This integrated
approach investigated how a large quantity of
iterations can be filtered and selected based
on the feasibility of fabrication. The essential
values of architectural prototyping, such as
the property of the material or size constraints
of fabrication machines, often evolve into
a process that we are coining “artificial
selection”. The selection process yields a
design that can be explored by a number of
fabrication techniques, such as laser cutting,
3D printing and CNC milling.
This process, the synthesis of performancebased design and physical prototyping, is
viewed as an investigation of varying scales, the
creation of hierarchy within prototypes, and a
platform for understanding the performance
of parts in the context of an integrated
whole. As a simplified representation of the
actual design, the tangible artifacts facilitate
constructability reviews. The process also
served as a way to investigate manufacturing
process and material properties such as
tolerance, strength, and elasticity (Image_06).
In some cases, the design solutions had to
be modified during the fabrication phase to
adapt to material properties (Image_07).
103
Conclusion
References
The use of performance analysis to control an
adaptive system is just one of many approaches
for informing design decisions. Designers must
understand the formation process that nature
permits in order to define a generative system.
As a simplified approximation of a complex
system, both digital and physical prototyping
methods were used to study the relationships
of the parts to the whole. Digital prototyping
provides a platform for testing and reworking
the design until it reaches desired performance
levels. Physical prototyping allows the analysis
of material properties and behaviors under
stress, vibration, and other forces. In our case,
both processes combined were viewed as the
performance driven design process. We feel
that this process should be the foundation for
decision-making in architecture, both in the
academy and practice. We are continuing
explorations around how these design
approaches can be used to develop innovative
and performance-driven design solutions.
1. Aksamija, A., 2009. “Integration in
Architectural
Design:
Methods
and
Implementations”, Design Principles and
Practices: An International Journal, Vol. 3, No.
6, pp. 151-160.
Image Credits
Title Image_Graphic design by Joe Lawton,
original background image by Ming Tang
Image 01_By Ajla Aksamija
Image 02_By Ming Tang
Image 03_By Ming Tang
Image 04_By George Faber,
University of Cincinnati.
Image 05_By student Francis D’Andrea,
University of Cincinnati
Image 06_By student Drew Newman
Image 07_By students Brian Ballok and Trevor
Jordan, University of Cincinnati
2. Aksamija, A. and Mallasi, Z., 2010. “Building
Performance Predictions: How Simulations
Can Improve Design Decisions”, Perkins+Will
Research Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 7-32.
3. Aksamija, A., Guttman, M., Rangarajan,
H. and Meador, T., 2010. “Parametric Control
of BIM Elements for Sustainable Design in
Revit: Linking Design and Analytical Software
Applications
through
Customization”,
Perkins+Will Research Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1,
pp. 32-45.
4. Augenbroe, P., de Wilde, H., Moon, J. and A.
Malkawi. 2004. “An Interoperability Workbench
for Design Analysis Integration”, Energy and
Buildings, Vol. 36, No. 8, pp. 737-48.
5. De Landa, M., 2001. “Deleuze and the Use
of the Genetic Algorithm in Architecture”,
Design for a Digital World, New York, NY:
Wiley, pp. 117-120.
6. Frazer, J, 1995. An Evolutionary Architecture.
London, UK:: Architectural Association
Publications.
7. Wetter, M., 2011. “A View on Future
Building System Modeling and Simulation”, In
Building Performance Simulation for Design
and Operation, Hensen, J. and Lamberts, R.,
(eds.), Oxford, UK: Francis&Taylor,.
1. Tech Lab is an on-going program of Perkins+Will’s Excellence in
Execution Initiative to advance the performance of project designs,
to improve design decision-making and documentation, and to
inspire greater achievement in Perkins+WIll projects. The research
agenda focuses on advanced and emerging building technologies,
materials, high-performance buildings and computational design.
Ming Tang, LEED AP
Ming Tang is the Assistant Professor at School of Architecture and Interior Design,
University of Cincinnati. His multi-disciplinary research includes parametric
architecture & urban design, fabrication, BIM, performance driven design,
computation, virtual reality, algorithm & math & programming, GIS, simulation,
interactive design and visual effects.
Aijla Aksamija, PhD, LEED AP BD+C, CDT
Dr. Ajla Aksamija leads Perkins+Will’s Tech Lab, whose research objectives
are to advance the performance of project designs, to improve design decision
making and documentation and to promote commitments to sustainability,
innovation, and value. Dr. Aksamija has worked on developing building analysis
applications, implementation of novel materials in architectural design, and
development of computational models. She has contributed to several books,
has published numerous research articles, and has presented at international and
national conferences.
Jonathon Anderson, MFA, ACADIA, IDEC, ACSA
Jonathon Anderson is currently an assistant professor of Interior Architecture at
the University of North Carolina Greensboro. His work explores how industrial
manufacturing and CNC technology influence the design process and the act
of making architecture. He is a founding partner of the international design firm
sur:FACE studio with offices in Greensboro, NC and Hangzhou, China. In 2011,
Jonathon co-founded MADcubic – a research and experimental design firm.
Mike Hodge
Michael Hodge is a designer in the Atlanta office and a Design Technology
Leader. He is involved in a number of firm wide initiatives where interdisciplinary
approaches to design computation are being investigated and defined. He is
the coordinator/moderator of a firm wide focus group titled nD. The group
is an interdisciplinary think-tank, currently organized to bridge research and
development as applicable to process-centric design approaches. The nD group
is a collective of individuals in the firm researching, promoting knowledge
management, and developing techniques and methods adapting computation to
the design culture of the firm.
2. The nD group is a collective of individuals in Perkins+Will
researching, promoting, knowledge management, and developing
techniques and methods adapting computation to the design culture
of Perkins+Will.
105
GENERATIONS
by Meg Jackson & Gregory Marinic
Teaching and Learning a
Generative Design Process
T
he education of a young architect or designer focuses on various fundamental
understandings including composition, order, assembly, and craft. These aspects
of ‘making’ are typically configured into a series of relatively discrete and controlled
exercises. Beyond intuitive notions of aesthetic, architecture students must also be taught
analytical skills and how to develop conceptual strategies. Furthermore, they must learn
how to critique their own work and engage with work authored by others. The ability to
think critically is the means by which designers observe, learn, investigate, and innovate.
In the academic design studio, critical thinking must complement more normative
techniques. As a pedagogical approach, it simultaneously fosters an awareness of and
respect for the continuum of design disciplines that shape our built environment.
The education of a young architect or designer
focuses on various fundamental understandings
including composition, order, assembly, and
craft. These aspects of ‘making’ are typically
configured into a series of relatively discrete
and controlled exercises. Beyond intuitive
notions of aesthetic, architecture students must
also be taught analytical skills and how to
develop conceptual strategies. Furthermore,
they must learn how to critique their own work
and engage with work authored by others. The
ability to think critically is the means by which
designers observe, learn, investigate, and
innovate. In the academic design studio, critical
thinking must complement more normative
techniques. As a pedagogical approach, it
simultaneously fosters an awareness of and
respect for the continuum of design disciplines
that shape our built environment.
If conventional methodologies tend to
isolate learning into relatively prescribed
outcomes, generative approaches promote
greater variance and complexity. Teaching
through an alternative process need not
contradict
traditional
methods;
rather,
emergent awareness adds an additional tool
for the beginning designer. The emergent
approach, as opposed to a task-based one,
privileges the process instead of the product.
By focusing on relationships of information,
generative thinking increases solutions
variance—resulting in outcomes that are
neither preconceived nor prescribed. Unlike
other generative methods, the approach does
not serve exclusively as a form generator, but
rather, as a catalyst for conceptual inspiration
and understanding of the inherent complexities
that design must acknowledge. This essay
examines, interrogates, and reveals teaching
methods that increase the beginning design
student’s ability to think critically using rigorous
generative processes. The work illustrated
here emphasizes research, communication,
evaluation, and problem-solving.
Origins
Throughout his scholarly musings, Aristotle
pondered the significance of generation to design
variance.1 The case for generative architecture
is linked to the notion of generations and the
inherent complexity and derivation embedded
within all natural life forms. The architectural
potential for harnessing the endlessness of
conceptual innovation, modeled on natural
processes, is compelling. Thus, the idea of
deriving architectural outcomes generatively,
whereby the results with the most potential
are harvested and advanced, makes sense.
So, generative pedagogies offer the design
disciplines an opportunity to embed natural
inspiration, natural growth, and natural process
Image 1,2_A multi-disciplinary approach to Iterative, generative processes exposes beginning design students to methods of making,
complex organizations, diverse materiality, alternative ordering systems, and construction tectonics.
not only to the geometries of designed objects
and environments, but also to the process of
design itself. While generative awareness has
grown recently with the emergence of digital
tools, generative learning has been proposed
and debated within academia since 1974.2
Pioneered by Merlin Wittrock, it rejects the
notion that learning is centered upon the
passive reception of information, but rather,
embraces learning as a didactic activity.
