Modes of Representation in Architecture

Dean Lewis - Translation for Representation Phillip Wing - Film and Architecture Jeremy Haest - Architectural Rendering Architecture’s own Size 0 models?

Wan Aisyah Nur Wan Jefri - Drawing as visual representation Sophie Rose - The exploring the possibilities of Intellectual Montage in Architecture.

Kachaporn Theeprawat - Ideal as Model

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In t rodu c t i on

The group of St Michaels Northgate were fascinated in furthering the understanding of the their visual intent by means of comparing how the production and conceptualisation processes relate to each other through the medium of drawing, modelling, computer rendering and film. Through a progression of experiments, they attempted to capture a kinetic object’s underlying differential graphic, mood, and structure, in order to evoke the dynamically changing viewpoint. Drawing is a flexible form of representation; it plays as a language, a necessary skill for anyone who wants to express ideas or feelings in written images. Architectural scale models are also an important part of the design process as it helps present a design more effectively than pictures. The world in scale model grants us a sense of authority; it is more easily manoeuvred and manipulated, more easily observed and understood. Moreover when we fabricate, touch, or simply observe the miniature, we have entered into a private affair; the sense of closeness, of intimacy is implicit.

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Unfortunately, this intimacy is being lost as the digital age has resulted in a question of reality, where computer images are often idealized with dramatic lighting, generic people, and perfectly set up scenes. In recent years technological advancements have made these images more and more realistic but the CAD model has also had a negative affect on the designer, often limiting their imaginative power to their technical capability.In testing the interface between analogue and digital it is possible to convey a kinetic architectural experience and it is therefore useful to investigate the process of projection, analysis and transformation that happens between the uses of these interdisciplinary tools. As the interface between these tools becomes more fluid it is possible to conceive new spatial experiences and create unique hybrid forms of representation, including montage. Various forms of photomontage in architecture have emerged as a critical and conceptual tool to understand and communicate immaterial qualities of the architectural landscape.

This has therefore helped architects to form a consciousness towards the cultural and social situations constructed around and by architecture. Film has been used in the past in architectural projects mainly as a tool for data collection but it is in the value of video editing which can provide opportunities for critical comment and assist in communicating and reinterpreting temporal, phenomenal and transformational qualities of space. Architectural scholars are now fully embracing the potential of the increasingly accessible medium of film to respond to the challenges of representing the rapidly changing postmodern society, which will help increase our understanding of the dialectic between the physical and digital realms of the urban environment. There is the potential for film to constrain the practice of architecture and the experience of culture, with the increased commercialisation of the public realm and the creation of urban spectacle. However, the interdisciplinary process leading to representation can open up possibilities for interactive participation from those interpreting them, and this was explored in the St Michaels at the Northgate intervention.

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Translation for Representation Dean Lewis 13077019 P30027 Representation

Figure 1: (Composite ipad drawing, image by author)

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Translation for Representation

As representation in architecture has been constricted by regulations and has become contractual, many authors have questioned whether traditional forms of representation enhance spatial conception (Rykwert, 2006, p.22)(Frascari et al., 2007, p.1). There has since been a struggle to find the best way to represent the conception and experience of spaces (PĂŠrez-GĂłmez and Pelletier, 2000, p.13). From this professional scrutiny a wide range of interdisciplinary representation tools have been developed for architects to conceive spaces. There is large support for 3D virtual representation tools (Forget, 2013, p.13). However, in practice it is not solely the use of virtual or analogue tools that has helped conceive spaces but the integration of both (Nichols, 2014).

As the interface between these tools becomes more fluid it is perhaps possible to conceive new spatial experiences and unique hybrid types of representation (Nappi, 2013, p.169).

It is therefore useful to investigate the process of projection, analysis and transformation that occurs between the uses of representation tools. This process can be defined as translation.

The diagram above shows the great variety of translations that can take place between ideas and the material world. It is clear to see that it is possible to conceive space without representation. Nonetheless, representation is extremely useful in guiding the understanding of the material world (Klanten et al., 2008, p.6). It is also evident that tools and interpretation heavily influence representation (Gayford, 2011, p.8). It is therefore vital that architects understand the power of the tools used and critically use representation as a device to improve how spatial ideas are interpreted. This means carefully selecting interdisciplinary tools used and their sequence, as well as analysing and editing what has been chosen for representation. In this way architectural representation can go beyond building construction information towards a medium for exploring experiential and spatial ideas (AltĂźrk, 2008).

This reflective essay aims to review interdisciplinary drawing tools and translation processes used to represent kinetic architecture and which representation skills to improve as a future designer. It will conclude with which processes were successful in conveying kinetic spatial experiences.

Our project brief was to design an architecture that resulted from or related to motion at the site of St Michael at the North Gate. From an early stage a process began to emerge in the way that the group translated ideas through different representation tools. Initial discussions explored the possibility of translating virtual information into a method for people to digitally participate with a kinetic architecture. This expresses the idea that virtual data can be analysed and transformed into a responsive moving architecture. At the same time an idea was verbally presented concerning the re-imagining of the historic north gate leading into the city. Through analysis two ideas were merged into a single concept for an interactive kinetic gateway. It became clear that the power of design was not in a preconceived idea, but in how it was translated (Chattopadhyay, 2012, p.270).

Figure 2: (Translations possible between ideas and the material world, image by author)

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Analogue drawing to 2D digital drawing

Figure 3: (Sequence of tools used and points of group analysis during translation, image by author) While the group analysis took place at controlled points of translation during the design process, as indicated in the above diagram, it is important to note that the order of the representation tools used was carefully considered. This was to explore various interdisciplinary forms of representation and help prevent unnecessary duplicate work between analogue and virtual tools.

The physical drawing was the first tool used to translate ideas from mental to physical representation. It has always been an extension of an architect’s thinking and because an idea is translated through the body onto a surface the designer reserves much control over the translation process (Frascari et al., 2007, p.23). It is this gestural mark making with the human body that can create inner symbolic expression (Nappi, 2013, p.163). For this reason it can be argued that drawings provide an excellent link to emotional ideas and motion. These emotional qualities in a drawing can then lead to the viewer’s experiential interpretation.

However, as drawing becomes interdisciplinary and a virtual composite tool, human control is increasingly restricted and virtual analysis dominates the translation process. Despite this, the tablet-drawing tool holds many new potentials in practice. This was well illustrated in Real De Azua’s lecture where the possibility of a drawing quickly being projected at many scales including 1:1 allowed multiple meanings to be interpreted from the same drawing (2014). The ability to draw and project a representation at a human scale pushes the boundaries of the drawing tool and reduces the level of abstraction that architects often work within. Another potential in industry is to quickly rework a tablet drawing and allow representation to be manipulated by clients as they co-design and mark make (Nappi, 2013, p.168). This idea of digital participation in representation can mean easy sharing of digital images and allow tutors to manipulate work during presentations. It is regrettable that the group did not share and re-work each other’s drawings to leave their marks and potentially create a unique combined graphic language.

In hindsight the language behind the drawings did not always match the kinetic nature of the project and in general the skill involved in controlling interdisciplinary tools towards a clear visual language was not well considered. It is crucial to understand why and for whom representation is designed to be viewed (Berger, 1972, p.84).

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Analogue drawing to 3D virtual drawing The group did not use the ability to continually record or save a single drawing as it is transformed and then analyse key ideas and moments in the design process. From this it would have been possible to translate these images into an animated sequence that clearly showed kinetic intent required by the project.

The tablet interface discussed previously, is constantly improving but has many limitations. The ipad has enabled fingers to complete an electric circuit, which improves human integration (Gayford, 2011, p.93). It appears that there are still leaps to be made in how computers interface with human movement and other physical phenomenon.

Representations have already imagined better links between these two worlds. These ‘augmented reality’ devices are still being developed (Rekimoto and Ayatsuka, 2000, p.7).

It is likely the speed in translation to 3D projections of space that entices designers to use virtual tools (Lenk, 2008, p.24). The level of skill required to now conceive spaces is greatly reduced. For this reason it is even more important to continually analyse how ideas are translated through 3D software tools. As Forget points out, without constant analysis using multiple viewports it is easy to begin random 3D design through observation (2013, p.4).

