Black on White by Deetishaa Koradia

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BLACK on WHITE

CFP Monsoon 2021

U21032



BLACK on WHITE A Compilation of Writings from Reading Objects, Writing Crafts

by

Deetishaa Koradia

U21032 CFP Monsoon 2021


Copyright © 2022 by Deetishaa Koradia All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.


To my loving family and friends.



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION 11 1 REFLECTION ON STUDIO EXERCISES

CONTENTS

1a Exhibition text- Freehand drawing 1b Exhibition text- Technical drawing 1c Exhibition text- Gauging sizes 1d Informal email 1e Formal email

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2 DESCRIBING OBJECTS

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3 SKIMMING THROUGH TEXTS

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4 ANNOTATIONS AND SUMMARY

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5 MIND MAPS 69 6 RESEARCH ON CHESS SETS

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6a Concept note 6b Presentation

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7 PERSPECTIVES 95 BIBLIOGRAPHY 99



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to CEPT University and the CFP team for introducing me to this course. I would also like to specially thank my ROWC faculty, Kenny Bhatia and Manushi Desai for guiding us and encouraging us to improve our writing. Also, a special thanks to my friends for extending support and providing valuable feedback on my work.


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INTRODUCTION ‘Black on White’ is a reference to the contrast one sees or feels in oneself after gaining knowledge or experiencing progress. It suggests how an empty paper of mind is filled with thoughts as inked letters on it. This compilation includes all of my works done during the ROWC classes as a part of Monsoon semester, 2021 at CFP. These writings helped me reflect upon my works done in studio, learn professional communication skills and describe the observations in a concise manner. Reading texts developed a newfound design vocabulary and provided great exposure to different design languages while learning the basic of academic research. The course of booklet showcases my progress achieved, over the course of the semester, by working on valuable feedback and peer learning.

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REFLECTION ON STUDIO EXERCISES Writing about work done as a part of studio exercises which include skill development drawings

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1a EXHIBITION TEXT- FREEHAND DRAWING A write-up intended to exhibit the creative choices made while making the freehand drawing.

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Figure 1 Scanned Image of the Freehand Assemblage

Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.


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BUILDING THE INTERESTING This freehand assemblage was achieved by first planning the placements of the basic geometric forms and then constructing the subtractions on every form. The placement entails forms of different scales to create a balanced composition like the small cylinder accompanying a quadruple-sized prism on top. An important point kept in mind was to avoid any illusions that would result in an unclear representation of the form. This meant averting coincidence of two points or lines of different solids by playing with their scales like the cuboid on the bottom left is scaled down to avoid confusion with the adjacent prism. The solids are closely packed since the idea is to create a composition and not to focus on individual objects. The key was to be mindful of balancing the scale and spaces between two adjacent solids. With the outlines of objects in place, a mass from each solid was to be subtracted. These subtractions are measured and not random so they can be made into models in future. They are guided by the finite halves or fourths like in the cylinders in the centre. This cluster of subtracted solids was an ideation of scaled down life-sized, atypical buildings that lacked symmetry and alignment, yet created a visual equilibrium with the balanced negative spaces like in the centre.

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1b EXHIBITION TEXT- TECHNICAL DRAWING A write-up intended to exhibit the choices made while making the surface development of a subtracted solid.

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Figure 2 Surface Development of a Truncated Pentagonal Pyramid

Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.


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MAKING FORM OUT OF SHAPE The surface development is a 2-dimensional drawing which when cut and folded forms a certain 3-dimensional model. This surface development of a truncated pentagonal pyramid was achieved by first mapping the top and front views of the pyramid on the left with a desired cut at an angle of 50 degrees. The focus of the sheet is on the surface development on the right which was drawn in a symmetrical way, so imagining the way it will fold would be easier. Measurements from plans and elevations on the left which are representations of the form from different views were used to map the faces for the surface development. The solid lines represent cuts and dashed lines represent the folds. Making a form out of a flat piece of paper helps one understand the importance of culmination of simple things like drawing a line of particular length at a certain angle. For every different combination, geometry presents a different form before you.

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1c EXHIBITION TEXT- GAUGING SIZES A write-up intended to exhibit the process and choices while making an urban section.

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Figure 3 Drawing of an Urban Street Section

Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.


