Architectural Representation II [Module 2]

There has never been just one geometry. In mathematics, the Euclidean, projective, vector, and topological approaches each have different starting points, theorems and methods of study. In parallel, this course defines a geometry as a set of principals about relationships in space that can be built on as a foundation and extended by exploration. From this point of view, materials, construction systems, assembly processes, ergonomics, statics, vision and drawing are each geometries in their own right with different principles and metrics of evaluation that may be deeply pursued on their own terms. These geometries exist alongside the abstract geometry of surfaces; all are present in any work of architecture. This course is about resolving interactions between geometries and seeking discoveries in their convergence and divergence.

This course proceeds directly from the first module. The first module introduces abstract geometry and explores its interactions with vision, drawing and the flatness often demanded by architecture. The second module explores its interactions with thickness, materiality, and architectural function. Geometry is reframed as a site that forces a confrontation between form and architectural constraint, between design intention and assembly systems.

Module I and II are planned as a pair with significant overlap in instruction and assignment sequence. Some content that pertains to Module II will be delivered in guest lecture format during Module I and visa versa. Module II will conclude with a project that brings together themes from both halves.

Module II focuses on reflecting practice. In any real building project, the richness of the interplay between goals and constraints arising from the extraordinary specificity of site, client, material economy and interdisciplinary discussion makes the accurate resolution of intersections in space a practical necessity and brings geometry out of abstraction. Geometry provides a means of adjusting flexibly as design progresses towards construction and new requirements reveal themselves. The exercises in this class create a microcosm of these interactions with the goal of developing tools for precision, adaptability, permutation, resolution of tension and translation to physical reality.

The assignments and lectures in Module II take place in two modes: simulation and prototype, iterating and fabricating. These two fundamental and parallel approaches to the process of architectural discovery are taught through specific techniques of parametric modeling and physical model making. Parametric modeling is taught as a tool for the adaptation of a system to the constraints of fabrication and architecture, rather than as a generative tool for form. Model making is taught as an experimental discipline for testing materials and assembly rather than a representation tool.

Over the exercises, students study the geometry of surface paired with the geometry of interacting architectural forces (material thickness, layered construction, supporting frames, circulation, flat floors). These constraints in dialogue lead to architectural fragments that perform a balancing act. These requirements are those which abstract geometry, traditionally, has trouble accepting and are also lasting sources of invention in a discipline that must cross from imagination to reality.