In order to draw a digital model using 3D software a tool to graphically record the translation between physical mouse movements and the resulting virtual CAD drawing was necessary. IOGraph allowed this visual mapping of the translation process and gave the ability to analyse restricted human movement.

Figure 4: (Potential for new virtual interfaces in Iron Man, 2008)

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Figure 5: (Representation of translation from physical mouse movement into virtual projection, image by author)

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Digital representation appeared to restrict human gestural movement in its graphic representation. However, there are good examples where drawing tools have aided more accurate spatial projections. Albrecht Dürer devised a drawing tool using a grid method to control the translation process between the real world and the 2D drawing (PérezGómez and Pelletier, 2000, p.34). By controlling projections through grid systems it is predictable that grids control the translation of spatial ideas.

This occurred as a sketch for the intervention was translated using a 3D drawing software and rationalising into a grid system. The benefit of this being that the architectural proposal would be able to organise ‘BIG’ data sets into movement. A social network grid of data could then be instantly translated into the kinetic grid controlling public movement through Corn Market Street (Higgins, 2009, p.79).

This opened up the possibility of mapping and visualising the data flow from a mobile device as it tweets a message and is translated into the kinetic movement of the gateway (Klanten et al., 2008, p.89). From text the mobile translates the message into a binary grid, which is then projected into the kinetic ‘datascape’ of the intervention, essentially a 3D moving chart. There are two variables the x and y-axis relating to 1 and 0 and the frequency of tweets linked to the length of the strand or z-axis.

Figure 6: (Albrecht Dürer drawing tool in Pérez-Gómez and Pelletier, 2000, p.34)

Figure 7: (Kinetic architecture resulting from binary motion, image by author)

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References From this, transformations of the gateway were interpreted in order to allow paths through the network of retractable strands. If the kinetic architectural representation resulted from the human gestural motion through drawing this would have added an extra layer of richness to the project. However, the idea of binary motion resulting in kinetic architecture was a powerful idea that could have been explored further.

In conclusion, the tablet and ipad drawings achieved the desired emotionally charged images that were lacking in the 3D model translated using a mouse. Notwithstanding the drawings did not capture the full kinetic intent of the architecture. For this reason it would be beneficial to develop a skill at using different drawing interfaces with the computer.

It is the interface between digital and analogue environments that is still to fully evolve. Through the process of drawing with fingers the hand’s movement was brought back into the design, which is critical in fusing human scale into architectural design. Touch using hands helps interpret the material world and so it is vital to understand the importance of touch in making representation and interpreting it.

Otherwise, buildings can discourage touch and therefore alienates the interpreter. Although it has to be said that the sensory perception of touch is best achieved using physical models. From this it is important to know when to translate an idea using another design tool. As was suggested at the start it is the combination of interdisciplinary tools that best informs the design process.

With this continued blurring of the virtual and physical world it is almost certain that it will bring new ways to conceive kinetic architectural experiences and ideas. It will also likely bring new interactive ways to interpret representations.

-Altürk, E. (2008). Architectural Representation as a Medium of Critical Agencies. Journal Of Architecture, 13 (2), pp. 133-152. [Online]. Available at: (Accessed 22 March 2014).

-Berger, J. (1972). Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin.

-Chattopadhyay, S. (2012). Architectural Representations, Changing Technologies, and Conceptual Extensions. Journal Of The Society Of Architectural Historians, 71 (3) pp. 270-272. Available at: (Accessed 22 March 2014).

-Forget, T. (2013). The Construction of Drawings and Movies: Models for Architectural Design and Analysis. London: Routledge.

-Frascari, M., Hale, J. and Starkey, B. From Models to Drawings. Oxon: Routledge.

-Gayford, M. (2011). A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. -Higgins, H. (2009). The Grid Book. London: MIT. -Iron Man. (2008). [DVD] US: Marvel Studios.

-Klanten, R., Bourquin, N. and Ehmann, S. (2008). Data Flow: Visualising Information in Graphic Design. Berlin: Gestalten.

-Nichols, P. (2014). Digital Narratives. P30027 Representation. Oxford Brookes University. Unpublished.

-Lenk, F. (2008). Like Pen on Paper. Applied Arts 23 (4), pp.24.

-Nappi, M. (2013). Drawing w/Digits_Painting w/Pixels: Selected Artworks of Gesture over 50 Years. Leonardo 16 (2), pp.163-169.

-Pérez-Gómez, A. and Pelletier, L. (2000). Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge. US: MIT Press.

-Real De Azua, L. (2014). Composite & Hybrid Visualisations. P30027 Representation. Oxford Brookes University. Unpublished.

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-Rekimoto, J. and Ayatsuka, Y. (2000). CyberCode: Augmented Reality Environments with Visual Tags. Proceedings Dare May 2000, pp.110. [Online]. Available at: http://www.sonycsl.co.jp/person/rekimoto/ papers/dare2000.pdf (Accessed 27 March 2014).

-Rykwert, J. (2006), Translation and/or representation. ARQ, 63, pp. 2225. [Online]. Available at: (Accessed 22 March 2014).

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Film and Architecture Phillip Wing 13092194 P30027 Representation

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Contents_

Film and Architecture Urban Sapce as Spectacle Narrative and Meaning Bibliography List of Figures

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Film and Architecure_ Architectural scholars are embracing the potential of the moving image to respond to the challenges of representing the rapidly changing postmodern society. The essay will analyse whether there is anything of value for the interdisciplinary process of using film in the design and representation of architecture, with the aim of increasing understanding of the dialectic between the physical and digital realms of the urban environment. The essay will also draw on the existential qualities of the moving image in order to analyse the potential for film to liberate or constrain the practice of architecture and the experience of culture, showing the use of cinema in the increased commercialisation and ‘spectacularisation’ of the public realm.

Fig. 1 - Glasgow Odeon, (1930)

The connectivity of film and architecture can be seen to have developed in the early twentieth century at the time of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation of the west. Changes in our perception of time and space radically shifted with faster communication technologies and the urban image changed from static to moving. Therefore, urbanisation and cinema are inseperable components of the urban imagery of the last few generations. This interconnectedness of film and urban environments is supported by its often symbiotic relationship. Cinema draws upon the urban environment as an asset for film production, and as a space for distribution and consumption. The very presence of film as a media has transformed urban areas with leisure parks and film theatres.

(Fig.1) But its transformative scope is not confined to cities, even the most rural and poorest areas turn their humble abodes into makeshift cinemas for public screenings of film. (Fig. 2) “Cinema and the moving image have come to exert an increasingly pervasive influence in terms of both shaping understandings and perceptions of cities, as well as, in a more material way, shaping the design and aesthetics of the physical urban fabric of (post)modern urban landscapes.” (Koeck and Roberts, 2010, p.7)

Fig. 2 - Makeshift cinema in rural Haiti ‘Sensation Cine’, (2014), photo by author

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Although it is difficult to represent the spatial and social formations that form our everyday experiences of the urban, as Lefebvre points out “the urban phenomenon is made manifest as movement, the centrality and the dialectical contradiction it implies exclude closure, that is to say immobility.” (Lefebvre, 2003, p.174-5) It seems that film is the perfect tool to engage in an analysis of the temporal and transient nature of urban life in all its diversity and singularity. Film has the capacity to convey a multiplicity of spatial and temporal components without the need to rely on the ability of the viewer to actively perceive the narrative with their imagination. In this sense, film has the most powerful qualities to express utopian images and to explore future possibilities of urbanism and culture, The moving image seems particularly appropriate for this purpose. The artists of Europe during the 1930s utilised the media of film as a tool to move past traditional media and outdated norms of representation and expression.

The dynamic and creative potential of film was harnessed for its transformative capacity in constructing world views and alternative visions.

The value of the utopian image “lies not in trying to command the totality of life, but in offering new insight into it and inspiring further constructuve activity capable of regarding totality in all its complexity but without the need to fix it in a static or final form.”