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GAUGING THE EXPANSE

This urban street section was achieved by mapping the gauged measurements of a street in Ahmedabad. A street section is a drawing that illustrates various elements of the street to understand proportions and uses of those elements. The section showcases a number of fixed elements of the street along with cyclists and pedestrians giving a sense of the vibe of that street. The dimensions of this particular section of a street were gauged using footsteps and handspans. This technique enabled spanning a large expanse like road and sidewalks. Practising this helped enhance the accuracy in estimation of distances using footsteps beyond this exercise. The actual measurements of the measurable things are written in brackets alongside the gauged dimensions. The activities showing humans give a sense of proportions of other elements on the street. Humans are shown boarding a bus or climbing the stairs on the left to depict human activities so the viewer can connect to the street even in its static condition.

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1d INFORMAL EMAIL An email written to share the reflections of my journey at CEPT with someone familiar to me

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From: deeti.k10@gmail.com To: shaliniprkh0411@gmail.com Subject: Yes, I’m Alive! Dear Shalini, I know I haven’t talked to you for two weeks and you’ll know why by the time you complete reading this. Just two weeks into this journey of five years, and I have improved on many fronts already. I have so many things to tell you, so I’m going to start already. We have studios for different skill based learning which for now is drawing. The first week, we had to make lines, sounds simple, right? Believe me, it isn’t! As an outcome of tremendous work and sleepless nights, I had drawn thousands of lines, all of which had to be perfectly straight (but weren’t). I thought it was pointless to make a hundred and fifty sheets just to stretch lines, but when I compared my first sheet to the last, the improvement was unreal and I didn’t even notice through the process. I gained a certain balance on my hand which improved my eye-hand coordination and consequently my lines. All the wavy, crooked lines gradually turned into straight, parallel lines. The hand adjusted to the most stable grip of the pencil over time and the pressure to be applied for different intensities of lines came along with practice. The constant practice while doing this exercise wore me out but the difference it made on my lines motivated me to keep going. It really tested my mental strength while maintaining constant growth.


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These lines are the building elements of any drawing. So the next week, when we made shapes and 3D forms, we applied our ability to draw consistent lines in any direction. We made regular shapes where the main task was to achieve the exact angles while joining the lines. During the first couple of sheets the edges weren’t parallel nor were they equal. But checking on the lines after every construction helps to not magnify an error and hence prodigy good shapes. The forms turned out to be quite less challenging since they were made of shapes. Making forms is really interesting since you can make even the most complex structures just by addition or subtraction of simple forms. It really let me imagine every object around as a collection of forms. And well, the sleepless nights continue to haunt which made me doubt if I’d be alive, but yes I am. These things only get easier when you’re not alone. The people here are all from diverse backgrounds, with only one thing in common- the urge to learn. I have learned so much in these two weeks, that it feels like months have passed. You know I don’t write much, and I don’t know if I’ll have time to write again anytime soon, but now you know what I’ve been through in just two weeks and its not changing in near future, so I hope you don’t misinterpret my silence. I’ll wait for you to get back to me with your own stories about your new life at the University. Until soon, Deetishaa

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1e FORMAL EMAIL An email written to professionally communicate the technical aspects of work done in simple language

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32 Figure 4 A Labelled Exploded View of a Cycle Saddle

Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.


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From: deetishaa.u21032@cept.ac.in To: kenny.bhatia@cept.ac.in Cc: manushi.desai@cept.ac.in Subject: Understanding the Parts and Assembly of a Cycle Saddle Dear Kenny, I am writing to you in regard to our earlier discussion about the cycle saddle. I am attaching a sheet showing the assembly of all the parts of the saddle. The scale of the saddle to the drawing is 1:2. The placement is simplified for a quick and better understanding. The process started with dismantling the saddle to its core to understand the individual parts that add up to it in detail. Every part was constructed individually to document their dimensions and overall form. This step gave an insight into the importance of each part in the overall functionality of the saddle, like the way the coil holder holds up the coils vertically in place or the way it retains the rail on the saddle’s back plate. The parts once understood in detail were arranged in an isometric bird’s eye view on an A2 sheet, that is, a view with a higher observation point than usual eye level, drawn at 30 degrees to the horizontal. In such a view, the saddle was drawn with its bottom part facing upwards and all its components exploding vertically above it. This view is useful as imagining the saddle as it looks when kept on a table is far more simpler than Black on White I M2021


