Proximities / Room for a House

“Making comparisons is the only good method in a world in which things take on consistency in relation to others. A comparison may be implicit or explicit, but without it, the mind could not function; [one] who knows one thing only, doesn’t even know that thing.”
      –Guido Piovene, Zodiac 8, “The Multiple Future of American Architecture”
 
This studio will explore the proximities within reflexive formalism in architecture. If proximate means almost or close, it conveys the sense both of aesthetic difference and of spatial nearness. Its etymology, from the verb “proximare,” suggests the consideration “to approach.” As things approach each other…. some amount of affecting between the two will arise. The tone, the texture, the posture of marks. How things come together. For film or literature, this reflexive method may be something like actors acting as actors. Like Pollack and Hoffman’s "Tootsie." Like Emily Eden’s coupled novels, “The Semi-Attached Couple & The Semi-Detached House.” For musicians, this may be more akin to reverb, or the empathy gained in the culture of covers. For architecture, it may be room for a house…
 
Students will make two models over the course of the semester. One to house the other. The site will be in Ghent, NY.
 
These models-for-models will be installed at the Art OMI Sculpture Park in Ghent, NY for exhibition, discussion, and documentation at the end of the semester. Construction documentation of these scalar proximities will be explored with stop animations for the final review at Gund.
 
The studio will meet each week on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Each student must be present during the entirety of the allotted studio times each week unless otherwise permitted with prior approval.