Fig. 3 - Metropolis, (1927), Fritz Lang

This capability of the moving image to capture the totality of life in order to project future possibilities and is an important aspect of its potential for restricting or liberating the public imagination. The utopian visions of urban environments are often oppressive and films are a essential compnent for the powerful state in ‘manufacturing consent’ (Chomsky, 1988) in the mass audience for unfavourable policies. These glimpses of future realities that synthesise architecture and film, the realms of the physical and mental, can often predict a gloomy future that is not far from the actual truth of contemporary society. Fritz Langs’ Metropolis (1927) depicts a city that devours all, mass obedience of the people to the machine age as the bourgeoisie pamper themselves in the tops of tall scyscrapers. (Fig. 3) Harvey in The Condition of Postmodernity (1990) has argued that the visions of future cities in films such as Bladerunner (1982) is related to the politics of postmodernity and globalisation. He describes how there is a total surveillance state with the rich corporations in tall skyscrapers controlling the labour force in the bustling streets below.

The language of the streets is futuristic blend of chinese and jibberish, and the commercialisation of space is complete with illuminated moving images and advertising signs. (Fig. 4)

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Fig. 4 - Bladerunner, (1982), Ridley Scott

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Urban Space as Spectacle_

Fig. 5 - St Michael’s at the Northgate kinetic intervention video extract showing CCTV surveillance of Oxford, (2014), Group 16

Guy Debord highlights in Society of the Spectacle (1992)[1967] that we live in an unreal society as spectators in which the individual is a passive consumer of urban space as a commodified spectacle. This privatisation and commercialisation of public space is strengthened by moving images in the urban space in the form of illuminated facades and advertisements, as shown in films such as Bladerunner and observed in many contemporary cities from Hong Kong to New York. Architectural interventions that use digital moving imagery often excacerbate the passivity of the consumer caused by its treatment as a spectacle with no active engagement required from the audience.

Contributing to the sterility of the urban environment, the medium fo the moving image has been hijacked by the surveillance states, particularly the UK and the USA, to monitor people’s physical and digital movement and communications. (Fig. 5) Is it possible to utilise film in architectural space to create a more collective and engaged image of city life? Koeck’s research into the history of cities and film suggests that cinema had a more active engagement with the audience than the polished films of today screened in surround sound cinemas, particularly when the footage uses original locations, advancing that “participatory and collective re-enactment restore a sense of authenticity and aura.” (Koeck and Roberts, 2010, p.9) There is a dialectic here between the physical world of architecture and the digital world of cinema in visual culture that can be explored.

The St. Michael’s at the Northgate kinetic intervention attempts to explore this through the active engagement of people with the physical intervention through the medium of the digital handheld device.

These mobile devices by their very mobility can be seen as spatially expressive, breaking down barriers to the moving image previously constrained to a geographical area for screening. (Fig. 6)

Fig. 6 - St Michael’s at the Northgate kinetic intervention video extract showing its digital and physical aspects, (2014), Group 16

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Juhani Pallasmaa in his chapter The Lived Image states that “the distinction between reality and fiction has been blurred by cinema” (Uluoglu et al, 2006, p.1) as a new interface has been created between the mental and physical worlds. The theoretical connection between architecture and film can be seen as the understanding of the experience that exists somewhere between concrete and abstract forms. Cinema can therefore be seen as transforming our perceptions of meaning in space.

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“..Cinema became a new paradigm for architecture...by bringing in a new way of understanding our experience of place and time, and by blurring the borders between the real and the imagined worlds, and hence altering the ways we percieve ourselves.” (Ulluoglu et al, 2006, p.x) Pallasmaa aslo shows that we live in a culutre of images that can be used for different purposes, be that commercial exploitation, political and ideological condition or education. Moving images can be used to hypnotically dull the senses with entertainment, but also to create what he calls ‘poetic images’ that have the potential to emancipate the imagination and therefore have ethical value.

Lefebvre is more pessimistic about his critic on imagery in modern society in his condemnation of visual tools such as photography and film as ‘incriminated media’ that only gives an ‘illusion of transparency’ (Lefebvre, 2003, p.20). Space is depicted in films as open when in fact it is closed to most people, and the dominance of the eye over other senses in film only fragments space and social relations. This in fact can be compared to Pallasmaas’ critic of the ‘occularcentralism’ of architectural culture that results in sterile and commercialised spaces in his book, The eyes of the skin, Architecture and the Senses. (Fig. 7) Schaal on the otherhand describes the deception of the senses produced by film in a more positive light, emphasising the liberating aspects of the medium. In describing the use of film to show the urban environment, he states that “the city which normally shows itself as a closed system - almost all its rooms are taboo zones - drops its veil”. This connection between film and transparency, and whether it is seen as illusionary or real can also be seen in the contemporary practice of increasing transparency in architecture with glazed walls and partitions. I argue that the illusionary aspect prevails because, socially created heirarchies have not changed or been imprived by this method of increasing the transparency of space. (Fig. 8)

Fig. 7 - The eyes of the skin, (2005), Juhani Pallasmaa

Fig. 8 - Reichstag extension by Norman Foster (1999) gives the illusion of transparency

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Narrative and Meaning_ Architects have been involved in film for many years. Sigfried Giedion, the Swiss historian and architecture critic quoted in 1928 that “only film can make the new architecture intelligible” (Giedion, 1995, p.176) The multiple forms of perception required to understand cities, be they linear or sequential, disjointed or fragmented, can be shown through film more than any other art. This expands on the revolutionary ideas of Nicholas Pevsner in his use of photographing cities in a visual sequence to explain its narrative and rhythm, and further expanded

by Gorden in The Concise Townscape. (Fig. 9) These developments in representation of cities are comparable to the storyboard artist developing a film script. One only need look at the Architectural Review at the time to see that the concept of the city as a narrative space that the human being navigates with their body was very influential in post modern urban planning in the 1980s. The turn towards the narrative quality of cities is important in shaping our collective memories as Koeck has shown.

“Any film narrative, no matter how well it is put together, will fail without a decent plot. The same could perhaps be applied to cities. Cities that have no coherent spatio-narrative structure tend to be places that have little lasting impression on our memories.” (Koeck, 2010, p. 220)

Fig. 9 - The Concise Townscape, Gorden Cullen, (1971), shows the serial views to depict urban space

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Architects including Bernard Tschumi, Juhani Pallasmaa and others have started to design architecture as a storytelling tool that is given life by the human body moving through the space. I suggest that this is an important element architects can learn from film production.

Architects should learn to percieve the story of the urban environment and how there design might contribute to that narrative and in what way. As many new architectural insertions have contributed cities that have lost their plot. Schaal shows the similarities between architecture and film in that both need a strong concept, and that the architectural sketch is similar to the screenplay, the film script to the building plan.

It is by learning from film that architects can introduce meaning to the city that people can relate to. This narrative element of film is distinct to the analytical use of film which is propogated by Thomas Forget in his book The Construction of Drawings and Movies, Models for Architectural Design and Analysis, but this essay argues that the narrative element of film is more illuminating than the analytical when applied to architectural design and representation.