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when drawn from a view, say, worm’s eye view which requires a certain level of imagination that not every eye is trained for. Moreover, it also enables to showcase even the minutest part without hiding or overlapping the other for a clearer sense as to where and how the components fit into each other. Now, to convey where and how these components fit into each other, for example, wrap around or pass through the other axially, dashed lines or axis lines are used. In the top part of the sheet, where the coil holder attaches the coils through such axis lines, it means that the coils fit into the holder axially. These lines are also drawn in an isometric view so that the sense of 3-dimensional space created during the assembly of these components is not taken away. The parts in the exploded view are arranged with the orientation they will end up fitting into each except for the springs which when connected form a web-like platform connecting the central holder to the back plate as seen in the bottom half. The reason for not showing them in that orientation is that the 30 degree alignment of all the objects is disturbed. Every layer in the arrangement of the components is symmetrical in nature which have been shown on the same axis. The arrangement of the components is one aspect of the drawing while depicting it effectively is another. Here, we bring in the use of different line thicknesses to highlight certain forms like the saddle itself at the bottom of the sheet which is the integral component of the whole drawing. Different line thicknesses are also used to show the thickness of otherwise very thin surfaces like in the case of saddle back plate and central holder.


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Please let me know if you need any clarifications or have any questions regarding the choices made during the process or the final outcome. Looking forward to your reply. Regards, Deetishaa Koradia

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DESCRIBING OBJECTS Black on White I M2021


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Figure 5 The Studio Tables at the CFP Building

Note. The studio tables complement the brick wall and kota stone floor perfectly. Photographed by D. Koradia, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.


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THE WOODEN BOON FOR STUDENTS The table seen here is one of the studio tables at the CFP building. Twenty four of them, aligned in four rows and two columns in one room, give ample space to the students to work on any scale and also move about in the room. Each table is dedicated to a student for drafting, sketching and storing purposes, with pinning boards to the sides on the brick wall. The well lit room, owing to its large glass windows on the east, restricts the lighting imbalance due to artificial light and lets the students view their work in natural light. The size of studio tables is larger than the usual working desks to accommodate large drawing sheets or models. It is 1.3 metres long and wide. Each table can be worked on by two students, implying half the area for each student with individual storage capacities on opposite sides. The wooden table top rests on metal frames on the sides. The table is very efficient in its use. It does not engage any extra design clutter, rather has a very simple and to the point design. The design consists of a drawer meant to store sheets of A2 size, a cuboidal storage compartment, both of which can be locked to make it a private storage by a smart and unique design concept. The way it is designed to lock is minimal. It employs a pivoted metal disc which when turned down restricts the use of the drawer and stops against the locking strip on the cuboidal storage adding a private facility when lock is attached. The table is also equipped with a power socket for gadget use on the table. Usually the stationery and materials required in the field of design and architecture turn bulky with the workload of assignments and submissions. Hence, the dedicated storage for students enables them to work efficiently without them having to worry about carrying around their sheets and things that need not be moved and are required everyday at work or class. Black on White I M2021


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The metal frames are painted grey which complement the wood finish of the table top as well as the storage compartments very well. The table top is a unit of 26 wooden planks joined together side by side with each plank consisting of smaller wooden pieces connected through finger joints for decorative purposes. It gives the table a constructively rich appearance maintaining the simplicity of the design. The hardwood is smooth to work on due to its lacquer finish which allows students to draw on the sheets uninterruptedly. Although the table has a framed metal grill mesh under the table which can be used to place bags or unconventionally students can stretch and rest their legs on it, this high table in general does not have a foot rest, but that is because the stool that comes along with it does. The stool too employs the same material as the table with a circular wooden seat and steel metal legs, seated on the smooth kota stone floor of the room.


41 Figure 6 The Minimal Lock System

Note. The state in art lock system employed by the studio table for private storage to facilitate student’s ease. By D. Koradia, 2021. Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.

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42 Figure 7 The Timeless Design of Metal Chair

Note. It’s color palette complements the cream tiled floor. Photographed by D. Koradia, 2021. Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.


