The LESS/MORE list by Rafael Gomez-Moriana presents a lot of actions and ideas that should be replaced with ones that are more suitable for today. Many of these I agree strongly with while others less so, but the effort put into making such a list takes precedence over anything in the list itself. Why does the effort put into making a list take precedence? Reflection of ourselves and of our environment reveals to us what we have taken for granted and what ought to change.
I feel there are large disparities between the practice and discipline of architecture. When we contemplate the discipline of architecture, we consider the most extreme examples of built and unbuilt work so that we might progress further into the unknown to bring what was once beyond this physical realm into reality. In practice, however, we (architects) have allowed ourselves to be cornered by contractors, building product manufacturers, and bureaucrats into telling us what it is we can design and – more importantly – build. For this reason, I’ve chosen LESS VIRTUALITY / MORE REALITY as my word comparison. Despite the fact that the extreme edge of architectural research in discipline-minded settings often do bring architecture from virtuality to reality, we need to do more to make sure it is coming to some physical presence. It is only then that discipline and practice come close and practice is inspired. Still, practice must work much harder to open itself to change inspired by the discipline. Without this effort made, practice will continue to fall behind and even alienate itself from the discipline of architecture.
This project was a study of digital media in architectural spaces. The end of the hallway in the Ball State Architecture Building became the location for the installation because of how one’s line-of-sight is so easily attracted to it. Its ever-present staticity meant it was the perfect place for a change of scenery. With the help of a camera, computer, projector, and flash animation, users of the space experienced a transformation in their everyday studio life.
The challenges of mapping the animation to the wall was somewhat overcome through the use of VPT (Video Projection Tool), a free software that is used for projection mapping. As the project has concluded, I am now left with a new broad base of knowledge to use towards future digital media projects.
As an architecture student, I sometimes lose focus of what can be most important to the profession: the client. Too often, architecture students get caught up on concept, issues of sustainability, and other things when client relationship and communication delivery should supersede these other aspects. Without good client-architect communication, concept, sustainability, and everything else we attach ourselves to would not be possible.
When looking at the entire development of a building, client-architect communication on initial design is relatively small. The more architects can do to better this communication, the better they will be able to serve the needs of a client, while pushing better designs in architecture. This improves the built environments of the world and secures the stability of our profession.
My ICMA competition board from last year’s studio shows some typical deliverables from an architecture student, which are probably pretty similar to those of an architect. What is missing, however, is the element of event, action, and story. Big renderings only achieve some of this but doing more to show user experience could someday be the difference between getting a commission and not getting one.
In the 1970’s, Bernard Tschumi completed the projects titled Screenplays and the ManhattanTranscripts. Both explored the idea of creating space from event. Tschumi used events to create graphic diagrams that were translated into spaces. He famously quoted saying, “There is no architecture without action, no architecture without event, no architecture without program.”
While Tschumi created space from event, I would rather aim to create event from space as a means of communicating design. By creating stories of experience of a designed space, I can take an additional step in communicating ideas to the client. Because architects are visual people, this can be employed through the use of the graphic novel format.
Rather than telling a story of a typical building today, I want to tell a futuristic science fiction story. Science fiction enables me to develop what could one day be real, which is what architecture students should be doing everyday in studio. The story will follow three individuals who visit one architectural space, but have their own unique experiences.The central architecture in the story is the CMR (Computer Mediated Reality) Spa. Here the users come to escape our reality as we know it, and replace it with another. It is a spa because – like the spas that we know – it is a place to relax and slow down time.
The following image is a section of the spa revealing the CMR module. The CMR module is a 10 x 10 foot cube capable of simulating environments via computer control. After the simulation ends, a window appears in the room, enabling the user to begin coordinating themselves back to this reality.
If we pay attention to the media our culture produces, the idea of replacing our reality with another is quite common. Movies like, The Wizard of Oz, Alice In Wonderland, The Matrix, Avatar, and Inception all explore this idea. The following image is from the TV show Star Trek and its famous Holodeck which simulates computer generated environments.
Although CMR module technology seems far away, it is not. Technology advaces have been getting us closer and closer to utilizing all of our senses to experience alternate realities. The following videos show 3D visualization and omni-directional treadmills respectively. Both technologies could prove useful to the creation of the CMR module.
The three individuals in the story come to the CMR Spa to disconnect from this reality and connect to another. Here, disconnection is essential to connection and visa versa. Because it is a spa, the simulated environments are generally ones that the user can experience introspection and perfect meditation.The first environment in the story is a sanctuary in the crease of cliff and ocean. The user moves towards, through, and out of the space towards the water. Minimal materials make up the architecture making it easier to separate the user from the original reality.
The second environment, called the Holyhedron, is a tetrahedron (a pyramid made of four equilateral triangles). The user moves up one side of the pyramid and can sit directly in the center of it for the ultimate meditative experience.
The third and final environment focuses on coexisting spheres. The sphere has a stair case that leads to a gabled space cut our of the other side of the partial sphere. The third user views the moon from the abstraction of the event of viewing the moon from Earth.