Grounded in the constructivist pedagogical
perspective, generative methods offer an
alternative platform for architectural design
process. With its obvious need to maintain a
solid knowledge base and shared techniques
that must be learned, claimed, and advanced,
generative teaching and learning allows for
new growth and innovation. By allowing
teachers to advance research, learners actively
organize and transform information according
to their own expectations and desires. In this
sense, the framework provides structure, while
satisfying an enviable level of intellectual
independence for both instructor and student.
Process vs. Product
In beginning design studios, the architecture
educator occupies a significant role in the
early development of a young architect’s
design methodology.
Accordingly, the
responsibility of the educator is not simply to
teach building design as a product, but rather
to instill the more integrative philosophy of
design as a complex process. Likewise, the
notion of design independence rather than
apprenticeship extends to the issue of style as
well. Many architecture educators define their
role of design critic more narrowly as ‘stylist’—
as an advocate of a particular, and thus very
personal, aesthetic. Narrowly focusing design
sensibilities results in an underdeveloped
appreciation for the procedural complexities
of design. Arguably, in our increasingly
contested, diverse, and interconnected
world, the simplicity of a rigid modernism,
filtered by Western bias, has become
increasingly irrelevant as a shared mantra.
The simultaneous rise of interdisciplinary
design pedagogies, parametric tools, and
digital fabrication techniques challenges the
109
Thinking before Building
Before students can be instructed in the act
of building, they must be introduced to the
fundamental importance of determining
conceptual strategies. The use of multidisciplinary metaphors in the design process
leads to new understandings of context that
challenge normative methods.
However,
these tactics instill authenticity, originality, and
innovation.
Multi-disciplinary
generative
formfinding exercises, unlike self-referential or
compositional ones, allow for purpose rather
than promoting a purely aesthetic outcome.
The challenge to the discipline is that
architecture should perform rather than form;
structurally, environmentally, economically,
programmatically, and contextually.
In
discussing recent trends in parametric
design, Michael Meredith of MOS describes
the discipline as “simultaneously searching
for a unified organizational clarity and
visual complexity, but…that architecture is
inevitably a fragment…” He goes on to predict
that architecture, even if generated through
parametric methods, “requires a differentiation
for it to become Architectural, and it is the sociopolitical that allows it to escape the emptiness
of objects.”3 As a response against pure
formalism, introducing form-finding through
art, biology, music, dance, film, fashion,
anatomy, or culture produces contextual
architecture with woven relationships.
Thus, multi-disciplinary generative exercises
privilege the performance of architecture –
both function and context – while embedding
meaning, value, and relevance.
The responsibility of immersing students in a
learning environment that promotes comfort
with un-prescribed, un-tested, and thus,
unpredictable outcomes rests solely upon
the architectural educator. This challenges
the notion that students need to know how to
‘build’ before they can be trusted to steward
their own speculative ‘ideas’.
Image 3_Studio desks showcase the diversity of means and methods that students fluidly navigate during a rigorous generative design
process.
singularity and rigidness of mid-twentieth
century modernism. Alternatively, teaching
practices that promote an unbiased aesthetic
allow for difference, growth, and complexity
rather than conformance, compliance, and
derivation.
So, if modernism represents
the ultimate theoretical liberalization of
architectural thinking, generative teaching
assumes its position from within that tradition.
Critics may argue that order and rigor is lost
in a more open approach, however such
considerations are more effectively and more
intensively engaged through generative design
processes. Complex processes of translation
are rigorously engaged through thinking
and making. Generative processes require
constant production and diverse media.
Students simultaneously draw, dissect, build,
draft, construct, craft, diagram, assemble, cut,
color, fabricate, compute, disassemble, sketch,
and repeat. These acts are fluidly, freely and
independently advanced, moving between
mediums in two- and three-dimensions.
Composition, technique, and craft can be more
effectively taught in the adaptive environment
of generative research. Likewise, thinking
skills that prepare students for computational
methodologies are more suited to the freedoms
embedded within emergent means.
Image 4_An indexical matrix of regional biological studies and cultural textile investigations -- from image to diagram to physical model –
defines one student’s rigorous initial discovery process.
111
We propose that both processes are, in fact,
one. Preference of technical skills, and lack of
exposure to ‘concept’ at the very beginning of
a design education typically results in students
that can build, but not design, in later years.
Thinking through Diagramming
Architects generally share an appreciation for
functional or performative notions of aesthetic,
and therefore, identify clarity as a central issue
in design and information visualization. Beyond
the obvious assumption that orthogonal systems
underpin clarity, architecture students may
gain an early understanding of the importance
of order through parallel and complementary
investigations that employ diagramming. For
example, systems and patterns taken from
explorations of ordering in biology, anatomy,
migration or even textiles, can be clarified by
diagrammatic techniques.
Diagramming
allows
the
beginning
design student to effectively organize and
communicate information, space, form, and
performance. Diagrams are effective for
interpreting quantitative and performance
information and, thus, are helpful in graphically
conveying data. Like a score to a musician
or chorographer, a diagram acts as a tool for
an architect. In Tufte’s The Visual Display of
Quantitative Information, he concludes with
the gentle warning:
“What is to be sought in design for the
display of information is the clear portrayal
of complexity. Not the complication of the
simple; rather the task of the designer is to give
visual access to the subtle and the difficult –
that is, the revelation of the complex.”4
WhileTufte refers to visualizing two-dimensional
graphics, his summary is perhaps the ultimate
goal of good architecture, since architecture can
be understood as the culmination of vision.5
Teaching diagramming is uniquely suited to the
process of making architecture. In addition,
the ability of diagrams to dissect, layer, and
process complexity makes them a successful
generative tool. Thus, relative to generative
theory, we consider data characterization the
systematic use of graphic means of expression,
while visual representation acts as a parallel
concern to conventional techniques, modelbuilding, and craft. In fact, the Oxford English
Dictionary defines ‘architectonics’ as both
the science of architecture and the systematic
arrangement of knowledge. Several examples
of process-based foundation projects offer
students richly abstract, conceptual, and
diagrammatic experiences. These include
body-event timelines, film studies, biological
(cellular) membranes, and controlled modulebased assemblies.
Image 5_Immigration patterns to a particular region led to textile investigations and an iterative process of producing two-dimensional and
three-dimensional diagrams.
Neat & Tidy vs. Complex & Messy
Generative process is a flexible, self-motivated,
and self-directed exploration based on continual
problem discovery and problem-solving.
Depth of critical thinking, intellectual curiosity,
and understanding are the basis of evaluation.
To that end, exercises must be designed not
to encourage a finite conclusion, but, rather,
to establish a limitless territory for exploration
through iterative process, evolution of thought,
and individual expression. Responding to
a constructivist critique, architecture design
studios should return to the spirit of Bauhaus
laboratories of discovery where the merits
of experimentation are valued. Uncertainty
and discomfort are deliberately built into
generative process. While this assumes risk,
controlled confusion allows for collaborative
academic development. The balance between
abstract concepts and traditional principles
in a process-based studio is tenuous; there
is a need to create a studio environment that
offers a safe place to experiment. Self-directed
experimentation is encouraged to achieve a
Image 6_Two-dimensional body-event diagrams define anthropomorphic investigations and map the program for a transformable cabinet
system.
113
level of understanding beyond the familiar.
Furthermore, each exercise begins and ends
with the potentiality for discourse beyond
both merely the original problem and the finite
solution. Students learn that process is an ongoing investigation not a singular act. Through
generative project variance, students learn
from one another and develop a true studio
culture.
Reflecting: The Promise of Generative
Design
Image 7,8_ Students fabricate surfaces inspired by modular assembly systems of found components.
The design disciplines have always been
guided by an imperative need for innovation.
As the teaching of design focuses on
increasingly conceptual, interdisciplinary,
and computational strategies, generative
teaching provides a hybrid platform that
remains committed to conventional craft
and technique. However, as a constructivist
learning theory, generative design and
generative learning put specific emphasis
on processes, independent paths to process,
design development, emerging tools, and tool
innovation. These notions link generative
design teaching to bottom-up approaches
which, at least in the early phase of learning,
privilege the development of thinking over
technical precision. Yet, critical skills that are
acquired by beginning design students through
generative means must also be engaged with
conventional design problems. Generative
design, generative teaching, and generative
learning offer an interconnected system of
potentialities. Unlike top-down approaches,
this triad of actions shifts our understanding
of ‘teaching’ and ‘learning’ whereby learners
teach and teachers learn.
115
References
1. Mandelbrot, Benoit B. (1983): The Fractal
Geometry of Nature
2. Wittrock, Merlin C. (1974): “Learning as a
Generative Process”, Journal of Educational
Psychology, 67, 446-489
3. Introductory essay by Michael Meredith
(Barcelona: Actar 2008): Tomoko Sakamoto
and Albert Ferre, eds., From Control to Design:
Parametric/Algorithmic Architecture, 3.
4. Tufte, Edward. (Cheshire, Graphics Press
2001): The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information, 191.