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THE CHAIR WITHOUT AN ARMREST The chair shown here is a part of the dining room table chairs’ set. Its skeleton is made of metal paired with fabric of red brick colour which is perfectly paired with the greenish grey granite dining table. The chair does not feature an armrest and is lean in its structure. Its backrest is not straight, rather it has a diverging geometry. The chair’s frame is essentially metal tubes bent and welded, with a circular form as the seating part. It is very sturdy due to its material with least wear and tear or maintenance. The seat, whose outer frame is a steel rod bent into a circle of diameter fifteen inches and painted black, has a convex cushioning and is brick red coloured cotton upholstered. The fabric stapled to a circular hardboard rests on two metal strips welded parallelly across the frame. The front two legs made of the same rods are curved inwards and are eighteen inches high. These legs have a hard rubber bottom added to them so metal does not screech against the floor while moving. The chair features an interesting design in the way its backrest and back legs are a part of a continuous frame. Two rods, forty inch long run from ground to top, with twenty two inches forming the backrest. These create an outward angle to form a curve. These rods are topped by a rounded edge metal tube arc which is concentric to the seat and is twenty inches long. It supports the shoulders while seated in any organic form. The backrest construction encloses a design, not-so-modern in appearance, also made using welded metal tubes. The chair’s non-geometric design sets it apart from most furniture seen today. It does not cover a major visual area due to its lean frame structure and hollow design elements. It is non-stackable because of its curved legs Black on White I M2021


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and more importantly its innate footrest. The footrest is basically two metal rods welded connecting the opposite legs of the chair. In essence the chair creates its own kind of environment sitting on the cream tiled floor against the granite top table. Its backrest engages the seated person to the chair more than anything else due to its special curve that helps the backbone rest comfortably although made of metal. In all its minimal design lets you move about freely while seated and does not let you feel restricted.


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46 Figure 8 Key Hanger Gracing the Wall

Note. The hanger can easily take more than six keys. By D. Koradia, 2021. Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.


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THE KEY HANGER AS AN ARTWORK The key hanger seen here is a product of the handicraft industry, once exhibited by a Rajasthani handicraft maker. Hanged on the wall just as you enter the house, it is not just used to hang keys but also to keep important bills and small documents. Its structural skeleton is made of wood, with a primary board lying flat and a smaller wooden frame attached to the bottom end of it at an angle of 20 degrees. The hanger is twenty centimetres long along its bottom edge with its height around seventeen centimetres. The bottom edge has six steel hooks to hang the keys or any small item. The key hanger hangs itself on the wall on two screws drilled into the wall. It being at a shoulder height on the wall against the entry console is convenient to use while leaving or coming. Since it hangs on two small rings on the screws the approximate weight it can hold is two hundred grams. The hanger has mainly two things that are not conventional to a key hanger. One, it sort of frames an art piece made of coloured sand, conveying the traditional background of its origin. The sand art has pastel orange, yellow and cyan shades on its background giving the feel of the colours of Rajasthan, and the portraiture of the two ladies that are drawn onto the glass that is framed is similar to the traditional representation of the Royals in paintings. The wooden frame that sits on the glass is bordered with a half moon and star pattern made using a round chisel tool. This frame’s angle creates a pocket, which is the second unconventional thing, to store small documents and objects which renders handy while leaving in a hurry. The headboard also features a pattern of concentric Black on White I M2021


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circles carved with different intensities, just below the rings used to hang the hanger. Although the wood used to make the key holder is not polished, it is smooth and free of rough straws which is another achievement on the maker’s part. Dusting it is quite a task owing to the small crevices and the acute pocket but is manageable when all the things it holds are kept aside for a while. The hanger, which is not a huge deal in household furnishings, often goes unnoticed but is quite useful in organising things when things need to be handy. This hanger serves more than just a key holder because of its aesthetics, it is an artwork in itself.