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Bibliography_

List of Figures_

Chomsky, N., Herman, E., (2008), ‘Manufacturing Consent, the Political Economy of the Mass Media’, Bodley Head, London

Figure 1 - Glasgow Odeon (1930) Found at: http://brucepeter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-odeoncinema-in-glasgow.html

Debord, G., (1992) [1967], ‘Society of the Spectacle’, Rebel Press, London UK

Figure 2 - Photo of cinema in rural Haiti, taken bby author, 2014

Forget, T., (2013), ‘The Construction of Drawings and Movies, Models for Architectural Design and Analysis’, Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group, London, UK

Figure 3 - Metropolis, (1927), Fritz Lang Found at : http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jul/24/tommccarthy-futurists-novels-technology

Giedion, S., (1995), ‘Building in France/Building in Iron/Building in Ferro Concrete’, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, USA

Fig. 4 - Bladerunner, (1982), Ridley Scott Found at: http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,684381/BladeRunner-meets-Cryengine-2-Amazing-Sci-Fi-images/

Harvey, D., (1990) ‘The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change’, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, UK Koeck, R., Roberts, L., (2010), ‘The City and the Moving Image’, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK Lefebvre, H., (2003), ‘The Urban Revolution’, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, USA Mertins, D., Jennings, M.W., (2010), ‘G: An Avant-Garde Journal of Art, Architecture, Design, and Film. 1923-1926’, Getty Publications, Los Angeles, USA Pallasmaa, J., (2005), ‘The eyes of the skin, architecture and the senses’, Wiley Academy, Chichester, UK Shaal, H., D., (1996), ‘Learning from Hollywood, Architecture and Film’, Axel Menges, London Uluoglu, B., Ensici, A., Vantansever, A., (2006), ‘Design and Cinema, Form Follows Film’, Cambridge Scholars Press, Newcastle, UK

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Fig. 5 - St Michael’s at the Northgate kinetic intervention video extract showing CCTV surveillance of Oxford, (2014), Group 16 Fig. 6 - St Michael’s at the Northgate kinetic intervention video extract showing its digital and physical aspects, (2014), Group 16 Fig. 7 - The eyes of the skin, (2005), Juhani Pallasmaa Found at: http://jpearcedissertationresearch.blogspot.co.uk Fig. 8 - Reichstag extension by Norman Foster (1999) gives the illusion of transparency Found at: http://www.worldculturepictorial.com/blog/content/travelberlin-pictures Fig. 9 - The Concise Townscape, Gorden Cullen, (1971), shows the serial views to depict urban space Found at: http://representerfabriquer.wordpress.com/ateliers/ atelier-3-2013-14/

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Architectural Rendering Architecture’s own Size 0 models?

Jeremy Haest 13090819 P30027 Representation

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Contents_

The Architectural Render The Hyper Real The Idealised Image Surrealism and Animation Hybrid Methods and Learning Process Bibliography List of Figures

Figure. 1

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Introduction_

Over the course of this essay I will explore different architectural rendering styles, their place within the architectural world and whether or not their use is appropriate. I will also consider their use within the design process and how this can be used as a design tool.

An architectural rendering is a visual medium used to communicate a project in a way that can be understood and consumed by the public, conveying the space it will occupy and the atmosphere that it will create. Architectural rendering can also showcase an architect’s work before a project has been realised, in an uncompromised version of their own vision.

Architectural visualisations have the potential to create alluring, seductive and idealised images, which have shifted architecture into the realms of fashion and consumerism. Images of perfection and idealism are used to sell products, in this case schemes. This is a potentially dangerous territory, where the

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visualisations become better than reality, even resulting in the public perceiving architectural visualisations as a form of deception and false advertising.

‘Renderings are to architecture what trailers are to a movie’ (Tsu, V., cited in Abrahamson. M., et al. 2012. pg.106)

There are many different styles of architectural visualisation, some focus more on the pursuit of photorealism, others convey more conceptual representations of spaces or atmospheres. The two main styles are ‘hyper real’ photo realistic renders and over ‘dramatised’ and ‘idealised’ images (Abrahamson. M., et al.

2012) Has rendering become an aesthetic end-product rather than the representation of an idea in progress? Architectural rendering is the best tool for engaging with the ‘real’ world; for communicating designs with the public (Abrahamson. M., et al. 2012). As an architectural community we must therefore take into account the message we are trying to convey and whether or not it is appropriate for the audience.

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Hyper Real_

building aren’t as good as the render and everyone calls you out on it.” (Bryant, R., 2013b) To achieve ‘hyper real’ renderings the following need to be understood by the visualiser:

Figure. 2

Figure. 3

Figure. 4

With modern technology photorealistic renders are now achievable and are almost indistinguishable from photographs. Architects such as Henry Goss and Peter Guthrie are arguably leading the way with photorealistic renders, as can be seen in Figures. 1-5 (Bryant, R., 2013a) (Bryant, R., 2013b). Architectural visualisers have become highly skilled at deception, not only deceiving the public but also architects, who create images of atmospheres and spaces that can be entirely fictional.

These ‘hyper real’ renderings are set up and carefully considered, using lighting, textures and a huge attention to detail to create a perfect image of the building. This level of perfection can be detrimental, Henry Goss discusses the way in which the render sometimes looks better than the completed photographs of a building. “There’s always a danger that the client will come along at the end and stick in a whole bunch of crap furniture, and then the photographs of the

1. A technical understanding of the software, as it would be impossible to gain the quality required without knowing the software intimately.

2. An understanding of architecture. An architectural visualiser who has no detailed knowledge or appreciation of their subject matter will not pay sufficient attention to the subtleties required for a convincing render.

3. An understanding of architectural photography as it provides the compositional knowledge for setting up renders.

(Bryant, R., 2013b) Goss discusses the fact that 3D renders are already almost indistinguishable from photographs, but are being taken to the next level by “the addition of real world imperfections.

Scratches in metal, splinters and chips in timber boards, even fingerprints.” (Bryant, R., 2013b)

Figure. 5

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‘Consuming renderings as if they were architecture makes real buildings seem more and more disposable’ (Tsu, V., cited in Abrahamson. M., et al. 2012. Pg.107).

The ‘hyper real’ render creates an interesting paradox as the building can be consumed and absorbed by the public via the architectural render before it is even built. Meaning that by the time a building has been constructed it is already out dated, the public has seen what it will look like and has absorbed it. Architectural renders do not need to contend with factors, such as time, weather, gravity or construction (Tsu, V., cited in Abrahamson. M., et al. 2012).

Figure. 6

Architectural renders are perfect images of a moment frozen in time which is not the case with real buildings. Real buildings are in a constant state of flux, with environmental factors and users affecting them in ways a computer cannot always predict.

Figure. 7

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The Idealised Image_

‘to architecture what pornography is to every teenage boy’ The rendering has “become to architecture what pornography is to every teenage boy. Just like a centerfold model, this architectural pornography is shopped and enhanced to cater to the fantasies of the reader” (Labtop. Cited in Abrahamson. M., et al. 2012. Pg.27) These idealised renderings are like the trailer for a film which shows all the best bits, potentially later leaving you disappointed and tricked. This can be seen in the AOR designed viewpoint.

The real viewpoint (Figure. 9) fails to convey the same sense of atmosphere shown in the rendering; an idealised image with a distinctive aura (Figure. 8)

The idealised view is a somewhat deceptive tool, setting the viewer up for disappointment when the final building is realised. If photography is the after image, architectural renderings can be considered the pre-cursor.

The architectural visualisation blurs the boundary between realism and fiction. An idealised architectural rendering is the portrayal of the atmosphere the architect is attempting to achieve, however deluded or exaggerated this is (Verghese, M,. 2013).

Inhabitants of renders, often referred to as ‘render ghosts’ are incredibly generic, transmitting an absence of culture and a nonspecific metropolitan population of beautiful people, happy shoppers and playful children (Abrahamson. M., et al. 2012).

This is an idealised version of the city, which strategically ignores the cigarette butts, homeless people, chewing gum, graffiti and rubbish that populates many contemporary cities. The digital ‘avant-garde’ has degenerated into producing vapid, generic and homogenous images, which show little regard for cultural context, especially within the commercial world. (Frascari, M., Hale, J., Starkley, B., 2007).

Figure. 8

Figure. 9

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Figure. 10

Lighting conditions in renders are often ‘cheated’ to give the best visualisation outcome (Schielke, T., 2013). This artistic license is used to generate more dramatic atmospheric compositions than is actually the case. The outcome is a captivating and romanticised image of a space that will never take on the same characteristics in reality. This can be seen in the visualisation of Oslo Central Station (Figure. 10) and the Nordhavnen (Figure. 11) where the play of light is over dramatised and unrealistic, yet gives a powerful and evocative result.

Some visualisation artists believe that they have an artistic license; Architectural illustrator Gordon Price stated

Figure. 11

‘We’re meant to be manipulative, We’re like lawyers; every case needs to have its best points brought forward’

This statement develops an interesting stance on deception; is it an untruthful and idealised method of representing an architectural idea, or necessary evil for selling a project?

