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THE POETICS OF ARCHITECTURE The studio departed from the premise, enunciated by the Russian Formalist Viktor Šklovskij in 1925, that “a new form creates a new content.” Paraphrasing his claim about art, we tested the position that architecture is not an object, not a material, but a relationship of materials tectonically assembled in space.
the
hidden
“excess
of
meaning”
of an artifact by extracting it from
its
habitual,
conventional
associations, like a flame that bursts out of a dying fire when the log is turned. In the course of our investigations of some methodological aspects of architectural design (composition, tectonics, structure, mass, materials,
“The artist is the instigator of the revolt of
texture, color, volume, space, light—light as material)
things against a reified universe.”
we were more interested in the process of making than
— V. Šklovskij, 1922
in the achievement of some assumed “final product.”
In the search for the “poetic language” that
tested and modified digitally to obtain suggestions
the
Work was executed through models that can be sought
for further model refining: a continuous circular
in architecture, we, in a sense, walked in the
process, typical of the method used by practitioners
footsteps of diverse contemporary and modern
such as Frank Gehry or Jacques Herzog & Pierre De
architects, such as Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid,
Meuron.
Suprematists
and
Constructivists
Peter Eisenman, and even Frank Lloyd Wright and
The study of architectural examples with
Le Corbusier, who all found solid inspiration in
on- site visits to important and accessible
the work of the Soviet architectural avant-garde.
buildings, such as Louis Kahn’s Kimbell, enriched
We
investigated
the
understanding
that
our discussions and informed our investigations.
architecture, like art, is engaged in “subverting
Most importantly, every effort was made to
everyday banality.” So, far from indulging in
allow for the students’ full expression of their
the frenetic pursuit of “novelty” for novelty’s
abilities and personalities. In so doing, the
sake, we rather looked for ways the familiar,
instructor tended to avoid imposing ideas, and
the given, “the trash of everyday life,” can be
created conditions for such self-expression to
“de-familiarized.” We asked how can we find, in
occur.
the world of reified objects that surround us, danilo udovicki-selb : design five, fa2011
This was an exploration of the use of pattern within architecture. I was interested in studying spatial configurations given a rigid set of mathematical conditions. kate bowers jorge martinez jr.
I had not previously had the opportunity to explore form through music; I loved the freedom that we had to discover and create our own boundaries. megan mowry