5. Friedman, Jonathan. (Cambridge: Kendall/
Hunt 1999): Creation in Space: A Course in the
Fundamentals of Architecture, Vol. 1, p. 1
Image Credits
Title Page, Image 1,2_Photographs taken by
authors. Work by various students.
Image 3_Photograph taken by authors.
Image 4_Process matrix by Javier Marcano.
Image 5_Process matrix by Javier Marcano.
Image 6_Body-event diagrams by Felipe Cosio.
Image 7,8_Photographs taken by authors.Work
by various students.
Meg Jackson
Meg Jackson is an adjunct associate professor in the Gerald D. Hines College
of Architecture at the University of Houston. Her previous teaching experience
includes design studios at Maryland Institute College of Art and Texas A&M University. She received her M.Arch from the Columbia University GSAPP and her
BA in History of Art and Architecture from Middlebury College where she was
awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Her portfolio includes work at Atopia
in New York City, RTKL Associates and award-winning work at Baltimore based
Ziger Snead Architects. Meg Jackson is also the director of megapixelstudios, as
well as a designer at the Houston based architecture firm, Context3. Meg currently serves as Associate Director of the AIA Forward Journal.
Gregory Marinic
Gregory Marinic, Assoc. AIA, is Director of Interior Architecture and Assistant
Professor of Architecture in the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the
University of Houston. His previously taught at Pratt Institute, City University of
New York, and Universidad de Monterrey. Gregory is director and co-founder
of d3, a New York-based art-architecture-design stewardship organization. He is
principal of Archipelago, a New York- and Houston-based architectural practice
engaged in design, research, teaching, and experimentation. The practice
has received awards from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Socio-Design
Foundation, AIA-IJRAA, and ACSA. Prior to independent practice, Gregory
worked in the New York and London offices of Rafael Viñoly Architects and
his portfolio includes AIA and RIBA award-winning work undertaken at Rafael
Viñoly, Yoshihara McKee, and ABS Architects. He holds a Master of Architecture
degree from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science degree in
Geography/Urban Planning from Ohio University. Gregory currently serves
as editor of AIA Forward Journal, International Journal of the Arts in Society,
Design Principles and Practices, IDEC Exchange, and d3:dialog. He is currently
pursuing a PhD in Architecture at Texas A&M University where his research
focuses on utopianism and diasporas.
Image 9_Photograph taken by authors.
117
TAKING BACK TERRITORY
by Alexis Gregory
Adapting Architectural Education and Practice
to Reclaim the Role of Master Builder
T
The word “architect” comes from the Greek arkhi, meaning “chief”, and tekton,
meaning “builder” or “craftsman.”
Advances in technology with the creation
of Building Information Modeling (BIM),
Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), and digital
fabrication have created transformational
opportunities in the profession and education
of architecture. Architects must harness these
new opportunities in order to regain the
past influence and knowledge of the master
builder. We slowly gave away our control to
builders and developers as they focused more
exclusively on design. This model is no longer
valid. We must reclaim the role of master
builder through a proactive integration of
construction and technology in our practices.
Architectural education is the opportunity to
begin this transition, but the profession cannot
rely on the academe alone. Practitioners and
educators must work together to train current
and future architects to utilize BIM, IPD, and
digital fabrication in the classroom and the
office. This article presents a challenge to all
architects, both practitioners and educators,
to reclaim our traditional role as the leader of
an architectural process that includes greater
control over building construction.
Education
The master builder can be brought back into the
world of architecture through the convergence
of the digital tools currently being utilized by
the profession, but in support of analog making
that teaches the current millennial students the
process of being a master builder and architect
for the future. Architectural educators are
beginning to revisit this notion of the master
builder through the use of digital tools such
as BIM and parametric design. Construction
is beginning to be integrated into classes and
design studios at various universities such as
Auburn University through projects like the
Rural Studio. IPD has begun to be utilized in
architecture programs to help students learn
building construction teamwork. However,
how are these important tools and skills
integrated into the education of architects?
Image 1_“ReBarn” – A multi-use community project that uses human scale to formulate the design of this platform was created with reclaimed barn wood and formed with digital fabrication technology such as Rhinoceros and a 3-axis CNC (computer numerical controlled)
router.
121
Construction Integration
In an effort to better educate architects on
the construction of the buildings they design,
various architecture programs have attempted
to integrate technical lecture courses on
construction, structural design, and systems
integration into design studios. Many of
these attempts are nascent explorations with
results that remain to be seen. But one of the
largest hurdles is resistance from faculty and
administration who are uncomfortable with
change and the integration of new teaching
techniques. The age old debate of what should
be taught in school versus what should be
taught during internship still rages on when
the integration of professional learning and
skills are brought up as part of curricular
development. Yet, integration is the answer to
the issues we face in educating and preparing
our students for professional careers. Why?
The answer is with our students.
Students ask their faculty to teach them
not only about constructability but how
construction and design inform one another.
This is compounded with the issues we see
arising from teaching Millennials. Not only
do we need to address education for the
next 100 years due to changes in building
construction, design and technology, but also
for the new generations that will be leading the
transformation in the building arts. We cannot
only teach our students the way that we were
taught. Traditional architectural education
Image 2_“Smart Scrap” – Utilizing leftover materials this project harnessed digital technologies to create a system to improve information
flow from designer to fabricator.
must remain, but can be utilized in a new
way to integrate the emerging tools of the
profession. Harnessing the traits and interests
of our students in community, teamwork and
civic engagement can do this. The present
generation of design students have already
created non-profits that feed the homeless
and are acting less like the lone “starchitect”
of years past and more like the teams that are
vital to successful project delivery. As Mark
L. Taylor asserts in his article “Generation
NeXt Comes to College: 2006 Updates and
Emerging Issues” the focus can no longer be on
the faculty and university, the focus must be on
the education of the student. These transitions
from the teaching model to the learning model
will not only address the issues of the future of
architecture education through integration, but
also will help architecture programs remain
current and relevant to student needs.
As noted above there are two basic program
structures that are attempting to address the
issue of integration in architecture programs.
One is composed of various programs that
are working to integrate technical lecture
courses on construction, structural design,
and systems integration into design studio
courses. A program that has recently begun
integration of technology courses with design
studio is the University of Houston College
of Architecture. The second type of program
structure consists of locating architecture and
construction programs in the same college
or school, e.g., the College of Architecture &
Environmental Design at California Polytechnic
State University.” This idea aims to promote
integration between disciplines in a less formal
wall through contains programs in architectural
engineering, architecture, city and regional
planning, construction management, and
landscape architecture. The combination of
the two, the integration of technical courses as
well as collaboration with other professional
building arts programs within the same college,
is an emerging option. The university in which
Image 3_“Constructing Information” – Site conditions and
light inspired this acrylic project installed on a curtain wall in
the architecture building that employed a “feedback loop” of
information to help students understand the connection of the
design and construction of the project.
I work is also pursing this path.
The integrated studio could also begin to
address some of the issues raised by Boyer and
Mitgang in relation to a unified profession. The
issue of the contentious relationship between
architecture educators and architecture
professionals was raised by the authors and
seen as a very important and urgent issue.
The integrated studio could be used to better
prepare students to enter the profession, not just
because the profession is demanding that from
educators, but also because Millennial students
are less prepared to enter the workplace than
previous generations. According to Taylor “A
significant disconnect exists between the skills
students need to be successful at work and
what they think they need to be successful…”
and “today’s graduates are unable to think longterm, handle details, or delay gratification.”
The integrated studio can help prepare student
to enter the profession, not just as drafters but
also as critical thinkers.
123
Image 4 _“Ceramic 3D Printing” – The Harvard GSD Design Robtics Group uses ceramic 3D printing and flexible robotic molds to
create a shading lamella prototype.
Digitization and Manufacturing
Technologies
Image 5_“Cellophane House” – Created as a commission from
the Museum of Modern Art (www.momahomedelivery.org) this
project was designed to explore the temporality of the construction
process and buildings.
Digitization in both education and practice is as
important as integration in the effort to reclaim
the architect’s role as master builder. Not only
must the architect master an understanding
of construction and the role architects play
in the building arts, but must also master the
digital tools that are leading the way in the
future development of architecture. Programs
such as Ball State University’s Department of
Architecture in the College of Architecture and
Planning, and more specifically its Institute
for Digital Fabrication (i.M.A.D.E), is one
of the leading programs in the use of digital
technologies to push design thinking and
improve the education of future architects. Led
by Professor Kevin Klinger, the projects range
from interactive shading devices (Title Image)
to the reuse of scrap materials for design and
construction (Image 2). These projects also
encourage the integration of construction and
design as the students use digital fabrication
technologies to address the needs of a client,
like Muncie Parks Department (Image 1), and
work with partners including A. Zahner Metals
and Indiana Limestone Fabricators. These real
world projects teach students valuable skills
in addition to design. The students learn the
connection of new and evolving technologies
and how relevant the technologies are to the
profession by the creation of projects through
design, digital development and construction
(Image 3).