‘The Reality Filter’ Architectural rendering and visualisations company Luxignon produced a series of images (Figure. 12 and Figure. 13) with a ‘reality filter’ depicting what they would produce for a commissioned render, and another depicting the more likely look of the building. The rendering with the reality filter loses colour, trees, sunlight and playful children, replacing them with overcast clouds, graffiti, old cars, elderly citizens and weathered cladding, failing to reflect the shimmering light as depicted in the first render.

(Price, G., cited in Hopper, T., 2012)

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Figure. 12

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Figure. 13

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Surrealism and Animation_

Figure. 14

Factory Fifteen’s work clearly blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction. People viewing it are aware that this is not real life, much like a film.

Their agendas have included downloadable architecture, speculative filmmaking and utilizing surrealism to drive innovation. (Holmes, K., 2011) Architectural visualisations give the architect the ability to engage with the wider public who may not necessarily be able to read traditional orthographic drawings and therefore cannot engage with the project. Idealised architectural renders may have a more appropriate place within the conceptual and speculative realms of architecture. Factory Fifteen uses architectural rendering to great effect in collaboration with animation to convey complex concepts to the public.

mediums such as film, fashion, music and art are. Even though architecture is constantly surrounding us it is not digested by the public in the same way as other cultural mediums. (Holmes, K., 2011) Factory Fifteen uses animation to further break into the popular media consciousness and

‘beckon architecture to come down from it’s ivory tower to greet the masses’ (Kevin Holmes, 2011).

Thereby reducing the perceived elitism that may be associated with architecture and transforming it into a more digestible form of popular culture.

The success of Factory Fifteen’s style lies in their attempt to put architecture into the public’s conscious, to be absorbed and discussed as other cultural

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Figure. 16

Learning Process and Critical Evaluation_

Visualisations are vitally important, you never see elevations as they are, orthographic drawing techniques have barely changed over the course of the last few centuries and yet technology has developed so much, why should we continue to represent our ideas in such an outdated way?

(Klein, T., 2014) Figure. 17

It is easy to spend lots of time spinning around CAD models rather than actually designing.

Multiple views are chosen without much consideration for their communicative value, many of which may become redundant or simply say nothing new (Forget, T., 2013). It is imperative that in the digital age of mass data the message you are trying to convey through representation should be carefully considered, with views chosen to efficiently portray an architectural intent.

counterproductive and restrictive to the design process. He states that the design process could be liberated by choosing a view, printing off an image and drawing over it (Figure. 16). Then re-introducing it into CAD as the base for a rendering (Figure. 17) (De Azua, L. R., Kaiser, A. P., 2014) Factory Fifteen uses a similar combination of sketch and digital collage to generate concept images. (Figure. 14) before developing them into final visualisations (figure. 15). This hybrid method is influenced my design process, as when used correctly it can be a very quick and powerful tool, allowing CAD to be a liberating tool within the design process rather than a restriction.

Alex Kaiser mentioned similar principles in his lecture on Composite and Hybrid visualisations about the need to stop spinning around a CAD model aimlessly as this is

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It is not always appropriate to depict the world entirely as it is, but nevertheless care should be taken not to generate overly stylized and entirely unrealistic representations of architecture. As Ben Stark states it is the architects role to

As a result of Alex Kaiser’s lecture I experimented with Composite and Hybrid rendering is a method of design and representation.

The results of this experimental process can be seen in Figure. 18 and Figure. 19.

Figure. 18

Successful elements of this process were a reduced time spent on CAD modelling and more time designing and imagining the space. This process added a new frame of reference and a freshness to the CAD model. Not confined to the screen or my own CAD capabilities, expression and layering could be added by hand and then digital collage, resulting in a hybrid rendering.

Less successful elements of these images lay in the detail of the CAD model. This resulted in a more conceptual rendering, drawing on principles and techniques mentioned in Alex Kaiser’s lecture

‘Interrogate, re-imagine, even subvert the forms and processes of the contemporary city’ Strak, B., cited in Abrahamson. M., et al. 2012. Pg.59)

This attitude becomes particularly pertinent not just within this representation unit, but throughout architectural education. We as the designers of the future should be developing new ways of seeing the world and in turn representing them innovatively and appropriately.

A major success of this technique has been the conceptual nature of the images, leaving room for imagination and sparking debate.

Figure. 19

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Bibliography_ Abrahamson. M., et al. 2012. CLOG: Rendering. New York. CLOG Publishing.

Art Institute Chicago., 2014. New Views: The Rendered Image in Architecture. [Online] Available at: http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/ new-views-rendered-image-architecture (Accessed 18.03.2014) Bernath, D., 2007. The Intrusive Rendering: Dictation of Stereotypes and the Extra-Ordinary.. Taiwan in Comparative Perspective, Vol. 1. November 2007. pp.37-69.[Online] Taiwan Culture Research Programme, London School of Economics Available at: http://www. lse.ac.uk/asiaResearchCentre/countries/taiwan/TaiwanProgramme/ Journal/JournalContents/TCP1Bernath.pdf (Accessed 20.03.2014) Bryant, R., 2013a. Architectural renderings now ‘idistinguishable from photos’ says leading visual artist. Dezeen Magazine. [Online] Available at: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/10/20/peter-guthrie-on-hyperrealistic-visualisations/ (Accessed 12.03.2014)

Harris, E. A., 2013. Idealized or Caricature, Architectural Renderings Are Weapons in Real Estate. [Online] The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/nyregion/architects-renderingsas-a-weapon-in-real-estate.html?ref=nyregion&_r=1& (Accessed 15.03.2014) Holmes, K., 2011. Are Factory Fifteen Inventing The Future Of Architecture?. The Creators Project. [Online] Available at: http:// thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/are-factory-fifteen-inventing-thefuture-of-architecture (Accessed 12.03.2014) Hopper, T., 2012. Architectural illustrators use toolbox of tricks to ‘manipulate’ the way we look at buildings. National Post [Online] Available at: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/09/architecturalillustrators-use-toolbox-of-tricks-to-manipulate-the-way-we-look-atbuildings/ (Accessed 12.03.2014)

How We Render: The Changing Image Of Architecture. Architeizer.

[Online] http://architizer.com/blog/how-we-render-the-changingimage-of-architecture/ (Accessed 12.03.2014)

Bryant, R., 2013b. ‘The addition of real-world imperfections is taking architectural visualisation to the next level. Dezeen Magazine. [Online] Available at: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/08/12/henry-goss-onarchitectural-visualisations/ (Accessed 12.03.2014)

Klein, T., 2014. Proto-architecture: Digital and Analogue Hybrids.

Lecture. 28th February 2014.

Davies, H., 2012. Rendering can help build a better picture. BD Online [Online] Available at: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/rendering-can-helpbuild-a-better-picture/5039155.article (Accessed 18.03.2014)

Schielke, T., 2013 Light Matters: Can Light “Cheat” In Simulations?”

ArchDaily. [Online]. Available at: http://www.archdaily.com/?p=402163 (Accessed 21.03.2014)

De Azua, L. R., Kaiser, A. P., 2014. Composite and Hybrid Visualisations.

Lecture. 14th March 2014.

Verghese, M,. 2013. Image: Idealised Architecture. Thinking In Practice.

Available at: http://thinking-in-practice.com/idealised-architecture (Accessed 12.03.2014)

Forget, T., 2013 The Construction of Drawings and Movies: Models for Architectural Design and Analysis. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.

Frascari, M., Hale, J., Starkley, B., 2007. From Models to Drawings.

Abingdon. Routledge.

