Haptic Journey: Fort lane: Some thoughts from Studio today

Process:
From talking to students today I could see that a number of you are attempting to "design in your head". By this I mean that you are planning the entire project intellectually and then, only after doing this, picking up materials and attempting to make it.

This linear method of design is fraught with difficulty! Instead I suggest that you work in an iterative process and "think through making". By this I mean that you use the maquettes, and photographs of the maquettes, and drawings onto and into these photographs as a means through which to analyse and synthesize your design for Fort Lane. Think of these iterations as a loop, thinking, making, analysing (through drawing and thinking), making again, analysing again (through drawing and thinking) . . . . etc. Through this constant making and thinking (or we might say reflection) you will arrive at your design.

Presentation:
Some students also, incorrectly, think that we require a "presentation model" for this project. There is no time for this! I imagine that what you will present is printed images/photographs generated from your maquette studies. (These may be manipulated to show inhabitation, changes in light and atmosphere etc). And freehand/instrumental sectional drawings demonstrating how the design operates architecturally, in terms of the tectonic, material and scale, that is how things fit together! (You might also present a plan view.)

Progress:
Aim to have lots of images/photographs and maquettes to discuss with your tutor on Tuesday.


“….they describe the process of proactive as embedded in the tactility of architecture, and they extend practical discourse beyond simple use of specific materials. Rather, they use tactile and sensory materials and observe the extraordinary in the ordinary. They discover wonders in common materials…………….their practice is actually a sophisticated process of continuous analysis and syntheses.
Toshiko Mori discussing Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam.

For an experiment in a soft hairy universe check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IKkMPe5kVs