ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO D
– ARCH5201, July – November 2006
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Preamble At the dawn of the 21st century, “digitalics” (referring to digital-
technologies, ~philosophies, ~cultures, ~arts, ~sociologies, etc) have
enabled new techniques for the development of architecture and human
habitation. In this studio, you are to develop an architectural design in
which these digitalics have the
potential to affect the wider architectural landscape in profound ways. You
let emerge new architectural topologies that engage with context, form,
function, material and understanding of an innovative high density urban
life-style. This allows new influences of architectural appreciation to be
absorbed and produces concrete effects on its users and its environment. At
the end of this studio, you will present both a philosophy and a specific
architectural language for these digitalics
and present a design solution that can catalyze architectural advancement. Content: The Urban Council of
Parramatta visions high-density cultural facilities at the site. Based on this
starting point, you develop a detail description of various innovative types
of parallel and integrated functions, programmes, forms, etc. Your pioneering
architectural design deals with your choices of digital facets (e.g.
technology, philosophy, culture, creation and/or tool). After investigation
of Location: Parramatta, site within
Lennox Bridge, Church Street, Phillip Street, Marsden Street and Parramatta
River. Scope: You work
independently and consult your peers, tutors, city councillors and other
experts similarly to an architectural design competition. At the end of this
studio, you submit a complete set of (both physical and digital) documents
and models of your choice that explain your work independently and present
your work at an exhibition in Parramatta’s City Hall to all, your peers,
tutors, the Parramatta’s Urban Council and the General Public. You discuss
your underlying digital concepts in a focused theoretical essay (of ca. 2000
– 3000 words) and document your progress in a logbook. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The Studio is
the final project for the year and has the following learning
objectives:
ASSESSMENT: You
have to present a high degree of visual, spatial and theoretical quality
within your design. External examiners, faculty staff and all tutors will
assess you. The final grade will be determined using the
following criteria: - Presentation of your development, methods and
design: 90% - Contribution to and attendance in studio: 10%. All contributions will be judged based on: - Content: 25% - Architectonical quality: 55% - Technical mastery: 20%. The three main components of the design are weighted
as: - Theoretical Essay: 20% - Site analysis and programme: 20% - Final Design: 60%. The Faculty grading and marking scheme will be used
to translate these values into marks and grades. A ‘Gaussian Normal
Distribution' may be applied. TUTORS: Please contact
the tutors during studio times and email them for administrative purposes
only. Chris Abel Matthew Chan Dagmar Reinhardt Marc Aurel Schnabel (Co-ordinator) marcaurel@usyd.edu.au Room 325 Huw Turner
Consultations: There are no ‘tutor-groups’. All tutors are
available for everybody as consultants to your design on Thursdays from 10:00-17:00.
You sign-up for either individual or group meetings and join other
consultations. Sign-up sheets will be pinned up in the studio on Thursdays at
13:00. It is your responsibility to meet with all tutors as well as with your
peers in order to get a variety of feedbacks. A logbook will help you to
document your progress. PROJECT PHASES Phase 1 : THEORY AND CONTEXT The
first weeks you are to explore theories and contexts of digital architectures
in a variety of ways. There is a range of guest-lectures in the EAA (Taira Nishizawa, Satoru Yamashiro),
publications and other materials that deal with your topics. In the second
week, Andrew Benjamin gives a
lecture “Architecture Theory and
Practice in the Digital Age” at RAIA, while your tutors will address in
five short lectures major issues of the studio based on their expertise and
background. Other lectures and exhibitions will follow during the studio and
include presentations by Tom Barker,
Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott
(please refer to the schedule below). This will assist you to understand and
study the field of your design problem, which you will discuss in a
theoretical academic essay and in the creation of your brief. You may use
this as your reference for the whole project. Essay: Abstract: 30th October Final Submission: 6th November Phase 2 : APPROACH TO THE SITE (ANALYIS/MASTER PLAN) During
the first two - three weeks, you will study and ‘analyse’ the site and its
context. Describe your findings, which relate to your theory and
understanding of the brief. Present your innovative approach in appropriate
media, drawings, models, etc. that clearly explain your studies. For this
phase group-work is possible. Submission
and presentation: 17th
August Phase 3 : PROGRAMME DEFINITION You develop preliminary programme definitions and
studies for the site with alternatives. Hereby you propose your inventive
approach to the site and its environments. You consider a variety if issues that
you lay out in your own interpretation of the brief. Present your programme,
and your vision with appropriate media, drawings, models, etc. That includes
site plan, plans and sections, models, massing, site relationships, and
conceptual sketches as appropriate.
The presentation includes your Logbook. Submission and presentation: 31st August Phase 4 : DEVELOPED DESIGN (INTERIM CRIT) You present your inspiring and developed design proposal
with appropriate media. That includes detailed drawings, models, media, etc.
showing site- & programme-contexts, function-diagrammes, plans,
elevations and sections (e.g 1:500/
1:1000), details (e.g. 1:50) and (digital-/physical) models as appropriate.