Freeman, B., 2013. Essay: Digital Deception. The Design Observer Group. [Online] Available at: http://places.designobserver.com/feature/ digital-deception-architectural-photography-after-photoshop/37838/ (Accessed 12.03.2014)

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List of Figures_ Covers (Front and Back) - Luxigon. Reality Filter. 2014. http://www.luxigon. fr/?p=906 and http://www.luxigon.fr/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DDAA-2.jpg Figure. 1 - Guthrie, P., 2014. Hendee Borg. http://www.peterguthrie. net/#/hborg/ Figure. 2 - Goss, H., 2014. Staithe End. http://www.gossvisualisations. com/portfolio/staithe-end-01/ Figure. 3 - Goss, H., 2014. Staithe End. http://www.gossvisualisations. com/portfolio/staithe-end-01/ Figure. 4 - Goss, H., 2014. Staithe End. http://www.gossvisualisations. com/portfolio/staithe-end-01/

Figure. 15 - Factory Fifteen. 2014. Nu-Humana. http://factoryfifteen. com/47938/1429272/projects/nu-humana Figure. 16 - Kaiser. A. P., 2010. Painting Architecture: Mechanical Landscapes. http://apkconcepts.wordpress.com/category/architecture/ page/2/ Figure. 17 - Kaiser. A. P., 2010. Painting Architecture: Mechanical Landscapes. http://apkconcepts.wordpress.com/category/architecture/ page/2/ Figure. 18 - Haest. J., 2014. Process Development and Experimentation.

Figure. 19 - Haest. J., 2014. Composite and Hybrid Visualisation.

Figure. 5 - Goss, H., 2014. Staithe End. http://www.gossvisualisations. com/portfolio/staithe-end-01/ Figure. 6 - Guthrie, P., 2014. Kilburn Vale. http://www.peterguthrie.net/#/ kilburn-vale/ Figure. 7 - Guthrie, P., 2014. Kilburn Vale. http://www.peterguthrie.net/#/ kilburn-vale/ Figure. 8 - AOR. 2014. Camley Street Viewpoint. http://aor.fi/viewpoint Figure. 9 - AOR. 2014. Camley Street Viewpoint. http://aor.fi/viewpoint Figure. 10 - Luxigon. 2014. Oslo Station. http://www.luxigon.fr/?p=733 Figure. 11 - Luxigon. 2014. Nordhavnen. http://www.luxigon.fr/?p=776 Figure. 12 - Luxigon. 2014. Reality Filter. http://www.luxigon.fr/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DD-AA-2.jpg Figure. 13 - Luxigon. 2014. Reality Filter. http://www.luxigon.fr/?p=906 Figure. 14 - Factory Fifteen. 2014. Nu-Humana. http://factoryfifteen. com/47938/1438881/projects/design-select

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DRAWING AS VISUAL REPRESENTATION Wan Aisyah Nur Wan Jefri 13090279 P30027 Representation

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Jeremy Haest P30027 REPRESENTATION 2014

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Drawing as Visual Representation Design ideas through drawing Interpreting design action through drawing How to achieve a good drawing Bibliography List of Figures

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Design Ideas through Drawing

Situated in the heart of Oxford city, St Michaels at the Northgate once a prevailing access point has been engulfed by the city and somewhat forgotten and lost it’s in important as a gateway into the city.

Seeing this as an opportunity, a political activist group to revolve their agendas has driven them to take private ownership of St. Michael Northgate and extend it along Cornmarket Street. Their agendas orbit around the current privatisation of Britain’s streets and the capitalist commerce. In the meantime, they also aim to explore censorship, or deliberately unreported global affairs which are never publicised in UK.

Micklewright (2005) states drawing is a language, a necessary skill for anyone who wants to express ideas or feelings in written images.

Like all languages, it can be mastered with practice and instruction. He also mentions drawing is seen as a flexible form of expression rather than a set of mechanical skills. There is no right way to draw creatively, anymore than there is one style of writing creatively.

The group is using St. Michaels Northgate as a medium to expose their political agendas by reviving the historic city gate in the form of an architectural insertion to St. Michaels body. This will eventually mark and boldly reinstate St. Michaels Northgate as a powerful and influential building within Oxford.

From this point, to deliver ideas on how to achieve the aim and objective of the agendas to work successfully, the methodology and choices behind the representation has to be critically analysed with the purpose of creating a more potential meaningful connection between project depictions and the architectural idea, making possible a stronger argument for the project.

Question such as;“What will the drawing convey?”, “What is the design idea that needs to be narrated through the representations?”, “What types of drawings best convey those architectural ideas?” will begin the criteria required to reinforce architectural ideas.

Mo Zell (2008) suggested that a successful drawing is one that clearly conveys intentions and ideas. It does not have to be rendered in an artistic, beautiful manner for it to be good. Nonetheless drawings need to provide designers with insight into mind, abilities, style, technique, and subject matter.

Figure 1.

Three main characters of St Michaels Northgate Three main individual drawings portray significant characters of St Michaels Northgate. These characters act as main catalyst to come out with design ideas eventually.

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This can be supported by Cooper (2007), Pittsbiurgh an urban designer argues that drawing plays an important indirect role in practice. It articulates such concepts as self-renewable primer on the ways and means of exploring design through different views and perspectives as these views establish a connection between the kinetic interventions, building and the public people. The connection will be portrayed from different composed views for people to understand the significance of this entire approach to drawing.

According to Philips et all, it has been investigated that a wide variety of representational drawing techniques will develop a broad categorization interpretation based around them. (Philips et all, 2005) The activist group were fascinated in furthering the understanding of the physical illustration of objects by means of direct comparison of drawing production with the depicted objects.

Figure 2 and 3 Drawings show different graphic to depict ideas on how to represent smoke moves around in town.

Figure 2 shows colourful hues represent something that is fun to be deal with while in contrast Figure 3 indicates hazardous and evoke sense of confusion and shocking

They performed a progression of experiments to correlate the markings made when depicting an object with the object’s underlying differential graphic, mood, and structure that evoke a dynamically changing view point.

Figure 2 Colourful hues of smoke

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Figure 3 Hazardous smoke

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Interpreting design action through drawing

Architectural language can be established through architectural drawing and representation methods that is necessary for clear communication of architectural ideas.

Mo Zell claims drawing itself is an artefact which is a two dimensional used by many architects. It is a form of visual communication, based on a common, visual language that conveys ideas, depicts existing conditions and creates imaginary unbuilt environments. Drawing transposes 3D images, both real and imagined, onto 2D surfaces. Representation through drawing can be categorised by painting sketching, diagram, 2d orthographic projection, 3d perspective. (Mo Zell, 2008) It is important to relate between drawing and actual practice that underlying closer observation and understanding of the real physical world to give a deeper understanding to be applied into elements of design.

Through drawing, architect and designer record ideas, test scenarios, and produce lines that capture thoughts. These representations can have meaning beyond a purely functional one of displaying the project and reinforce a designer’s idea through it.

Using drawing can give inspirations of creating design that usually related to the environment. For example, the sketchbooks of Leonardo Da Vinci showed alternate back and forth of real objects and proposal for visionary constructions of his invention.

Figure 4 Main elements (smoke, kinetic intervention, streets, and buildings) The figure shows how the drawing intention to show how 4 main elements (smoke, kinetic intervention, streets, and buildings) incorporate together to achieve the aim of the project proposal.

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It is imperative, when considering the design options for the aim to be worked out, to avoid the ‘representational language fallacy’, i.e. that drawings are able to depict real object or scenes to the viewer’s perception of the drawings simulates the visual perception of a real scene and to be effectively engaged with them. (Blackwell, 2013) For the project group ideas to be implemented, once the smoke starts to vanish, the gate will perform to restrict access to the Cornmarket Street. Afterwards the tower of St. Michaels will turn out as a ‘bonfire’, sending out hacking signals to all reachable electronic cellular devices and displaying footage and images from the global issue. To add to the significance of the event and to raise responsiveness from the public, images will be projected onto the Tower of St Michaels.

The merely way for the public to regain access to their phones and raise the gate is to tweet about the event, that eventually in turn raising awareness. The tweets will also in turn organically raise units of the hundreds pendant gradually reinstating the threshold through the gate.

In order for the group to understand the abstract nature of representation; therefore, the representation of ideas can be made using the full spectrum of representation techniques, freehand, hard-line, conceptual and realistic and using all of the drawing techniques. In addition, this representation can reveal the process of the design thinking and the design processed and result are stressed as a presentation component.