125
Image 7_“Make It Right, Special NO 9 House” – Influenced by the idea of automobile
construction, as in the Loblolly House, this project allows customizable options through
flexible assemblies integrated into the design.
Image 6_“Loblolly House” – This project pushes the idea of modular design to confront the issues of cost overruns and quality that most
prefabricated projects have experienced. Using an off-the-shelf “kit-of-parts” the house also draws on the site influences of the tall, thin
trees and reflects its namesake.
Another leader in the exploration of digital
technologies is the Harvard University Graduate
School of Design (GSD). One faculty member at
the forefront of digitization and manufacturing
technologies is Martin Bechthold, Professor of
Architectural Technology and Director of the
GSD Fabrication Labs, as well as head of the
Design Robotics Group. The GSD Fabrication
Lab is used by all students and faculty at the
GSD and is an integral part of the studies in the
program. They utilize “cutting edge robotic
workcells, rapid prototyping machines and
several CNC milling machines and material
testing machines.”
The Design Robotics
Group is exploring the use of robotics and how
they can be used to help execute the digitally
created designs of the future. Their projects
include research on the manufacturing and
processing of ceramics for construction (Image
4), tooling options for customized fabrication,
and the use of design automation with
parametric design tools.
Additionally, architecture educators who
are researching the role and impact of
digitization on architecture education and the
profession are also exploring those ideas in
their professional practices. Stephen Kieran
and James Timberlake, partners in the awardwinning firm KieranTimberlake, are also design
faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. Both
have taught at a variety of undergraduate and
graduate architecture programs; and their
interest in manufacturing technologies is
evident in their work and even in their writings.
The book Refabricating Architecture: How
Manufacturing Methodologies Are Poised to
Transform Building Construction is the authors’
manifesto on the future of architecture. Various
processes are explored in their relevance to
architecture and even how architecture should
harness these ideas on manufacturing for the
future of the profession (Images 5,6,7).
Image 8_“SmartWrap™” – Pushing the design
and construction of building envelopes, this
project explores ways to make walls less
“bulky” by integrating necessary components
of building envelopes into one layer.
Practice
While KieranTimberlake looks at manufacturing
technologies and processes (Image 8), SHoP
Architects look at “evolving computer-aided
design technologies not only to produce
innovative architectural forms but to streamline
the design and construction process and create
new efficiencies and cost-savings.” (Image 9)
This immersion into emerging technologies
and construction technology is what is so
important for the profession to explore at a
greater level (Image 10), and in more depth
through both our educational programs and
our practices (Image 11). We must first admit
that these things are vital to the evolution
of our field and then work together to move
ourselves forward. This requires practitioners
127
and educators to work together, which is
especially important as educators struggle to
make professionals realize that architecture
education is about teaching students to think,
not just draft. Inviting local professionals to
lecture in design studios and to participate as
review critics, and encouraging design studios
to visit architecture firms and review ongoing
projects, will not only integrate the studios
across disciplines, but also integrate education
with the profession.
A significant benefit of this approach is
the connection to practical application,
a necessity to teaching Millennials. Our
Image 9 – “Hangil Book House” – A wood planked pathway links
this project’s spaces with views of the landscape and movement
through the building.
students place more significance on the
materials presented and then focus more on
learning the information once educators can
show the reasons why students must learn the
information. Visits to architecture firms, and
from architecture professionals, can help instill
this important message. Many programs are
also using real clients and projects in design
studio to both challenge and engage students
and building arts professionals in a successful
manner. These methods will allow practitioners
and educators to work together to take back
our territory through architectural process and
become the master builder that architects were
truly meant to be.
Image 10– “Camera Obscura” – Created as a vehicle for research and development this project was the first that merged more than one
process and trade together using digital fabrication.
129
Image 11– “Dunescape” – The winner of a competition for emerging
architects conducted by the Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1
Contemporary Art Center, this project was designed to allow a variety of
uses during the summer.
131
References
Roth, Leland. Understanding Architecture: Its
Elements, History, And Meaning. Boulder, Co.:
Westview Press, 2006:
i
Howe, Neil, William Strauss, R.J. Matson.
Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation.
New York: Vintage Books, 2000: 214.
ii
Ibid, 215.
iii
Taylor, Mark L. Generation NeXt Comes to
College: 2006 Updates and Emerging Issues.
A Collection of Papers on Self-Study and
Institutional Improvement, 2006. Volume 2,
Chapter 2: 2:51.
iv
Kacmar, Donna. Changing Curriculum.
Beginning of/In the End: National Conference
on the Beginning Design Student, Eds. Bahe,
Lindsey, Peter Hind and Brian Kelly. Lincoln,
Nebraska, 2011: 68-72.
v
Image Credits
Taylor, 2:49.
viiI
“I.M.A.D.E INFO.” I.M.A.D.E. Institute for
Digital Fabrication, 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.i-m-a-d-e.org/>.
Title Image_“Transformer” photo by Andre
Haffenden
Image 6_“Loblolly House” photo © Peter
Aaron / Esto
Image 1_“ReBarn” photo by Adam Buente
Image 7_“Make It Right, Special NO 9 House”
photo © Will Crocker
ix
“Graduate School of Design Faculty - Martin
Bechthold.” Harvard University Graduate
School of Design. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. <http://
internal.gsd.harvard.edu/people/faculty/
bechthold/index.html>.
Image 2_“Smart Scrap” image by i.M.A.D.E
x
“GSD - Cadcam Home.” Graduate School
of Design - Harvard University - Homepage.
Web. 30 Oct. 2011. <http://www.gsd.harvard.
edu/inside/cadcam//>.
xi
Image 3_“Constructing Information” photo by
Michael Gibson
Image 8_“SmartWrap™” photo © Barry Halkin
Image 9_“Hangil Book House” photo © SHoP
Architects
Image 4_“Ceramic 3D Printing” by Design
Robotics Group, Harvard GSD and Justin
Knight
Image 10_ “Camera Obscura” photo © SHoP
Architects
Image 5_“Cellophane House” photo © Peter
Aaron / Esto
Image 11_ “Dunescape” photo © SHoP
Architects
Kieran, Stephen, and James Timberlake.
Refabricating Architecture. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2003. Print.
xii
“What We Think.” SHoP Architects : SHoP
ARCHITECTS. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. <http://
www.shoparc.com/>.
xiii
CAED > Prospective Students. California
Polytechnic State University. 03 February
2011. Web. 18 September 2011. <http://www.
caed.calpoly.edu/prospective/index.html>.
vi
Boyer, Ernest L. and Lee D. Mitgang. Building
Community: A New Future for Architecture
Education and Practice. New Jersey: Carnegie,
1996: 109.
vii
Boyer and Mitgang, 11.
xiv
Taylor, 2:52.
xv
Alexis Gregory, AIA
Alexis Gregory is a registered architect and assistant professor in the School of
Architecture at Mississippi State University. She earned a Master of Science in
Architecture with a concentration in Women’s Studies and History from Clemson University, as well as a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech. Her professional experience includes professional licensure in the Commonwealth of
Virginia and ten years working in various architecture firms in Washington, D.C.
During this time, she worked on a variety of architectural project types such as
residential, corporate interiors, shopping centers, grocery stores, speculative
office buildings, environmental/sustainable design, and non-profit architecture.
Her teaching and research interests include construction technology and making, design/build, low-cost/low-income housing and architecture, community
design, and diversity in architecture.
133
[TEMPORAL]
adaptations
by Gregory Marinic
Embedding Information, Fluidity,
and Time within Design Process
might the processes of ‘making’ architecture
and ‘teaching’ architecture be adapted to this
21st century paradigm shift?
Image 1
lvin Toffler’s Future Shock postulated that times of rapid change threaten the human
mind with over-saturation and implosion. Published in 1970, his book became a
notable force in the study of futurism and helped to define the trajectory of the discipline
for several decades. Over forty years after its publication, Future Shock remains relevant
as societies worldwide confront limitless abundance and consumption of information.
A
Toffler’s theories influenced a radical shift in
futurist studies that placed greater significance
on the perception of time. More recently,
and consistent with his claims, notions of
information abundance and temporality have
become increasingly central within a transdisciplinary discourse that supports alternative
responses to shocks to global economic and
environmental systems. This essay examines
time-place-migration research embedded within
the conceptual architectural design process. It
illustrates examples of process-based design
research that engage Alvin Toffler’s assessment
of the quickening pace of life and the effortless
access to information. It reveals design practices
that embrace natural, cultural, and social
rhythms that leverage their impact on the design
of architecture and urban space within a context
of shifting paradigms.
Shifting Processes
In recent years, and parallel to a rise of global
socio-economic instability, an emphasis on the
adaptive within architecture and urban design
has emerged. This awareness contradicts
a predominant world view that celebrates
the importance of growth regardless of its
appropriateness. If economic stability and
growth are inherently connected, how might
designed environments engage with these
contradictory forces in light of conservation?
