Course Description:

If architecture is about the process of translating concepts from the realm of ideas into material assemblages (from drawing to building, from the possible to the concrete, from the virtual to the actual), and architectural pedagogy is about the methods and practice of teaching and learning this translation, then this course privileges the model as a multivalent tool for developing iterative feedback loops of critical thinking and making. The course will expound upon the notion of the model through three modalities: the intellectual, the virtual, and the actual. First, the intellectual model (the development of an architectural idea through reading, writing, and discussion); second, the virtual model (the translation of the intellectual model into that which prefigures the final consequences of a project, principally Rhino models articulated through Grasshopper scripts, but not excluding analog representations or mixed-media communications); and third, the actual model, which is understood in the context of this course as a physical, scaled, measurable representation of a building constructed out of materials (emphasizing wood) and shaped by tools (primarily those of the College’s woodshop and Student Innovation Center, e.g. jointers, planers, table saws, bandsaws, chop saws, panels saws, and sanders).  We will not exclude digital fabrication resources such as laser cutters, CNC routers, and 3d printers, but rather use them in a complementary way.  The semester will unfold through a series of hands-on workshop led by Prof. Zuroweste, in which students will learn useful methods for developing intellectual, virtual, and physical models. Initially we will conduct a slow, deep, collective reading of Delirious New York by Rem Koolhaas, developing an intimacy with the text as an archetypal example of 20th century architectural theory and a repository of ideas from which to analytically form productive principles for architecture (multi-family housing in particular). Koolhaas’ vintage reading of 20th century metropolitanism will be positioned against contemporary crises of hydrological disasters, unaffordable housing, and commerical real estate vacancy rates to perform an ecocritical investigation of hyper-density and its futurity. Leveraging Delirious New York as an intellectual machine for design ideas, Prof. Zuroweste will demonstrate how to build up virtual models through representation tutorials featuring Rhino, Grasshopper, projection systems (orthographic, axonometric, isometric, perspectival), and Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign workflows. The virtual model workshops will build upon knowledge gained by students in Arch 230 and Arch 231, extending techniques learned in these courses into more advanced and experimental territories. Physical model workshops will principally entail Prof. Zuroweste demonstrating how to creatively shape materials (emphasizing basswood and plywood) using machines in the College woodshop and Student Innovation Center. The application of jigs, or devices that hold a piece of work and guides the tools operating it, will be central to our development of physical models. Strategies for using the computer as an aid for efficiently building precise physical models with auras of craft will also be covered, primarily methods for reverse-engineering physical material thicknesses into digital models as the basis for tightly calibrated laser cut and/or 3d-print components. The primary semester takeaway for students will be a practiced ability to think and make through iterative cycles of models, such that the outcome and lesson learned from physical models can be fed back into intellectual and/or virtual models to refine students’ creative processes. Projects will trend towards critical ballast, quantitative design research heft, and qualitative experiences with compelling aesthetic value. The brain directs the hand, the hand manipulates the model, the model reveals insights through the eye back to the brain. This positive ongoing feedback loop evolves ad infinitum as cyclical generations of thinking and making: a project of technique guided by a desire for meaningful social and environmental disciplinary impact.

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Note:

This elective is conceived in parallel with Prof. Peter Zuroweste’s Arch 302 studio Mass Timber Manhattanism: The Culture of Cross-laminated Congestion. Students in Zuroweste’s Arch 302 studio are strongly encouraged, although not required, to enroll in this elective. The course content of the elective will support development of students’ studio projects and enhance the overall learning experience of the semester.

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Selected Bibliography:

Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas

Bergsonism, Gilles Deleuze

Difference and Repetition, Gilles Deleuze

Log 50: Model Behavior, Anyone Corporation

Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays, Robin Evans

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Learning Outcomes:

A demonstrated ability to construct project-specific intellectual models as the basis for critical pre-design thinking, with an emphasis on research methodologies involving reading, writing, copyright-conscious image selection, citations as required by publication standards, and book editing. InDesign skills will be developed.

A demonstrated ability to construct project-specific virtual models, defined as incorporeal and multiplicitous but nevertheless real architectural models, as the basis for conceptual design thinking and making, with an emphasis on 2d drawing & 3d modeling in Rhino, scripting in Grasshopper, graphics editing in Illustrator and Photoshop, and presentation development in InDesign (elaborated development of students’ intellectual models).

A demonstrated ability to construct project-specific actual models, defined as corporeal and individuated real architectural models, with an emphasis on shaping and assembling basswood lumber and birch plywood into large-scale hand-crafted architectural models using the woodshops located in the College of Design and Student Innovation Center.