This will draw attention on how to perceive a tangible perceptual information (for example, characteristic shape, colour or size) associated with the imaginable representation which has been suggested by Potter and Faulconer (1975) that give the resulting drawings where subjects can shows dynamic drawings with subject-controlled viewpoint, and physically realized three-dimensional models.

Each of these settings provides a multiplicity and quantity of image information to the illustrator. Results from each are compared to contrast the information derived and directly from the visual image with the information available in some higher-level representation. (Philips et all, 2005)

Figure 5 Sense of kinetic Drawing 5 represents a tangible perceptual information to create a sense of kinetic for the gate to move up and down that as well realising three dimensional setting.

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How to achieve a good drawing to be represented Figure 6 Elements in church ( Arches)

The process of designing and representing the ideas open up new possibilities that shift the paradigms of the design process starting from the initial stage until final stage. Nicholaides (1941), understanding the ideas is absolutely appropriate where a person conceived of drawings as physical analogues of what is represented.

He also believed that drawings should not mere imitations but real in themselves that to be as an act of making. Cooper (2007) suggested that subsequently difficulty in drawing that lacked of a quality evident in the work and some may look inactive and purely visual need to give focus on the visual aspects. For example, drawing to be connected to a kinaesthetic and tactile foundation as a design tool and this will lead to a successful drawing.

Figure 7 Elements in church ( Organ)

Nicholaides’ exercises for drawing relationship to design, is particularly interesting where it can built a form that some of the drawing could acquire a detail character that can be a source of inspiration to start designing process. It is as well important to use Nicholaide’s exercises in this course that can be applied as well for architectural subjects that have the foundation of when a person draw, he do not just imitate an object’s appearance.

(Nicholaides, 1941) .

Figure 6 and 7

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Drawings illustrate elements in church which has been inspired to design and shape kinetic intervention of the gate. Drawings are inspired from Nicholaide’s exercise.

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Consistent with the suggestion by Cooper and Nicholaide, it is important for this group to have with the exercise where it will present the act of drawing as an act of making a thing rather than just viewing thing. The focus also has been determined wherethe translation of the ideas in the imagination of the group towards a visualisation of 2D form will facilitate visual impression of spatial organization, scale, light, shadow, colour, and material. (Nicholaides, 1941) The emphasis of drawings that portray the things we see, spatial organization, scale, light, shadow, colour and material that give a rich combination of different elements and bringing the ideas and images together.

Gibson (1950) explains shading of objects in terms of densities gradient on surfaces seem to be impart a convincing three dimensionality to objects in this field where shade refers to those surface that face away from the sun. While shadow is an area without sunlight on a surface that would otherwise be illuminated by the sun. Both often give to powerful visualisation effect.

One of the more interesting intentions to pursue as reckon by Cooper to be applied in the exercise is to achieve a sense of depths that shows two different elements at different distances and uses the relative sizes of the space between the town and kinetic intervention to establish depth. This applies an approach of atmospheric perspective defines the edges of nearer object more precisely than those of most distant object.

Conclusion The central focus of this essay has been directed to the ways the activist group obtained design ideas through visual drawings. It porposes visual communication through drawings must take into account into three wider contexts: How the objectives will lead to the design ideas can be perceived through drawings; How to interpret the design ideas to deliver a good representation so that the viewers will understand the significant ideas and how to learn a way to achieve a good drawing that aim to provide an understanding of the ideas of the drawing represents.

From the contexts that have been elaborated, it can be concluded that drawing as a representation enables the groups to establish a relationship between ideas and visual proposal design resulting in act of drawing becomes augmented. Drawing includes line drawings, paintings, perspective renderings rely on shared interpretive conventions for their meaning that will be interpreted by the viewers. (Micklewright, 2005) Hence, it is vital for the group to fully aware of the convention that they use, that can simulate visual experience and as well to understand the way the design ideas has been developed to achieve the aims of the group.

As been given by Cooper (2007), as generating the underlying geometry of objects and conditions, draw them as wire frames. Be attentive to the geometry and draw them as shaped inscribed into perspective squares. To use a perspective drawing as part of the design, ultimately a person must be able to establish relationship to the plan of the space and visualising the location of vanishing points in that plan as the key. It uses a conventional graphic of lines and shapes into a perspective that is easily understood by viewers to deliver the ideas.

Cooper suggested that hues also have properties of value. An appropriate use of hues needs to be carefully evaluated as interpreting colour values can give significant values of the subject to give an effective representation of an idea that can draw attention and successfully deliver the message. (Cooper, 2007)

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Figure 8 Design ideas through sectional drawing Sectional drawing tells how the kinetic intervention works and.smoke travels around to visualise the design ideas,

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Bibliography

List of Figures

Blackwell, Alan (2013): Visual Representation. In: Soegaard, Mads and Dam, Rikke Friis (eds.). “The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd Ed.”. Aarhus, Denmark: The Interaction Design Foundation. Available online at http://www.interaction-design.org/ encyclopedia/visual_representation.html

Figure 1 - Three main characters of St Michaels Northgate................................................................................................................................4

Cooper, D. (2007). Drawing and Perceiving: Real-World Drawing for Students of Architecture and Design. USA, John Wiley & Son Inc. Gibson, J. J. (1950). The perception of the visual World. Boston, Hougton Mifflin.

Figure 2 - Colourful hues of smoke........................................................................... 6 Figure 3 - Hazardous smoke..........................................................................................7 Figure 4 - 4 main elements (smoke, kinetic intervention, streets, and buildings).................................................................................................................................9 Figure 5 - Sense of kinetic.............................................................................................11

Gomrich, E. H. (1960). Art and Illusion. Princeton NJ, Princeton University Press.

Figure 6 - Elements in church ( Arches)....................................................................13

Gomrich, E. H. (1982). The Image and The Eye. Ithaca, Cornell University Press.

Figure 7 - Elements in church ( Organ)..................................................................13

Ione, A. (1999). Defining visual representation as a creative and interactive modality. In R. Paton & I. Neilson (Eds)

Figure 8 - Design ideas through sectional drawing........................................16

McKim, R. H. (1972). Experiences in Visual thinking. Monterey, Brooks/ Cole Co. Micklewright, Keith. (2005): Drawing: Mastering the Language of Visual Expression. Harry N. Abrams Nicholaides, K. (1941). The Natural Way to Draw. Boston, Hougton Mifflin.

Phillips, F., M. W. Casella and B. M. Gaudino (2005). “What can drawing tell us about our mental representation of shape?” Journal of Vision 5(8): 522-522.

Potter, M. C. F., Barbara A. (1975) “Time to understand pictures and words.”

Farrelly, L. (2011). Drawing for Urban Design. London, Laurence King Publishing.

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The exploring the possibilities of

Intellectual Montage in Architecture.

Sophie Rose

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It has become apparent that film can provide an effective way of collecting data on the architectural landscape and the everyday activities which occur there, yet producing new perspectives and exploring and revealing social conditions comes in the creative post-production stages of film production; it is in the practice of montage where there are opportunities for the moving images to offer new modes of sensory and emotional experience.

The fine-art tactic of Collage can prove to be a restrictive method of representation, however the varied practices and materials involved in constructing a Montage has revolutionized the most recognised form of representation in architecture which has allowed the technique to evolve from the interdisciplinary, toward the holistic approach of transdiciplinary.

Representational techniques in architecture assist in communicating and reinterpreting temporal, phenomenal and transformational qualities of space and montage can aid in transforming various disciplines within this to respond to a single project.

This essay aims to understand how video montage, with particular interest in Eisenstein’s soviet intellectual montage, can be used as an instrument to critically represent the social and cultural situations surrounding architecture and the urban environment.

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Soviet filmmaker and theorist Lev Kuleshov was the first to suggest that editing was film’s major attribute and Kuleshov’s famous ‘Kuleshov Effect’ test (1910-1920’s) demonstrated the power in ordering shots to create new interpretations. In the experiment, Kuleshov cut between shot of a famous Russian silent film actor with an impassive expression to a variety of other shots: an infant in a coffin, a bowl of soup, a young woman reclined on a chaise long.