Limitless economic expansion is deeply
negative to the environment, yet lucrative for
architects and designers. Acknowledging the
limits of such excess, can our architectural
expectations be adapted to more modest ,
yet potentially more profound, approaches
to design process and problem-solving? How
Rhythm Science
Equally relevant in an era of technological
change, Paul Miller’s book Rhythm Science
(2004) casts its lens on the changing architecture
of everyday life. Miller, an American disc
jockey and media artist, reconsiders the creative
process of ‘life-editing’ through ‘sampling’ and
‘scratching’ music. Architects can work in a
similar way by sampling old ‘songs’ into new
ones while scratching a physical ‘record’ into
new interpretations. By engaging and editing
various media, designers occupy the leading
role, but the primary influence is the impact of
information. Miller asserts that rhythm scientists
act as archivists of sound, text, and image. In
this sense, designers of the built environment
can learn from media artists. Today, media
artists have developed complex ways to map
everyday human flows and environmental
movements using information technologies
such as emotion mapping and biomapping.
These mappings offer clear ways to reconsider
temporal forces. How can architecture and
urban design be informed through similar
processes of information collection and
mapping? How might these activities offer
alternative conceptual processes leading to
alternative architectural futures?
This essay presents case studies that demonstrate tensions between the temporal and the
permanent. It examines contested relationships that arise from organizational attempts to
create order, as well as the unplanned chaos
that is often a by-product of that process. Focusing on research-based methodologies that
employ information and mapping, the projects presented here investigate organizational
strategies based on interpretation, mitigation,
adaptation, and change. This process embeds
culturally- and ecologically-adapted ‘information-based’ architectures into dense social
environments and contested urban fabrics.
The following three speculative proposals were
conceived for sites in Baltimore, Tallinn, and
Houston. Two projects were generated within
professional practice, while the third was
produced in academia by second-year students
of architecture and interior architecture at
the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture
at the University of Houston. Each project
employs generative conceptual processes to
reassess ‘place’ within architecture, urban
design, and interiors. By adapting various
‘architectural’ conditions to continual change
and unpredictability, ‘concept’ emerges from a
generative platform of collection, analysis, and
transformation.
137
Case Study: BALTIMORE
Engaging Time as Process
In the 21st century, methods and means of
communication have undergone a rapid
transformation. A dying icon, the public
telephone was once a symbol of modernity
and communication. Baltimore Calling recalls
the fading memory of this mid-20th century
communication device by reinterpreting its
form, function, and performance. The project
offers a way to simultaneously connect people
with information, culture, and nature. Here, the
physical dimensions of the classic telephone
booth (4’ x 4’ x 8’), as well as informal geometries
of stacked cast-off construction pallets informed
the design of site-specific performative
architectural installations for Baltimore.
Conceived as a mitigating device to be deployed
throughout Baltimore MTA construction zones,
Batimore Calling resulted from a form-finding
study of Baltimore’s urban grids. The construct
is based on a repetitive, yet site-specific module,
generated from three assemblies coded by
geometries derived from central Baltimore’s city
streets. Six grids were identified, then two were
paired and shifted 11 degrees to position the
construct within time.
Built from unfinished spruce, Baltimore Calling
has been designed to flexibly adapt to interstitial
‘lost’ spaces within MTA construction zones,
rights-of-way, and existing stations. Constructs
may be temporarily installed at various
locations impacted by construction activity
throughout the MTA system. The ‘telephone
booth’ houses a classic telephone, and acts as
a ‘call center’ both literally and figuratively.
As temporary installations, Baltimore Calling
offers nesting habitat for migratory birds.
Seasonally changing and hosting native plant
material, each installation will continually
adapt to and merge with its site over time. As
individual installations wear into their locales,
each will acquire native vines, tall grasses,
mosses, and lichens. Attracting migratory birds,
butterflies, and plantlife, the installations will
become unexpected ecological amenities for
citizens. Baltimore Calling has been designed
to effortlessly transform over time with zero
maintenance. Materially, installations will
continually weather from gold-to-amberto gray, and grow into a network of microenvironments that change from season-toseason and year-to-year.
Image 2_Abandoned telephone booth
Image 3_Stacked construction pallets
Image 4-6_Baltimore Calling - Insertable and adaptive ecological
infrastructure for MTA construction zones and lost territories.
139
Image 7-8_ Transitory Sanctuary:Estonian Flyaway Ecological built infrastructure for central Tallinn offering
wildlife habitats, bike paths, and greeenspace.
Case Study: TALLINN
Engaging Ecology as Process
Natural migratory patterns offer a point
of ecological engagement for generative
conceptual process. Conceived for the Tallinn
Biennale 2011, this proposal for the Street 2012
competition reconsiders the notion of wildlife
sanctuary within a dense urban environment.
The proposal builds upon previous research
undertaken in Baltimore by developing
a permanent, site-specific, bird habitat
infrastructure for the heart of the capital city of
Estonia. Adapted to material and environmental
specificities, Transitory Sanctuary:Estonian
Flyway inserts nature into central Tallinn.
Here, the urban grid of central Tallinn and
the Northeastern European prairie landscape
simultaneously informed development of twelve
place-relevant modular components. Modular
geometries were derived from an investigation
and analysis of formal organization of the city’s
downtown core. Three grids compose a module,
with each set incorporating a ‘shifted’ grid.
Transitory Sanctuary:Estonian Flyway mitigates
the adverse effects of vehicular traffic, hardscape
density, and environmental degredation, thus
allowing the environmental system as a whole
to achieve greater balance.
Built from recycled and repurposed wood,
Transitory Sanctuary:Estonian Flyway has
been designed to adapt to natural and urban
conditions, acting as a refuge and nesting habitat
for migratory birds and field animals year-round.
The installation has been conceived to interface
with processes of temporal change. As an urban
scale installation, it will continually merge with
its site and host additional native plant material
over time. As it wears into its geographic
location, the habitat will eventually become
fully overgrown with vines, tall grasses, mosses,
and lichens. Birdhouse, viewing platform,
morning glory trellis--these roles suggest only
three opportunities for the installation. A
source of both curiosity and delight, Transitory
Sanctuary:Estonian Flyway proposes a timerelevant construct that activates, supports, and
responds to its urban environment.
141
Second-year students at the University of
Houston investigated various generative processbased activities to examine the impact of cultural
migration on the Houston metropolitan area.
Working collaboratively, students visualized
seen-unseen cultural and biological systems
and connectivity operating upon the city and
region. Texas is an inherently hybrid place
existing within a blurred territory between
Anglo and Latin America that has attracted an
international populace. This studio engaged
with a globalized perspective by examining the
textile, horticultural, and landscape traditions
linking Houston with global cultures. The
investigation provided a platform for various
formal, spatial, material, and performative
opportunities that reconsider the ecological
diversity and multicultural richness of the city
through the lens of various diasporic influences.
Image 9_ Students mapped indigenous ecologies and diasporic
cultural patterns found within the Southeastern Texas region.
From Diasporas to Design
Case Study: HOUSTON
Engaging Migration as Process
Throughout its history, the United States has
received continual worldwide immigration
from shifting points of origin. In the 20th
century, waves of immigration impacted the
growth, rise, and transformation of the large
cities of the Northeast and Midwest. With
the rise of the Sunbelt and the resulting
internationalization of its cities, an increasingly
diverse populace has emerged.
Greater
Houston is now the fourth largest and most
diverse city in the United States. Over the
past 30 years, the region has witnessed an
unprecedented expansion. Dramatic growth
and demographic shifts have transformed the
city into a thoroughly international metropolis.
With over 90 languages are spoken, Houston
is home to over 1.1 million foreign-born
residents and undeniably the multicultural hub
of the south central United States. ouston’s
unzoned land use policy promotes inherently
fluid occupancies. Cultural shifts register
considerably faster in Houston than in cities
governed by more conventional regulation.
With demographic diversity and free market
commercialism as a filter, a singularly Western
perspective has arguably become increasingly
irrelevant in southeastern Texas.
If architecture and landscape reflect culture,
how can contemporary architects engage
influences that more accurately convey recent
flows and influences on the region? How can
we engage the cultural, territorial, and temporal
memory of the ‘new’ Houstonians? How might
we reappropriate aspects of their experience
into the built and natural landscapes of the city?
Diasporas represent movements, migrations, or
scattering of people away from an established
or ancestral territory. The phenomenon also
references people dispersed by various reasons
to more than one location, as well as populations
settled far from their ancestral homelands. Some
diaspora communities maintain significant
political ties with their homeland, while others
have grown virtually isolated by distance and
assimilation. How can diasporic memory
activate alternative design approaches to the
built environment?
space, form, and landscape In North America.
Students engaged textiles, horticultural, and
landscape from the transferred traditions of
migratory cultures. As a counterpoint to the
ambiguity and imposed notion of ‘culture’,
students identified ‘native’ conditions related to
biology, mineralogy, and geography.