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SKIMMING THROUGH TEXTS Developing an overview of the given text by skimming through it

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The Green Imperative: Natural Design of the Real World by Victor Papanek

Question: Where does a building’s sense of harmony come from? Page 99-104

Theme: A Dwelling- An organic harmony between life and ecology • Architectural harmony goes back to beginnings of habitation and worship • Impression of personalities on the spaces occupied even when we lived in caves • Building houses ourselves provided physical and psychological comforts • Connection of the person living in the house to the architect and builder • Harmony with the people who live in them, nature and culture • “First, do no harm” signifies a giant step forward for users and towards the sustainability of the built environment • Sensing a dwelling as a part of natural and built environment Black on White I M2021


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Sustainability

from 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture Pages 196-197

Ecological Sustainability and its Direct Impact on Architecture • Idea of ‘sustainability’ launched due to global concern about planet’s sustenance • Growth in scientific awareness of interdependence of life led ecology to emerge as a separate discipline • Sustainability, a massive challenge to building design • Buildings being major contributors to the carbon based gases pave way for global warming • Building regulations continuously updated to ensure compliance with good practice • Regulations are effective with new buildings but the problems with existing buildings remain intractable • Ecological sustainability needs to go hand in hand with social and economic sustainability to address the problems


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• Changing the way architects work and impacting the technical detailing of the buildings • Impact on expressive qualities of architecture still hard to discern

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Dome

from 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture Pages 30-31 The Architectural History of the Dome • Earliest remains found in Ukraine as corbelled domes made of mammoth tusks and bones and brick domes in Mesopotamia • Their architectural history begins with the Romans, who built them of stone, brick and concrete • All domes exert an outward thrust, which was resisted by the use of heavy iron chains and thick brick walls • Arches and pendentives were used to solve the awkward scenarios caused in basilican churches • Resolution of odd scenarios led to an innovation central to Baroque architecture, namely the oval dome • New materials such as concrete and steel transformed the dome construction in twentieth century


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• Thin eggshell domes of prestressed concrete were pioneered while the invention of geodesic dome offered unprecedented lightness • Geodesics are a spherical shell structure or lattice shell, which enclose space with minimal amount of material • Used by military as air-liftable temporary shelters and temporary drop-out homes • Problematic at small scale due to awkward door openings and waterproofing problems

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Vault

from 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture Pages 28-29

Developments in vaulting across the years • Oldest examples found in Egypt for granaries which have an elliptical form that eliminated the need for temporary works • Groin vault was the first major innovation in vaulting, developed on a vast scale by the Romans • Results from the intersection of two semicircular vaults of same diameter • Load transmitted down the groins allow them to be supported by four piers rather than walls • Geometric freedom of the pointed arches exploited • Innovations in rib vaulting made by the Gothic masons, using the Roman quadripartite form and a new sexpartite form • English fan vault whose strength came from a doubly curved surface, represented a structural advance


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• The Catalan brick vaulting tradition based on overlapping laminations of thin, fired clay tiles • Aligning the elements of the structure along the lines of force gave pure compression vaults and cylindrical barrel shells • Major developments came with the refinement of thin-shell and grid-shell systems

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Staircase

from 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture Pages 22-23

Different staircases and their evolving importances • First true stairs were developed from timber ladders and were made as straight flights • The dog-leg stairs now ubiquitous in multi-storey buildings was common in Roman architecture • The helical stairs although now uncommon, were very common in medieval Europe and are of ancient origin • Disparate reactions to the use of staircase were provoked by the architects and theorists • For some, a nuisance to be accommodated, while for others, an opportunity of architectural expression and beauty • Grand stair hall in English country houses as the focus of spatial composition • Stairs used as means of escape in case of fire since the 1840s


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• Flow of people up and around the circulation system of theatre offered performances to rival those on stage • Led to the conception of the architectural promenade by Le Corbusier • Stairs still central to facilitate movement through many buildings, despite the lifts being everywhere

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ANNOTATIONS AND SUMMARY Summarising the given texts through annotating using the skills developed during skimming Black on White I M2021


64 Figure 9 Sample Annotated Text from Design and History

Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.


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DESIGN AND HISTORY Bürdek, in this text narrates the developments that have shaped the history of industrial design across various countries. They walk us through the different movements and cultures that have led us to the stage of industrial design today. The beginning of understanding design can be credited to Vitruvius who laid out the basic principles of functionalism. In the mid-nineteenth century, the industrial revolution led to an era of new materials and technologies as mechanised industrial enterprises replaced the older production methods. Introduction to industrial design paved the way for the Arts and Crafts movement which focussed on high production volume and utility with reduced aesthetics. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, many new movements like Art Nouveau and Secession style emerged in Europe. In the twentieth century, German Werkbund was founded that represented both product standardisation as well as expression of artistic individuality. Their high point was the Weissenhof project which represented an attempt to subject everything and embodied a meaningful unity of social conditions. The Bauhaus was established as an academy and was expected to bring together art and technology to form a fresh unity where students were encouraged to experiment and explore their own creative talents. It aimed to develop affordable products while maintaining a high degree of functionality and achieve a new aesthetic and social synthesis. After being closed by the Nazis, its teachings were continued at the Ulm School of Design. Black on White I M2021


66 Figure 10 Sample Annotated Text from Building Utopia

Copyright @ 2022 by D. Koradia.


