Week 7 Topic: Practice vs Project: I: Materials and Techniques

The concept of materiality forces society to develop an interpretation of materials and at the same time, cause it to perceive, “objects as stable persistent realities” [1]. It is for this reason that materials are “culturally and socially constructed” [2] – for example, through this development of interpretation process amongst individuals, a material such as “reinforced concrete, at first seen as a structural system, became gradually a material” [3]. Thus, these reasons emphasise the way in which “material is dependent on cultural factors” [4]. A connection is evident between materiality and digital technology, as to achieve a desired material, the computer can be used to “alter the perceptions of objects” [5], hence extending, “the realm of our sensations” [6] as individuals when we encounter a material. This then leads into flexibility of the process of making where, “practice can no longer depend on stable rules and conventions” [7], due to the understanding that a ‘desired materiality’, sensible materials in nature may not be readily available or cater for the intentional effect. To take into account the way in which material practices are, “tethered to a fast-moving reality” [8], it is important that this exercise is one that is, “agile and responsive” [9], to cater for the fast paced world. Therefore through effect, “a fundamental notion of digital architecture, is not only meant to bridge the gap between subject and object… it is also supposed to bring together the abstraction inherent to computing and the concreteness of architectural experience” [10], as “when dealing with issues of materiality, digital architecture expresses broader trends at work in the architectural discipline” [11].

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r e f e r e n c e s

• [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [10] [11] Picon, Antoine, “A Different Materiality”, “Material by Design”, in Digital Culture in Architecture: an introduction for the Design Profession (2010): Pp. 144, 145, 146, 157, 158.
• [7] [8] [9] Allen, Stan, “Introduction: Practice vs. Project”, in Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation, (2009): Pp. XV.

Week 5 Topic: Guest Lecture - Sarah Gilder

Societies’ evolution through history, leads to the creation of inventions. “Moving energy, information, water, waste, food, goods, and masses of people, modern power, communication, and transportation systems” [1]. These inventions allow society to explore new concepts that enable it to create ideas that, “conceive and speak of physical things” [2]. It is the inventions of the past, including, “electric elevators – [which] made high-rise architecture feasible” [3] and, “extensive subways” [4] – [which] were made possible after the introduction of electric power. This allowed society to utilise “technology to create a physical environment suited to modern men and women” [5] of the present, leading to the alteration of current culture. This expectation correlates well with the notion that, “while not everyone is a hacker, everyone hacks” [6], as hacking “is to release the virtual into the actual” [7], thus, giving unseen information to the modern day men and women. Hacking may appear as negative, although it is simply information that is given to the outer world from an unseen source which may ultimately lead to knowledge advancements through the collaboration of ideas and interpretations. Of course there are barriers, particularly due to owners’ rights to copyright of personal information which therefore leads to the notion that “information wants to be free but is everywhere in chains” [8]. This lack of access to privatised information and knowledge, causes it to “distort and deform its free development, and prevents the very concept of its freedom from its own free development” [9], as, “[information] is chained to the repetition of the property form” [10].

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r e f e r e n c e s

• [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Hughes, Thomas P., “Chapter 3: Technology as Machine,” Human-Built World, How to Think about Technology and Culture (2004): Pp. 50, 48, 51, 74, 75.
• Wark, McKenzie, A Hacker Manifesto (2004)

          • [6] [7] “Hacking” Pp. 50, 44, 48.               
          • [8] [9] [10] “Information” Pp. 67, 69, 70.