Collage studies and mappings revealed built,
natural, ecological, and migratory conditions
relevant to the site. Both generative families
of information allowed students to identify
precedent, analyze underpinnings, and
generate a series of interpretative diagrams and
collages. Each student produced a 2D-3D
diagrammatic matrix that reflected underlying
principles of biology and culture as generators
for architectonic transformation. Various aspects
were derived from their studies including
embedded hierarchies, topographies, layers,
color, scale, proportion, repetition, rhythm,
space, time, and sequence.
Image 10_ Students mapped indigenous ecologies and diasporic
cultural patterns found within the Southeastern Texas region.
Southeast Texas exists within a cultural landscape
defined by its relationship to historically Spanish,
French, and Anglo-American influences, but
also links to diasporic migrations over time.
Traces of these cultures continue to impact the
land use and architectural vernaculars of the
region. As an increasingly internationalized city
engaged in a global economy, Houston provides
an opportunity to challenge the relevance of
a singularly Western European influence on
143
DIASPORIC LANDSCAPES
Greater Houston is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States. Over the last 30 years, the region has witnessed an unprecedented expansion. DramaƟ
Ɵc growth and demographic shiŌ
shiŌs have transformed the city into a thoroughly internaƟ
internaƟonal place.
With over 90 languages are spoken, Houston is undeniably a mulƟ
Ɵcultural region and home to an esƟ
esƟmated 1.1 million foreign-born residents. Two internaƟ
internaƟonal airports and a major seaport make the city a natural base for the naƟ
naƟon’s third-largest concentraƟ
concentraƟon of consular
oĸ
ĸces. Houston’s unzoned land use policy promotes inherently Ňuid occupancies. Cultural shiŌ
shiŌs correspondingly register considerably faster in Houston than in ciƟ
ciƟes governed by more convenƟ
convenƟonal regulaƟ
regulaƟon. With demographic diversity and free market commercialism as a
perspecƟ
Įlter, it may be argued that a singularly Western perspec
Ɵve has become increasingly irrelevant.
ows and inŇ
If architecture and landscape reŇ
eŇect culture, how can contemporary architects engage inŇ
in
nŇuences that more accurately convey recent Ň
Ňows
in
nŇuences on the region?
How might we engage the cultural, territorial, and temporal memory of the ‘new’ Houstonians?
How might we appropriate aspects of their experience into the built and natural landscapes of the city?
Layer. Penetrate. Divide. Stack. Web. Diffuse. Cross. Blend
d. Frame.
LANDSCAPE RENEWAL
Rigoberto Moreno
Texas can be considered
consideered a place deĮ
deeĮned by
the space it embodies.
embodiees. The inner quality of
that movement lie
es within the paths that
lies
connect, thus con
nnecƟng Texas with the
connecƟ
Uni
ited States and Mexico.
United
By focusing on highway
hig
ghway systems through
their formal
formal use, we can begin to
reconsider how
h components found
wit
thin that infrastructure
within
shape our experience
experiencce of urban landscapes.
As we examine Ho
ouston’s Memorial Park
Houston’s
Arboretum and Nat
Nature Center, I propose a
monumental applicaƟ
applicaƟon
Ɵon that will merge the
metropolitan expriencee with a unique wildlife
park. The design
dessign proposal begins by
formalizing the exisƟ
exxisƟng language of the
Nature Center. Through
Through the buildings accents
we lost translaƟ
Ɵon of
what the Nature Center
Centeer could potenƟ
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to a new gene
eraƟon of Houstonians.
generaƟ
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spea
aks with mulƟ
mulƟple tones
to a soc
iety that seeks comfort
society
through a universal design.
d
That design is in
the form of a progressive
progrressive oscillaƟ
oscillaƟng path.
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p
is support
supported
supp
pp
p
with shoulders that
help reaĸ
aĸrm thee dw
wellers shoes, bicycle or
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n the infrastructure is at
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capacity
ssoun
nds are fully revved and
wildlife. Their sounds
suddenly a rush hour
hour gridlock over takes the
ronm
ment Į
Įlls
dweller. The envir
environment
lls into the builddw
welleer into a move and stop
ing leaving the dweller
program As they begin
begin to make way through
program.
overp
pass,
s, they are clear of their
an overpass,
Ɵon, and begin
beg
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Ɵonal veslocaƟ
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t Nature Center. This
sels allowed
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algia
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vessselss that travel in cardinal
in which vessels
Ɵons meet
meeet wi
ith framed portals. The
direcƟ
with
opportunitty to
o travel in all direcƟ
direcƟons
opportunity
adepa
artu
ure into trails accompabecomes adeparture
bra
anches, trees and light.
nied by ceilings off branches,
Ɵcalconveyance
calcon
nveyyance is how a highway
The criƟ
ccrea
ates a duality in form of
infrastructure creates
nega
aƟve andposiƟ
andposiƟve space.
negaƟ
As the occupied paths become challenged by
dwellers,,the buildings ability to
density of the dwellers,the
organize and disperse man into nature works
lea
ading to rightlane exits.
by leading
d to work as a highway
The trails are designed
loo
op, thus reconnecƟ
reconnecƟng a
loop,
Ɵonship wit
th the building through
relaƟ
with
paths. The complexity of this
interconnected paths.
new language became persuasive as stacked
infrastructure unbounded by its
ability to retain and house volume.
Looking at this system we see how
monumental infrastructure can serve a
Ɵ-plaƞ
-plaƞorm program. As light breaks into
mulƟ
the sub-level, opportunity for inhabitable
space through program
becomes visible through natural daylight.
As dwellers pull to the side shoulders
they give their feet a rest. By now
the keys have turne
turned and dwellers vehicle
lights are on. Thee Nature center is but a
contra
ast of volume and path.
contrast
volu
ume we need to Į
Įllll and
A volume
a path full of travel.
Houston
PERSIAN
PATHS
PERS
MIRVA OVALLE
VALLE
Through an analysis of Persian gardens
and Houston’s Memorial Park Arboretum &
Nature Center site, my collage conveys an
interacƟ
Ɵon between nature and building.
Given the task of designing a public and
private space on Memorial Park, my design
will combine Houston and Iranian landscape.
By taking the ancient Persian
concept of having a series of thresholds that
bring together the elements of light, space,
and boundary into their gardens
and courtyards, my building will itself
become the transiƟon
transiƟ
Ɵon from the urban city
to a natural environment.
Ɵon of interior calm
The ancient Persian noƟ
provides contrast between the inside
and the outside. This space or threshold,
Ɵcal columns, allows light
lined with many verƟ
inĮltrate the space.
sp
to inĮ
eīect of its shadows
sh
hadows and design reveal a
The eī
Ɵc look, outlined
outtlined by a series of gardens.
majesƟ
At the park, trees create colonnade-like
th
he trails, providing changing
architecture for the
ligh
g Ɵng eī
eīects ov
ver the course of the day
lighƟ
over
an
nd throughout the
th
he year.
and
architectura
hi
al proposiƟ
proposiƟon for my
Ass an architectural
prroposed building
g, ‘colonnades’ will provide
proposed
building,
th
he skeletal framin
ng that creates the
the
framing
co
onnecƟon betwe
een nature and building.
connecƟ
between
Th
hese are the characterisƟ
characterisƟcs that
These
m collage considers,
consid
ders,
my
cƟng as the basiss for my design
acƟ
DIASPORIC BLEND
Marc Whitmore
CULTURAL LAYERS
Roberto Cantu
Studying tthe
he culture of Persian miniature
painƟ
Ɵng, I id
denƟĮ
ƟĮed a speciĮ
speciiĮc technique of
idenƟ
Ɵng a sense
sen
nse of space through painƟ
painƟngs.
creaƟ
Perrsian miniature painƟ
Ɵng started
Since Persian
peakeed at a very early point in Ɵme,
and peaked
Ɵng technique
their painƟ
considered somewhat primiƟ
Ɵve.
may be considered
Att that Ɵme, they did not use the
tecchnique of perspecƟ
Ɵve drawing.
technique
Perssian miniature arƟ
arƟsts
Ɵsts employed
Instead, Persian
Ɵng itself.
layerings technique within the painƟ
This appraoch was considered
advanced for that Ɵme. With that in mind, a
collage was in response,
Ɵng a building concept that
generaƟ
similar layering to create space.
would use a similar
iniature painƟ
Ɵng was purposed
A Persian mi
miniature
as an underlay.
th
he building was infused into the
he
The site of the
o generate a layering of the site
art, in order to
h the structure. The collage also
with
Ɵgated tthe
he noƟ
noƟon of material poten
Ɵal
Ɵal
invesƟ
potenƟ
Ɵsts used
for the building. Persian arƟ
high-qualiity materials in their miniatures
high-quality
sincee their artworks portrayed very
important texts and scripts.
an approach may be translated
Such an
use of high-quality materials for
toward the use
th
his structure. As demonstrated
this
th
he collage, Persian brick, wood,
through the
Ɵon.
and plaster could be used in construcƟ
People were rendered
into the collagee to imply modes of occupancy.
With their placement, the collage may be
viewed as an inhabitable space.
viewed
reeinterpreted miniature painƟ
Ɵng
This reinterpreted
representa
p
Ɵon
Ɵon
is an abstract representaƟ
of the concept for
the building, and vice versa.