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BUILDING UTOPIA Tim Benton in this text talks about the journey of building a perfect State in its social and moral aspects through the progress in architecture and style. The modernist buildings starting to appear from around the 1920s broadly constituted an “anti-aesthetic utilitarianism”. However, for some it was an expression of artistic formalism. The modernists believed that architecture should contribute to revolution and not just respond to the existing needs of the society. Most of them claimed that their work was dedicated towards social reform by making affordable houses. Their idea was that necessity would have to defeat beauty. A major concept advocated by them was functionalism with the idea that form of buildings should be determined by use or purpose. The assumptions that the built environment could mould human behaviour and that the utility of buildings was more important than aesthetics became the driving force behind this concept. Modernism served a surge of ideas like the Zeitgeist principle. The task of architects, they said, was to assimilate the overall conditions of the time and to create buildings accordingly. With the emergence of avant-garde art movements around the post-war period, the youth came together to promote the utopian idea of transforming society. It influenced the emergence of Bauhaus.

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The text concludes on the note that the conflict between functionalists and formalists made it almost impossible for anyone on the left to promote architectural aesthetic. The polarisation of European politics saved Modernism and became the automatic allegiance of the democratic left.


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MIND MAPS Visual representation of salient aspects of a text

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Mind Map on Design and History


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Mind Map on Genius of Design

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RESEARCH ON CHESS SETS Black on White I M2021


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3a CONCEPT NOTE Written to demonstrate conceptual clarity on the comparison between two chess sets to help during further research

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Figure 11 Model XVI Bauhaus Chess Set

Figure 12 Max Ernst Chess Set

Copyright @ 2022 by Chessbazaar

Copyright @ 2022 by Chess.com


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Form and Function:

A Comparative Study between the Bauhaus Chess set and the Max Ernst Chess set The research intends to explore the modernist influence on the production and appearance of two prominent chess sets designed in the 20th century by comparing the Bauhaus chess set designed by Josef Hartwig in 1924 against the chess set designed by Max Ernst in 1944 (Ancient Chess, 2016). The comparison has been drawn on the basis of their design history, methods of production and appearance. The modernist influence meant two different things to both the designers. In the case of Josef Hartwig, it was the influence of Bauhaus, whereas in the case of Max Ernst it was his experimental attitude toward the making of art. Josef Hartwig and Max Ernst were both based in Germany. Expressionism was the Modernist movement that emerged in Germany in the beginning of the 20th century (Richman-Abdou, 2019). By getting rid of all religious and monarchical symbolism of the French chess sets, Josef Hartwig updated the game and its design for the modern era (Knowles, 2015). Max Ernst, an artist and a sculptor, was influenced by the modernist movements, surrealism and expressionism in particular, which could be seen in his paintings and sculptures (Blumberg, 2015). In terms of their design histories, the two chess sets originated from a profound need to shift from the contemporary idea of a chessboard and its pieces, with the Bauhaus chess set displaying the elegance and simplicity that comes with the principle of “form follows function” (Ancient Chess, 2016). It was designed by Hartwig with the key ideas of Bauhaus. The repetition of consistent lines and geometric shapes that go with the movement of each chess piece were used in this design, reducing the pieces to the most basic components of artistic construction - the elementary forms of circle, Black on White I M2021