In this presentation, you lay out your final submission and it acts as
mock-up and final check for your content addressing architecture and digitalics at Submission and presentation: 5th October Phase 5 : FINAL DESIGN You will present your complete proposal for the site
to the jury. The detailed presentation requirements are to be agreed with
tutors, yet your work has to communicate independently and clearly your
design from theory, over brief, to macro and micro scale as well as your
final and pioneering interpretation of the topic. Your work has to follow the
exhibition-guidelines (tba.) for the public display at Submission:
30th October Presentation: 2nd
November SCHEDULE:
DATABASE:
References: Below you find a
list of readings. This list is not exclusive or complete. It serves as initial
starting point for your theoretical reading. Please also refer to http://dropbox.arch.usyd.edu.au/ARCH5201/Readings/. Architectural
Library’s books are placed on the Reserve-Bookshelf. Books:
Animation by
Regine Dahmen
-Ingenhoven Animate Form, by Lynn, Greg.
(1998). Princeton: “Animate Form" is a book and interactive CD-ROM of recent
architectural projects designed by Form, the office of Greg Lynn. The
projects documented here explore the potential of time-based animation
techniques to inform architectural design. Historically, architecture has
been considered static, fixed, and inert. Through the use of state-of-the-art
animation and special-effects software, Archilab's
Future House by
Radical Experiments
in Living Space, Brayer & Simonot ArchiLab Radical Experiments in Global
Architecture, Brayer & Migayrou Architecture in the Digital Age by
Hugh Leach & Branko Kolarevic This major reference describes and analyses
the recent developments in the architectural application of the latest
digital design and fabrication technologies. Architecture,
Technology and Process,
by Chris Abel (2004), Architectural Press.
Drawing upon a wide range of knowledge and disciplines, the author argues
that, underlying technological changes in the process of architectural
production are fundamental changes in the way we think about machines and the
world we live in. Key topics include: new patterns of urbanism in the fast
growing cities of Asia pacific; metaphorical extensions of mind and body in
cyberspace; the divergent European and North American values shaping Sir
Norman Foster's and Frank Gehry's work, and the collaborative work methods
and technologies creating the adaptable design practices of today. Architectural Laboratories by
Greg
Lynn & Hani Rashid Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte As the founder of MIT's Media Lab and a
popular columnist for Wired, Nicholas Negroponte's text is mostly a history
of media technology rather than a set of predictions for future technologies.
In the beginning, he describes the evolution of CD-ROMs, multimedia,
hypermedia, HDTV, and more. The section on interfaces is informative,
offering an up-to-date history on visual interfaces, graphics, virtual
reality, holograms, teleconferencing hardware, the mouse and touch-sensitive
interfaces, and speech recognition. In the last chapter and the epilogue,
Negroponte offers visionary insight on what "being digital" means
for our future. Overall, Being Digital provides an informative history of the
rise of technology and some interesting predictions for its future. Bio-Architecture by Senosiain, Javier Bits
and Spaces: Architecture
& Computing for Physical, Virtual, Hybrid Realms/33 Projects by
Architecure and CAAD, ETH Blobmeister:
Digital/Real: First Built Projects Schmal P.C Editor Catalytic
Formations: Digital Design in Architecture by Ali Rahim. The
text is the first of its kind to thoroughly explore the ideas and products of
the digital revolution in architectural design. It fills an important gap in
the field by clarifying for the first time the ideas and concepts that drive
digital-based architecture, and reflecting on what distinguishes these forms
from other architectural forms, other than the way they look.Catalytic
Formations also explores the complex relationships between process,
architectural forms and their experiential influences. The authors work at
Contemporary Architecture Practice both illustrates the translation of these
concepts into architectural design and sets up a network of relationships,
both local and global, that extends throughout the book. City of http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/ Digital technology is turning traditional architectural theory and
planning upside down, contends Mitchell, who teaches architecture and media
arts at MIT. In this rigorous, highly engaging study, he charts both the
architecture of cyberspace and the transformation of buildings and living
space in the information age. Examining a wide range of digital phenomena,
such as the Internet, encryption tools, the major online services and virtual
reality, he explains that the architectural paradigms put forth by civic
planners and critics, from Aristotle to Baron Haussmann and Lewis Mumford, do
not apply to cyberspace. Mitchell argues that online communities,
transcending geographic boundaries and social contexts, offer new ways of
thinking about urban design, private and public space, the separation of work
and home life and personal identity. In more speculative chapters, he walks
us through the changes in civic institutions such as libraries, hospitals,
museums, banks and bookstores, changes made possible by computer technology.
Complete with architectural blueprints, illustrations of digital gadgetry and
an index of related Internet "surf sites," this is a particularly
clever and evocative look at the "soft cities" of the 21st century. Contemporary
Processes in Architecture AD No145 Rahim, Ali Ed |