DIASPORIC BLEND
Marc Whitmore
Ɵon and nature are intertwined to show
MoƟ
relaƟonship
Ɵonship between human acƟ
acƟvi
ƟviƟ
Ɵes
Ɵes
the relaƟ
within the surrounding environment and
within the structure itself.
The procession of inhabitants is controlled
and directed within the structure,
leading to prescribed paths towards the
surrounding environment.
iĮed experience of the natural chaoƟ
chaoƟc
Ɵc
A uniĮ
world and the sense of security is
inferred by the design. A memory of the
Asian Mughal landscape architectural techniques of the 15th centry is
embedded within the layout.
Orthogonal axes separate the landscape into
Ɵng unique experiences.
individual zones creaƟ
Certain elements in nature are highlighted for
signiĮ
iĮcance, such as the use of
eŇecƟ
ecƟon ponds, shade trees,
running water, reŇ
Ňowing
Ň
transiƟ
Ɵons
owing grass, and the slight transiƟ
ons in
topography. The varying layers of
transparency show a mulƟ
Ɵplicity of themes
represented within the composiƟon.
Ɵon.
composiƟ
Green colors of vegetaƟ
Ɵon, blues of running
water, dark grays of shadows cast overhead,
and earth tones of the soil and structural
walls are integrated and blurred.
The iintenƟ
Th
intenƟon is
i to blend
bl d occupancy
of the structure and nature
into a uniĮ
iĮed whole.
TEMPORAL LIGHT
Amanda Kroll
TRANSSFORMATION
NATURAL TRANSFORMATION
Myles Chumcha
Chumchall
relaƟng them to
Discovering new things and relaƟ
in
ntroduces a new richness and
design process introduces
diversity to whatt is in the becoming.
d
When thinking dives
under the surface,
me unveiled that can
new things becom
become
nŇuence one’s ideas.
id
deas. The thought process
inŇ
Ɵon
Ɵ
can absorb new informa
informaƟ
on that can be
o reality. It can be
transformed into
d converted into
transformed and
Ɵlizing
liizing all resources available
new media. UƟ
eĸciency
c
will increase eĸ
thus increasing output
furrther success.
and deeming further
ry invesƟ
invesƟgaƟ
gaƟon I began to
In my preliminary
research Islamic gardens. They are a
Ɵon of heavenly paradise on earth.
representaƟ
Ɵon
n of a place that is a reward
A representaƟ
obedience and discipline.
for a life long obedience
cƟon in beauty, atmosphere,
A place of perfecƟon
perfecƟ
ever one desires. It is in an
soliity and whate
whatever
fect place and represents all
essence the perfe
perfect
Thiis topic became a
that is good. This
aƟon because in creaƟ
creaƟng a
wonderful inspiraƟ
Ɵon and
place, one tries ffor a sense of perfec
perfecƟ
Ɵng heavenly
h
when depicƟ
paradise,
aŌer. Things that
the same goal is sought aŌ
exhiibit portray a sense of beauty
the gardens exhibit
and peace. One key element is water.
qualiƟes that can be
Water has manyy innate qualiƟ
ad
dmired. It is an important
observed and admired.
aspect of Islamicc gardens and is used
th
hem. It is used to direct
in almost all of them.
h
movement and highlight
importance.
peacefful ambience.
It creates peaceful
It brings ushnesss to an arid environment.
Vietnamese art incorporates nature through
one of two landscape dialects: the rainy
or the dry season. Vietnamese landscape
Ɵngs disƟ
disƟncƟ
ncƟvely convey either
painƟ
depic
ep Ɵons of their
season through vernacular depicƟ
agricultura
ult all livelihood.
ultura
livelihood.
d
unique agricultural
dingly, their architecture
architect
it tu
ure typically
lly
Accordingly,
cons
of unobtrusiv
rusivve,, pragmaƟ
pragmaƟc
consists
unobtrusive,
structurees.
structures.
mou
locccal
al
Water, massing by way off mountains,
local
elem
ment of structure,
structurre,
people, and an element
organiized in a balance
ced
ed
nature, and trees organized
balanced
tradi
Ɵon
nal
trad Ɵ
style, are all components of a tradiƟ
onal
silk-screeneed
Vietnamese, silk-screened
la
an
ndscape painƟ
painƟ
Ɵng.
n
landscape
ng.
suppor
ports
Houston’s Memorial Park ecosystem supports
local plants and animals that
tha
at
preceded the city’s urbanizaƟ
urbaniza
aƟon. To encapsulate the natural elements of rural
rurral
Vietnam and urban Houston,
n, my collage
collag
ge
hybridizes the Vietna
amesse ideology of
Vietnamese
structural minimalism- having
havin
ng only
on
nlyy the
th necesneceessiƟ
Ɵes of a structure- with
th the chaoƟ
chao
ch Ɵc
Houston s landscape,
land
dscape through a
dscape,
growth of Houston’s
depic
i Ɵon off layer
l rs.
rs
deconstructed depicƟ
layers.
Light plays an important role in both cultures;
Vietnam sunlight
s nlight permits
in Vietnam,
g is a sacred amesustenance. Houston’s light
nity to the otherwise unorganized
iīerent natural
landscape. To portray light, diī
canopies of piles of branches, leaves,
and trees suggest
employable structural methods.
SY
YMMETRY
CHALLENGING SYMMETRY
Mohammed Gowayed
symm
metry and
In this collage I convey the symmetry
la
andscapes.
balance in Moghul gardens and landscapes.
Moghuls use a Charbagh system that were
nŇuenced by the Persians. The top
to
op photo is
inŇ
mple of the
mple
the Tomb of Humayun, an exam
example
ul gardens.
symmetry employed in Moghu
Moghul
ee cropped
It has been underlayed with a tre
tree
Moghul rug
forground images and Moghul
Ɵng the origins of symmetry.
symmetry.
represenƟ
symmeetry begins
Moving down the page the symmetry
the page a
to disappear. Toward the center of the
Persian rug, with Charbagh symbol, is used as
lan
ndscape of
a Ňoor aligned with the landscape
Ɵng on the
Humayun. There are people resƟ
la
andscape.
rug within a natural landscape.
the layout,
Lower in the
Moghul gardens and landscapes transform
sitte. The Taj
into the Houston arboretum site.
Mahal is layered onto the Texas landscape, in
skky. Images
front of Charbagh background, or sky.
of the arboretum site include a pond and
eŌ shows a
two trails. One trail on the leŌ
extractted from a
Moghul warrior extracted
painƟng.
Ɵng. The trail on
n the right
miniature painƟ
n Houston.
superimposes a photo of downtown
balan
nce that is
This implies the balance
embedded in Moghul gardens-Ɵfes a diaspor
ric overlay.
a gesture that idenƟ
diasporic
Ʃempts to blur noƟ
noƟ
Ɵons
The concept aƩ
ons of
ultures of
landscapse between the ccultures
Mo
oghul India
Moghul
Houstton, Texas.
and Houston,
Image 11-12_Process collage compilation received an Honorable Mention in the ACSA Beauty Pagaent competition.
MoƟon and nature are intertwined to show
the relaƟonship between human acƟviƟes
within the surrounding environment and
within the structure itself.
The procession of inhabitants is controlled
and directed within the structure,
leading to prescribed paths towards the
surrounding environment.
A uniĮed experience of the natural chaoƟc
world and the sense of security is
inferred by the design. A memory of the
Asian Mughal landscape architectural techniques of the 15th centry is
embedded within the layout.
Orthogonal axes separate the landscape into
individual zones creaƟng unique experiences.
Certain elements in nature are highlighted for
signiĮcance, such as the use of
running water, reŇecƟon ponds, shade trees,
Ňowing grass, and the slight transiƟons in
topography. The varying layers of
transparency show a mulƟplicity of themes
represented within the composiƟon.
Green colors of vegetaƟon, blues of running
water, dark grays of shadows cast overhead,
and earth tones of the soil and structural
walls are integrated and blurred.
The intenƟon is to blend occupancy
of the structure and nature
into a uniĮed whole.
145
Reflecting on Time, Change and Migration
Like Toffler’s interest in time-use and changing
rhythms, the architectural case studies featured
here identify these forces as increasingly
relevant to contemporary architecture and
design process. Future Shock revealed the
regularity and variance that is a consequence
of millions of singular activities, moments,
and desires. Within variance, convergence
emerges as interwined individual activities
coordinate into broader efforts. These notions
may be equally applied to ecological forces as
well as the force of human activities. Within
the social realm, the rhythms of consumption
and everyday life are interactions that mitigate
complexities into networked systems. Parallel
to the fragmentation and greater diversity that
has emerged within architectural discourse,
the study of grand patterns of change has
become a foundational part of Future Studies,
as well as trans-disciplinary design discourse
(Galtung & Inayatullah, 1997). For designers,
this approach requires new research methods,
tools, and theories of organization that
challenge conventional top-down notions
of space, time, order, and form, as well as
the conceptual processes that study such
conditions. How can architects engage the
general shifts in time-use and social rhythms
that Toffler asserts? How might present
methods of time-use research offer alternative
approaches and conceptualizations?