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triangle and square (Milosevic, 2016). Max Ernst on the other hand aimed to break the stereotypical rules when it came to designing chess pieces. These modern chess sets were born from different ideologies when it came to their design. The Bauhaus chess set displayed movement patterns while the Max Ernst chess set displayed the pieces in a hierarchical manner. The material these chess sets were made of was wood. Greatly influenced by various production methods of the 20th century, both the chess sets are mass produced yet handcrafted as opposed to the machine made chess sets of the 19th century (Pratesi, n.d.). The Bauhaus chess set designed by Josef Hartwig was the first mass produced Bauhaus product. Max Ernst created a chess set that followed processbased methods of artistic production. Bauhaus chess sets were sold in two versions, a “daily use” version and a hand-made “luxury” version which used more expensive types of wood. Unlike the Bauhaus chess set the Max Ernst chess set only had one version that was moderately expensive (Saletnik & Schuldenfrei, 2009). Since the Bauhaus had two versions of the chess sets and was mass produced, it was comparatively more accessible than the Max Ernst chess set. As inferred from the previous paragraphs, both these chess sets largely differ in their response to the Modernist influence. The idea of simplifying the forms of the pieces from the ornate monarchical symbols to pieces with sleek geometric design and clean lines guided both Hartwig and Ernst’s design approach. The different production methods led to one being more accessible and other being limited to luxury.


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3b PRESENTATION Graphical articulation of the research conducted in detail which used all the skills developed during the course of previous exercises

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PERSPECTIVES A sketch reflecting Sabika Abbas’ idea of ‘Reclaiming Public Spaces through Poetry’

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Ancient Chess. (2016, April 1). 20th Century Modern Chess Set Designs: Bauhaus, Man Ray, Max Ernst. [Video]. Youtube. 20th Century Modern Chess Set Designs: Bauhaus, Man Ray, Max Ernst - AncientChess.com Bailey, S., List, L. (2016, August). Designing Chessmen: The Taste of The Imagery of Chess. World Chess Hall of Fame. https://worldchesshof.org/exhibit/designing-chessmen-taste-imagery-chess Bauhaus Chess Set: When Functionality Meets Sleek Geometric Design. (n.d.). Chess-site.com https://www.chess-site.com/chess-sets/bauhaus-chess-set/ Bauhaus Movement. (2019, May 21). Bauhaus chess set by Josef Hartwig [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/SI7V0XQlZEo Benton, T. (n.d.). Modernism: Designing a New World Order 1914-1939. Building Utopia https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bc9h_13HRgLadVQ-gid60SjN9jfvGOrw/view?usp=sharing Berger, B. (n.d.). Collage, Frottage, Grattage. ModernaMuseet. https://www.modernamuseet.se/stockholm/en/exhibitions/max-ernst/collage-frottage-grattage/ Blumberg, N. (2015, June 5). Max Ernst: German Artist. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Max-Ernst

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Burdek, B. (2015). Design and History. Birkhauser. https://drive.google.com/file/d/12iR2zSOb0iODufZPxK96ZL4ppHrOjDh2/view?usp=sharing Marshall, C. (2017, February 3). The Bauhaus Chess Set Where the Form of the Pieces Artfully Show Their Function. Open Culture. https://www.openculture.com/2021/02/the-bauhaus-chess-set-where-the-form-of-the-pieces-showtheir-function-1922.html Milosevic, N. (2016, June 9). Josef Hartwig, Germany 1880-1955. Widewalls. https://www.widewalls.ch/artists/josef-hartwig Modern White Art Wallpapers. (n.d.). Wallpaper Access. https://wallpaperaccess.com/modern-white-art Papanek, V. (1995). The Green Imperative: Natural Design for the Real World. Thames and Hudson. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1deN9TjLGRhdmpDPiIkeBxmWSqprW256U/view?usp=sharing Paulo, S. (2020, October). Josef Hartwig Bauhaus Chess Set. Dribble. https://dribbble.com/shots/14419295-Bauhaus-Chess-Set-Icons Pratesi, F. (n.d.). Observations on Chess Design. http://www.naibi.net/b/CHESSARK-Zsenzafigure.pdf Saletnik, J., Schuldenfrei, R. (2009). Bauhaus Construct: Fashioning Identity, Discourse and Modernism. Routledge. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=Ck6OAgAAQBAJ&q=bauhaus+chess&pg=PA43&redir_ esc=y#v=snippet&q=bauhaus%20chess&f=false


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Weston, R. (2008). 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture. Laurence King Publishing. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v9glv4JT3Og4h6UiTTk7lOBUxaTtmxpP/view?usp=sharing Wilson, C. [Director]. (2010). The Genius of Design [Documentary]. BBC. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r3wc3bGKEKpFwVAnd6h8QtbjQrWjVgyC/view?usp=sharing

Black on White I M2021



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