A4627 Materials and Methods in Architecture
Technology ElectiveWilliam E. Massie
APPROACH
Viewed against the background of the epochal changes occurring in industrial technology, architectural technology, since late modernism, has slowed in its evolution. The development of new materials and methods unrelated to existing materials gives architects little recourse to historical techniques and representations. Despite the heterogeneity of current movements and theories, architectural discourse remains principally concerned with the ideology of all things retinal; technology was long ago severed from the autonomy of architectural art. An abundance of intellectual constructs have been erected around essentially identical building techniques, producing mainstream architectural culture an unbroken tectonic and representation tradition three decades old. Re-establishing a relationship between architecture and current technology provides an opportunity for critical architectural exploration.
This course will take a skeptical view of received/standard ideas of architecture and architectonics as they relate to building. We will research contemporary materials and methods, propose and explore new strategies of making architecture, and directly test these propositions in the shop. Fundamental skills will be required in traditional shop techniques. These skills be used as tools for experimentation in architectural materials and methods. Weekly manipulations of glass, steel, concrete, etc. Will take place in the GSAP and at the School of Engineering s Carleton Laboratory.
Projects will include the design and making of structural members, component assemblies, and the development of new material processes. In the final project, students will have the opportunity to develop a material portion or a conceptual process related to their studio project. Reading assignments, presentations, and discussions will infuse production with cultural, socio-political and technological information. The development of a catalogue of technical and related information and a statement of intentions will be required. Collectively an archive of technologies will be created documenting research findings and material collection.
EXPLORATIONS
Materials
concrete; compositions; ferrous and non-ferrous metals; glass; light; silicone rubber; plastics; polyester, epoxy resin; alumalite; wood; wood products
Methods
adhesion; casting; folding; molding; pressing; rapid prototyping; thermoforming; welding
THEMES
Two themes form the core of this elective: 1. Honing, the absence of the hand in making, 2. The implosion of technology as it applies to the art and science of building/making
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Banham, Reyner, The architecture of the well-tempered environment, 1984
Conrad, Ulrich, ed., Programs and Manifestoes of 20 th century architecture, 1982
Eagleton, Terry, The ideology of the aesthetic, 1990
Foster, Hal, ed., The anti-aesthetic: essays on postmodern culture, 1983
Fuller, Buckminster, Ideas and Integrities, 1963
Godman, Nelson, Ways of Worldmaking, 1988
McMaster Carr catalogue, latest edition
MSC catalogue, latest edition
Pawley, Martin, Theory and design in the second machine age, 1990
Viollet-le-Duc, E-Emmanuel, and Hearn, M. F., The Architectural Theory of Viollet-le-Duc, 1990
Virilio, Paul, Bunker Architecture
Watkin, David, Morality & Architecture, 1978
W. W. Grainger Catalogue, latest edition