Haacke, Hans, Condensation Cube – sculpture: Plexiglass and water (1963-65) [1]
“(...) One should actually
surround oneself with all kinds of phenomena and constructions in which
universal laws become visible. Why do I suggest this? Because then we can
produce, whenever we like, the phenomenon, which conveys a bodily experience of
the correspondence between the inner and the outer world. (...)”
Hugo Kükelhaus [2]
Acting as protection, all through history climate has been essential
to architecture, defining its basic form. However, not only does architecture
act as protection, but also as an interface between the human being and the
environment. In this context covering
is to be understood as a noun referring to an interstitial and operational
layer between constantly changing environmental conditions – i.e. as a performative,
relational and affective element.
Focusing on one individually
selected meteorological
phenomenon from the list:
[rain] [wind]
[sunshine] [thunder] [snow] [frost] [fog]
in [P1] the relations between conditions
and effects, the material and the
immaterial, are to be explored, recorded and documented in notations and
mappings – unravelling how the appearance of space is affected through these
relationships.
“(...)
Notations go beyond the visual to engage the invisible aspects of architecture.
This includes the phenomenological effects of light, shadow, and transparency;
sound, smell or temperature, but also– and perhaps more significantly– program,
event, and social space. Notations are not pictures or icons. They do not so
much describe or represent individual objects, as they specify internal
structure and relationships among the parts. Inasmuch as the use of notation
signals a shift away from the object and toward the syntactic, it might open up
the possibility of a rigorous, yet non-reductive abstraction. The use of
notation marks a shift from demarcated object to extended field.(…)”
Stan Allen
“(…)
As a creative practice, mapping precipitates its most productive effects
through the finding that is also a founding; its agency
lies in neither
reproduction nor imposition but rather in uncovering realities previously
unseen or unimagined, even across
seemingly exhausted grounds. Thus, mapping
unfolds potential; it re-makes territory over and over again, each time
with
new and diverse consequences. Not all maps accomplish this, however; some
simply reproduce what is already known. These
are more ‘tracings' than maps,
delineating patterns but revealing nothing new. (…)”
James Corner
The selected phenomenon
is to be investigated and methodologically questioned in order to reveal its tangible
and intangible specificities. In this context, the covering is to be understood as a membrane, envelope or cladding – a zoom into a potentially
larger, more complex structure.
The un-covered
relations body><covering><environment
and materiality<>phenomena<>effects
will be discussed and parameters for further explorations will be defined.
Announcing
intentions regarding exposure, each student is asked to produce material documenting
the investigated phenomenon and programming a strategy to act upon or against
it, thus seeking a particular effect potentially transforming its character.
The aim is to
try to understand the role of the phenomena in perceiving space, regardless of whether
they are but linked to the practical purposes or if they are charged with an
aesthetic or poetic meaning.
As a minimum the
following is required:
>a description
of the phenomenon in focus: its appearance, intensity, temporality, experiential
and physical properties;
>a description
of the covering in focus: its physiognomy, scale, material properties;
>a description
of the relation to the body: the property of the action of covering;
>a
description of the relation between the three
The produced
material should be processed, comprehensive and coherently organized and
presented in the folded-zigzag book (one side printed) composed by 6 sheets:
>format: folded book 29.7cm x 29.7cm, i.e. an A3 format is
reduced to 29.7 x 32,7. This allows a 3.0 cm zone for gluing – please note that
the last page should not have a gluing zone meaning the format of the last page
is 29.7 x 29.7 cm.
>paper code: Technical drawing paper 185 gr.
>font: Times
New Roman 9
>margins: folded
book pages 3,5cm
The layout and
the character of the book will depend on the nature of the produced and/or
collected material, however it should contain as follows:
[p.1] name +
title
[p.2] text (max.
250 words)
[p.3] phenomena
[p.4] body
[p.5] covering
[p.6] excerpt of
contents
All sketches,
diagrams; photos; documents; material samples et.al. should be available at the
presentation.
All source
material – quotes, references, images etc.– must announce source according to the
provided reference system.
If video is used
as a means of notation, it should be presented in printed version – as a sequence
of images.
The book is to
be delivered both on paper and as a PDF document uploaded to the shared folder.
>>>> Shared (R) >Bachelor >Unit 2+3d_AL >F2013 >Phase I
Wed. Sept. 18th
Method:
Individual
studies
Media:
mixed
media (drawing, photo, diagram, video, collage, recording etc…) + folded-zigzag
book (square format: 29.7cm x 29.7cm)
Duration:
Sept.
16.-20.
Objectives:
data collection and processing, delimitation of initial field of
investigation, property analysis and extraction of architectural potentials
Calendar:
Mon. Sept. 16th
9.00-10.30 Welcome and [P1]
Introduction/ Laden
Nord, Noerreport 20
10.30-12.00 Spatial studio organization/ Paradisgade 3rd floor
15.15 Lecture, 2nd year, Architectural History
Tue. Sept. 17th
15.15 Lecture, 2nd
year, Architectural History
Wed. Sept. 18th
Studio tutorials
11.00
Lecture, Frei Otto, w. Per Dombernowsky/ Grand Auditorium, Noerreport 22
Fri.
September 20th
9.00-16.00
[P1] presentation + [P2] Introduction/ The
Gym, Paradisgade
[1] Haacke, Hans, Condensation Cube – sculpture: Plexiglass and water (1963-65), MACBA Museu D’art Contemporani de Barcelona, retrieved from <http://www.macba.cat/en/condensation-cube-1523> [accessed: 15 September 2013]
[2] KÜKELHAUS, Hugo (2007 [1972]) Inhuman Architecture. From Animal Battery to Information Factory, Auroville, India: Studio Naqshbandi Publisher, p.15, (original edition: Unmenschliche Architektur, Köln, Germany: Gaia Verlag, 1972)
[3] ALLEN, Stan (2009) “II_Notations+Diagrams: Mapping the Intangible”, in: ALLEN, Stan (2009) Practice: Architecture, technique + representation, New York: Routledge, p. 6
[4] CORNER, James (1999) "The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention", in: COSGROVE, Dennis (1999) Mappings, London: Reaktion Books Ltd., p. 213
