#arch 333

[sjy0126-blog]

Digital Fabrication

This reading talks about how 3d printing and other technology has influence and shaped the process of architecture making. These ways of making have dramatically accelerated the processing time and capable of doing many form that are not possible before. It is not just efficiency, but also increase the complexity of design and product. It also talks about how the scale of digital fabrication is intended to be larger and wider than it is now. However, to efficiently use the digital tools, it is required to have more preparation and planing before the actual producing process. 

[ghsu-arch]

Exercise 05.2: Low-relief surface | Milling a custom composite medium. (Grasshopper + CNC)

Inspired by Untitled (Joel Shapiro, 2009) and Untitled #32 (Joel Shapiro, 1990)  Pastel + Charcoal on Paper

Part 2 of Exercise 05, milled by the CNC router. The quality of the cut of the foam did not turn out as clean as desired. I don’t know if that is because of the file or a variable with the router. 

Collaboration with Evan Crawford

[ghsu-arch]

digital culture in architecture (antoine picon, 2010)

In a technology-focused culture, technology is continually derived into ways to integrate them into society and the lives that inhabit space. Picon discusses developments in digital technology and how it has affected architecture and the urban landscape. The world and life itself is a complex place, and to make sense of everything around them, many rely on technology through on cybernetics and models to predict and analyze behavior, instead of using their own experience of humans and human interactions. However, as expected there are limitations to what a computerized model can predict and optimize. Architecture today also resorts to a lot of technology usage in solving the problems that arise in thinking about space, but this has also led to architecture becoming very niche. In all their efforts to design for the people, they forget about the people themselves. A lot of architecture created through technological generation of form evokes awe, and may be functional, but cannot be extended to say that it has been adapted to conform to the complexity of human behavior. In relying on technology to understand something as sporadic as human behavior, many variables are lost. This calls for a more integrated method of design. But what does this mean? Can this only happen with more advanced technology that can account for more variables, or does this call for a recall on the technological-focused design of our day and emphasize the importance of human input in the design process? So perhaps the question is not how can design methods predict behaviors and interactions, but what they feel, because what is human nature if not feeling?

[mitchellcurtissarch333-blog]

Response to Branko Kolarevic’s “The (Risky) Craft of Digital Making”

This reading expresses ideas which I have been interested in and have been attempting to convey for a long time. Whenever ideas of “craft” are discussed in architecture - particularly in architecture schooling - there seems to be a built-in bias towards the handmade. There is an intense reluctance to allow craft to be applied to digital drawings or models - both physicalized and not. To deny that those who work digitally have active control over every step of the process is deeply unfair and old-fashioned. It reminds me of a quote from Bach about the keyboard instruments: “There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.”  This quote is of course, satirical, as the true craft comes in the “unremarkable” step of playing the right keys. The instrument did not make any of the decisions, did not practice, did not “do the work for you.” Likewise, it is deeply unjust to imply that computers can do these things for architects. No matter the medium, the craft lies in playing the right keys.

[mitchellcurtissarch333-blog]

Response to Evans’ “The Projective Cast”

The first reading which truly intersects the study of geometry in this course with the field of architecture, “The Projective Cast” explores the use of geometry in tangible terms. Experience and perception and their complicated relationship (perhaps I should say “experience * perception”) manifest through both geometry an architecture. The idea that geometries are ideal in a way that architecture cannot - and perhaps should not - be is particularly engaging. The notion that good buildings “serve to bring the pure to mind” rather than try and fail to replicate ideal forms is incredibly relevant to this course. As one diverges from the traditional notions of geometry - and thus diverges from the ideal - the way to preserve good architecture is to continue to strive towards bringing the pure to mind, regardless of the geometry. Thus, when we create non-Euclidean geometries, it is okay to stray from these ancient ideal forms. However, this cannot be simply in service of form fetishism, but must remain in the quest for evoking the sublime.

[mitchellcurtissarch333-blog]

Response to René Descartes’ “Geometry”

Similar to Euclid’s “Elements,” “Geometry” lays out a series of mathematical principles and applications. More proof than article, these works are without a true argument or thesis - although one might say there are many small and robust theses. However, there is a slight but important difference between the two mathematical treatises. Where Euclid posited definitions and outlines for the construction of basic geometries, Descartes builds off of these definitions to outline properties of and relationships between geometries. Descartes’ postulates are less inherent (all though just as applicable) and are much more easily seen as man-made or constructed, despite the fact that they are universally true. This is due to the fact that Descartes (and earlier, Euclid) outline the scenarios in which these rules apply. So while the rules come undeniably and logically from the scenarios, it is important to remember that the scenarios themselves are constructed.

[mitchellcurtissarch333-blog]

Response to Jane Burry’s “The Construction of a Problem”

Burry’s argument is a sound one, if not an ambitious one. While it is not terribly groundbreaking or controversial to state that “in architecture there has been a more recent shift from a classical to a modern approach to mathematics, geometry and space.” Very few would disagree with this, but nonetheless Burry defends it well. Perhaps a more evocative thesis would be to state that such techniques have been beneficial or detrimental to architecture, but no such value judgement is placed. The observations made about the abilities of “modern geometries” to solve problems are unique and interesting, but for some reason the article does not quite celebrate them. Additionally, these solutions are interesting because they are just that: solutions. Contrary to the title, Burry highlights - rightly - the solving of problems rather than the creation via modern geometries. This is a good approach, as problems should never be created just so they can be solved. Instead, one should utilize the technology and techniques at hand to solve existing problems.

[mitchellcurtissarch333-blog]

Response to Malcolm McCullough’s “Medium”

The definitions and functions of the idea of medium as presented in this text are concrete, well phrased, and time tested. Where this chapter truly begins to evoke discussion is on the topic of computers and their relationship to medium. Is a computer a medium? Is it a medium of other mediums? Or is it simply just a tool? Over the intervening years since this was book was written, it has been clearly shown that the computer is far more than just a tool, but the idea of medium is still unclear. Perhaps when one looks at medium, an underlying definition is that a medium must create a product - arguably a unique product. This highlights why computers are so hard to categorize: it is not clear if the products of computers are unique to them or are just products of sub-mediums within computers. In this way, perhaps it is more helpful to think of computers like the abstract idea of “art;” as a way of expressing ideas through various contained media.