Most of us are familiar with the red pill, blue pill scene from The Matrix. Neo chooses the red pill to see how far the rabbit hole goes. This is what the CMR Spa is for – stretching the users experience of reality. Just because it is a computer generated reality does not mean it isn’t a reality – much like how our dreams are their own unique realities.
The typical experience for a user of the CMR Spa is selection of environment, simulation, and coordination and reflection. Coordination is essential to the experience to ensure the user understands he or she is back in their original reality.
I attempted to employ the idea of pushing our perception of our reality in the CMR Spa. The glass curtain wall uses smart glass technology to make it appear as if the facade is made of 3D cubes. The way the glass wraps around corners strengthens this theme.
In many ways the story is flexible. The CMR module can simulate any computer generated environment. Telling a story makes presentation flexible which allows architects to better communicate designs.
If we focus on client-architect relationship and communication we will be more secure in our careers and push the limits of the profession. A story only has the limits of imagination, and we should attempt to reach this in our built environment.
Architecture students spend a great deal of time studying the many interesting aspects of cutting edge architecture. True, these works of technical sophistication are becoming more and more the standard in architecture, but I wonder which of these buildings students will be talking about most a hundred years from now. Those buildings that are talked about with the highest respects are of master architects, whose buildings teach us the most important lessons in architecture. A building will stand the test of time not by its self-sustaining qualities, but by the qualities that make its users want the building to last forever.
Louis Kahn's Salk Institute
The Parthenon, for example, survived under many different ruling states. Its program included being a treasury, a Christian church, and a mosque. It was not until it was used as an ammunition dump that it was ignited and destroyed. The important thing to understand is that everyone that occupied the architecture saw it as something that should last. Until, of course, the ammunition dump was set on fire and the Parthenon was blown up.
What the Parthenon may have once looked like.
There are few places where great architecture should be expected more than in churches and places of religion. The power alone that architecture can have in confirming ones belief in any given deity should be enough for us to spend more time in the planning of such structures. This power is the driving principle behind Kahn’s focus on nature versus program, Le Corbusier’s use of the golden ratio and the Modulor system, and today’s Steven Holl and his phenomenology. It is what makes great architecture great and what every architecture student should be attempting to understand and develop their skills in.
Le Corbusier's Ronchamp Chapel
And so, I can now talk about that which I had originally intended to talk about – church pews. If anything spoils the hard work an architect put into creating a church it is the pew. So often they seem to be able to be quickly removed – which would be great for the purpose of assemblies – but are not. They often reek of third party creation and the cushions, oh the cushions. Should I ever be so blessed to be commissioned to design a church, I will do my damnedest to exclude the pew cushion. The next time you decide to dabble in religion, try to ignore those eye soars and see if you can learn something. If anything tries to take timelessness out of architecture in a church it is the cushion and its fabric pattern from Hell.
For this semester’s studio, I intend to look at an idea I’ve coined as Response Architecture. If we live in David Hume’s world of pure empiricism where we live through our experiences then we can recognize the majority of architecture not responding to people but people responding to architecture. This is the most common type of architecture, which I coin Unresponsive Architecture. This is not necessarily bad architecture, only unresponsive. It applies to art in the way we observe a painting on a wall and we react in awe (or utter disappointment). Elements of architecture have only begun to respond to people through technology that uses sensors to open doors and other mechanical mechanisms.
I aim to distort our empirical world by developing ways for architecture to respond to humans. True, we will still experience architecture as it “experiences” and responds to us, but this would be far from the world of architecture we live in today. As I attempt to accomplish this task I aim to keep several questions in mind:
Is architecture without a permanent form still considered architecture? Can something exist as architecture without a static permanence?
In what ways could Responsive Architecture change the world and architecture as we know it?
Does Responsive Architecture respond to us through experience or through some form of data input and response output?
The last question makes it clear that the term experience is a subjective term and will need to have an objective definition for this to be a scientific process. For this, I will look to my Professor Ana de Brea, visiting professor Mike Silver, and my colleagues for help on clarifying the definition of experience.
Ron Resch and His Deployable Origami
Response Architecture will deal largely with a moving and ever-changing structure and envelope system. Currently, I see this being possible through the use of thermoplastic composites that would combine structure and envelope into a unified building system. In order for the form to morph and return to its original state I will look to Ronald Resch’s innovational development in deployable origami.
In the end, I hope to have a clear solution to how the rudimentary elements of Response Architecture could be possible and prototyped in the future. Wish me luck!
This blog is intended for my ARCH 301 design studio with Professor Ana de Brea. I study architecture for many reasons, but one reason stands out from the rest. In life, people are constantly searching for some truth in the world around us. Louis Kahn once said, “Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.” If Kahn is correct, then maybe architecture will help me find those truths.
The title “Revering Perception” implies the respect I have for those before me and the peers that surround me today. If it were not for the toils of great architects such as Louis Kahn, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, etc. (as well as other great men and women from other professions) we would not be standing in such a fortunate point in design as we do today. And I could never continue this discussion without acknowledging that there is such great talent today that is around me, in the studio, and around the world. I am only part of what changes architecture from what it is today to what it will be tomorrow, but I am glad to know I will be a part of this.
Revering Perception 