As
architects engage increasingly fluid territories,
as well as forms of information collection,
analysis, and visualization--the ‘processing’ of
that body of knowledge becomes increasingly
complex. Thus, the simplicity and singularity of
classic modernist approaches to the ‘thinking’
and ‘making’ of our built environments runs
counter to complexity, asserting the utopian
memory of a much simpler time, place,
and society. Generative processes actively
challenge the relevance of such rigidity,
offering an alternative strategy that combines
variance and ecology with the human factor.
Gregory Marinic
Gregory Marinic is Assistant Professor and Director of Interior Architecture in
the Gerald D. Hines Collge of Architecture at the University of Houston. He
is Director and co-founder of d3. He previously taught at Pratt Institute, City
University of New York, and the Universidad de Monterrey, and serves as visiting
jury critic at various universities. Gregory is Associate Director of AIA Forward
Journal, and editor of Design Principles and Practices, International Journal of the
Arts in Society, IDEC:Exchange, and d3:dialog.
Gregory is principal of Arquipelago, an award-winning New York- and Houstonbased architectural practice engaged in design, research, teaching, and
experimentation. Prior to independent practice, he worked in the London and
New York offices of Rafael Vinoly Architects. Arquipelago’s work has been awarded
by the Seoul Metropolitan Government/Seoul Public Design Competition, SocioDesign Foundation, IJRAA, and the ACSA, as well as widely exhibited in the
United States and internationally. He holds a Master of Architecture degree
from the University of Maryland and BS Geography/Urban Planning from Ohio
University. Gregory is currently pursuing a PhD in Architecture at Texas A&M
Univesrity where his research focuses on utopianism and diasporas.
Image Credits
Title Image_Second Year architecture studio,
Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture,
University of Houston; Student: Enrique
Badillo; Faculty: Gregory Marinic
Image 10_Second Year architecture studio,
University of Houston; Student: Javier
Marcano; Faculty: Gregory Marinic
Images 1-6_Arquipelago, New York/Houston;
Principal: Gregory Marinic Project Team:
Carlos Contreras, Jaime Garcia
Image 11-12_Second Year architecture studio,
University of Houston; Faculty: Gregory
Marinic Students: Enrique Badillo, Roberto
Cantu, Myles Chumchal, Mohammed
Gowayed, Amanda Kroll, Rigo Moreno, Mirna
Ovalle, Marc Whitmore
Images 7-8_Arquipelago, New York/Houston;
Principal: Gregory Marinic Project Team: Ivan
Aguirre, Miriam Cazares
Image 9_Second Year architecture studio,
University of Houston; Student: David Yao;
Faculty: Gregory Marinic
147
FORWARD TEAM
Olivia Graf Doyle, Director
Olivia Graf Doyle, Assoc. AIA, is a Design Leader at HMC Architects in Los Angeles.
She graduated with degrees in architecture and advertising from the University of
Southern California. Olivia has worked on a variety of projects that range from medical
to K-12 and university to interior architecture, in addition to being a contributer to her
firm’s internal blog. Outside of work Olivia is actively involved with the local design
community; was an Associate Director on the board of AIA Northern Nevada, started
chapters of the Young Designer’s Networking Group in Reno and Sacramento, has been
published in several architecture history textbooks, and was an Assistant Director for
Forward in 2011.
Christina Noble, Past Director/ Senior Advisor
Christina Noble, AIA, LEED AP, founder of Contour Architecture, has a special affection
for projects focused on revitalizing communities through sensitive, inclusive and
sustainable design. Christina offers 11 years experience with community focused and
environmentally responsible projects ranging across a broad spectrum of building
types. She has worked on numerous high-profile projects including collegiate, mixeduse, government, and private development projects. Christina frequently writes about
design and architecture. In addition to six years of service with the National Associates
Committee as editor of various publications, she is also the editor for Forum, AIA
Arizona’s design journal, and has contributed to Texas Architect Magazine, The Arizona
Republic, and various national architecture and design blogs.
Gregory Marinic, Assistant Director
Gregory Marinic, Assoc. AIA, is Director of Interior Architecture and Assistant Professor
of Architecture in the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the University of
Houston. His previously taught at Pratt Institute, City University of New York, and
Universidad de Monterrey. Gregory is director and co-founder of d3, a New York-based
art-architecture-design stewardship organization. He is principal of Archipelago, a New
York- and Houston-based architectural practice engaged in design, research, teaching,
and experimentation. The practice has received awards from the Seoul Metropolitan
Government, Socio-Design Foundation, AIA-IJRAA, and ACSA. Prior to independent
practice, Gregory worked in the New York and London offices of Rafael Viñoly
Architects and his portfolio includes AIA and RIBA award-winning work undertaken at
Rafael Viñoly, Yoshihara McKee, and ABS Architects. He holds a Master of Architecture
degree from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography/
Urban Planning from Ohio University. Gregory currently serves as editor of AIA Forward
Journal, International Journal of the Arts in Society, Design Principles and Practices,
IDEC Exchange, and d3:dialog. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Architecture at Texas
A&M University where his research focuses on utopianism and diasporas.
Meg Jackson, Assistant Director
Meg Jackson, Assoc. AIA, is an adjunct associate professor in the Gerald D. Hines
College of Architecture at the University of Houston. Her previous teaching experience
includes design studios at Maryland Institute College of Art and Texas A&M University.
She received her M.Arch from the Columbia University GSAPP and her BA in History
of Art and Architecture from Middlebury College where she was awarded a Thomas
J. Watson Fellowship. Her portfolio includes work at Atopia in New York City, RTKL
Associates and award-winning work at Baltimore based Ziger Snead Architects. Meg
Jackson is also the director of megapixelstudios, as well as a designer at the Houston
based architecture firm, Context3.
C.A. Debelius, Assistant Director
C. A. Debelius, Assoc. AIA, is an Associate Professor at Appalachian State University
where he teaches undergraduate architectural design studios and statics in the Building
Science program. He has taught previously at the University of Arkansas, UNC/
Charlotte, Kansas State University, and the University of Tennessee. Professor Debelius
is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Harvard University Graduate School of
Design. His most recent paper, “Landscape with Human Figure,” was presented and
published in the proceedings of the 2011 ACSA Fall Conference in Houston. In 2007,
Debelius’s design work was the subject of a solo exhibition at The Knoxville Museum
of Art. C. A. Debelius’s professional experience includes design positions at SOM/San
Francisco, The FWA Group/Charlotte, The Lewis Group/Knoxville, and Spectra Tech/Oak
Ridge TN. Debelius was a co-designer of Knoxville’s newest high school, Hardin Valley
Academy, completed in August 2008.
Joe Lawton, Assistant Director
Joe Lawton, Assoc. AIA, is the Director of Graphic Design and Marketing for Valerio
Dewalt Train Associates, located in Chicago, Illinois. He is passionate about creating
a unique identity and brand experience, driven by research. Recent projects include
creating environmental graphics for the University of California San Diego Rita Atkinson
Residences and SunPower Corporate Headquarters. Currently he is working with a
multi disciplinary team to develop a new architectural and graphic brand experience
for a high-rise residential building in Chicago. On a daily basis Joe manages the firm’s
marketing efforts, most recently he lead the design efforts of the new VDTA Web site,
www.buildordie.com. Joe graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
Summa Cum Laude, with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Certificate of
Urban Planning. He has served as the communications manager for AIA Milwaukee, the
FORUM 2007 Chair for the AIAS, and is the founding editor of Studio 2131.
Cindy Louie, Assistant Director
Cindy Louie, Assoc. AIA, is a recent graduate of the Masters of Architecture Program
at Arizona State University. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Interior Design from
Arizona State University with concurrent studies in Graphic Design. Cindy Louie is
currently a designer at Durkin + Durkin architects and serves on the membership
development committee for the Phoenix Metro chapter of AIA, as well as a graphic/web
editor for the AIA Forward Journal.
Janice Christine Ninan, Assistant Director
Janice Ninan, Assoc. AIA, is an ‘artrepreneur.’ She started her own company, J-Space
Studio, Inc in March 2012, offering architecture-related design services. She graduated
with a Masters in Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago in
August 2011 with a focus on highrise and long span structures. Janice earned her
Bachelors in Architecture from M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India.
Ms Ninan worked for numerous firms in India prior to moving to the United States. Her
professional portfolio covers a wide gamut of projects - residential, hospitality, tourism
related government projects, residential and commercial interiors and conservation
work. Apart from design, Janice is an avid photographer and is a contributor to CTBUH’s
photography database of tall buildings. One of her images of the GSW tower has been
chosen to be published in the manual for the natural ventilation of tall buildings by
CTBUH, due for publication in September 2012.
SUMMER
PROCESS
FORWARD 112

Forward 112.indb - American Institute of Architects

Transcription

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