Despite the fact that the shot of actors face remained identical with each cut, the viewers made different assumptions about the meaning of his expression, highlighting that the meaning of the film was in its spatial reality and in the arrangement of the shots (fig.1). This systematic ordering of ideas is already consistent with today’s forms of architectural representation of a narrative which usually drives a project in the world of practice. However, the established practice of intellectual montage in film can provide opportunities for architecture to transpose itself into the realm of critique.

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(Fig. 1) ‘Kuleshov Effect’ test (1910-1920’s) demonstrated the power in ordering shots to create new interpretations.

(Fig. 2) Strike (1925) by Sergei Eisenstein shows a shot of striking workers being attacked cut with a shot of a bull being slaughtered the juxtaposition of the images implies that the workers are being treated like cattle – this dialect can only be created when the shots are played in sequence.

(Fig. 3) Super studio Photomontage.

Further to Kuleshov’s experiment, influential pupil Sergei Eisenstein extended to the philosophy of montage where he broke away from the confines of time and space and began to use unrelated images to produce a clear juxtaposition with little interest in the seamless, artificial sense of space. This meant that the film could adopt an entirely unique and critical language. The birth of intellectual montage in film formed part of Sergei Eisenstein’s theory of montage, which was utilized as a tool to consolidate and communicate his ideals on a social and political level, practices that are still used in today’s cinema.

One of Eisenstein’s most notable examples of Intellectual Montage is in the film Strike (1925) where scenes of striking workers are juxtaposed with footage of a bull being slaughtered (fig.2).

Unlike the filmmakers of this time, architects had seldom identified themselves as political insurgents however the war was a catalyst in a new architectural movement in which architects were striving for a new society through their design and this period was essential to form critical strategies for representation in architecture which inspired practices of Dadaist’s anti-art-style photomontage and collage among architects such as Super Studio (fig.3) and Allison and Peter Smithson (fig.4).

The value in intellectual montage in film as a practice of representing abstract ideas in architecture via moving images is a significant jump from the 2d photomontage but could be valuable practice for the industry to explore in order for social philosophies to evolve throughout critical analysis and representational systems which could advance in accordance with the growing consciousness towards the social and cultural environments produced by architecture.

(Fig. 4) Smithsons the way in which the image is represented is fundamentally an attack on the purism and anti-urbanism of their predecessors.

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“ Revolutionary form is the product of correctly ascertained technical methods for the concretization of a new attitude and approach to objects and phenomena – of

Here the audience begins to recognise the conclusion of a parallel between past and speculated future events on the site and thus effectively expressing the concern of a possible repetition of these events.

In terms of montage style, it appears that Tavares has combined time and space in the method which corresponds with the ‘Kuleshov Effect’; the way in which the subjects transform from robots into humans during a 20 second frame, with a form of intellectual montage to achieve this critical comment. This inspired the idea of exploiting both styles of montage to attempt to combine critical comment in time and space.

true class ideology – of the true renewal not just of the social significance but also of the material-technical essence of cinema, disclosed in what we call ‘our content’. (page 18 ‘Materialist approach to form’ by Sergei Eisenstein)

“

Dutton & Hurst. (1996. 265p)

The most recent architectural video’s which applies a series of montage effects is the sci-fi animation film The Robots of Brixton (2011) where digital animation is layered and edited with raw footage from the 1981 Brixton Riots which is an effective approach to reveal the history of the site. The final scene appears to implement the more thought provoking intellectual montage where the scene shows the gradual physical transformation of the robots into the civilians from footage of the actual 1981 Brixton Riots (fig.5).

(Fig. 5) Robots of Brixton is a sci-fi animation by Bartlett school of architect graduate kibwe Tavares in which an oppressed robot workforce clashes with police on the streets of a dystopian city; in scenes which resonate with the 1981 Brixton Riots in London.

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With regards to the proposed intervention at St Michael at the North Gate in Oxford, there was a complex series of ideas surrounding the build up to the event, the event itself and the aftermath that could be translated through the medium of film. The project plays on private ownership of Britain’s streets where a group of activists hack into the security systems of the street and create an intervention where the public are forced to react against and engage with the assumed control of the streets by this activist group.

At the beginning of the video the audience is confronted with a montage of CCTV camera screens of the Corn Market Street to form a split screen series of 4 frames of different views; the audience watches as each frame is eventually shut down and following this is blue computerised writing which rolls up the screen to create the hacking effect (fig.6). The montage cut in this way is an attempt to play on associations of hacking systems and forms dialectic with the contemporary audience thus highlighting the digitally conscious world of today.

The CCTV camera system acts as an introduction to the site exposing the perpetual policing of the city. The rest of the short project video applies montage strategies to describe the event and its connotations with mass media through animation of the intervention combined with actual news footage of protesters in foreign countries.

Using the North Gate as a beacon the mobile phones of the public in the surrounding Corn Market Street are interfered with, inviting the user to ‘engage’ with the barrier created by the intervention. In order to begin to communicate these events to an audience, techniques in montage were used in the film.

(Fig. 6) Introduction scene to Project video which uses montage to depict the hacking scene by the Activist group which has occupied Corn Market street.

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This was implemented into the video to form a dialect of abstract ideas in a similar practice to Eisenstein’s movie montage in Strike (1925). The collision between the two shots in the experience box attempts to form a critical dialect as Cesare’s face is cut into the scenes and confronts the audience with his eyes closed to eventually open them.

The experience box was an opportunity to implement the more abstract ideas of intellectual montage through video and also allowed for a further critical comment on a social and cultural level. The experience box was arranged in a manner to create a divide between its participants, where the subject is exposed to the video as an individual and the audience is to observe the video from the outside which is projected onto the screen where audience can also watch the experience of the subject (fig.7).

The video displayed on the screen consisted of a montage of raw scenes of foreign protest engulfed by flare and smoke bombs to describe the desired temporary environmental effect the intervention would create.

This has then been cut with scenes from the famous German expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) by Robert Wiene, which was considered one of the greatest horror films of its era. The most distinguished scene of this film is where Cesare the Somnambulist first wakes up; his eyes slowly open to form a frenzied gawp.

This is allows for a critical and abstract comment concerning the sleepwalking everyday users of the city of Oxford and creates intellectual meaning completely outside of the representation – the Somnambulist will be awakened. In a similar manner to the final scene in The Robot of Brixton (2011) the order in which this is sequence presented is essential to communicate the speculated ideological revolution of mass consciousness through this intervention (fig.8).

“not and idea composed of successive shots stuck together but an idea that DRIVES from the collision between two shots that are independent of one another” (Eistenstain, 2009, p.95)

(Fig. 7) Sketch showing the arrangement of the projection, the subject and the audience in the Experience Box.

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(Fig. 8) Experience Box video. Uses the cuts of the famous awakening of Cesare from a German Expressionist horror film to describe the public as sleepwalkers waking.

awareness that they are an audience to an independent experience, where as traditional modes of representation used in practice (physical/digital modelling and drawing) can appear totalitarian. I believe there is value in representation through film because it allows for possibilities for the audience to form more critical assessments.

Although intellectual montage in film can be used by architects as a tool to inject ideology into their creations in ways that surpass and even contradict existing architectural practices, it must be noted that the practice of montage has the potential to be highly manipulative. Eisenstein films had huge agitprop undertones and therefore his films were decidedly controlling and at times severely abstract which left the general audience incapable of understanding its intellectual concepts, however many of these films were banned before they could even reach the public.

It also could be argued that there is striking continuity between the treatment of film and architecture through established forms of representation used in the discipline in terms of viewer manipulation. Nevertheless it should be considered that the manner in which film interacts with the spectator is unique as film creates

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Architecture today moves between the interdisciplinary to the transdisciplinary modes of representation and it has become more apparent that exploration of these modes allows architects to maintain a professional and artistic independence from the pressures of hyper-capitalist governments who in the past have often instructed architects to deviate from their responsibilities in the pure and vernacular.

(Fig. 9) Photomontage which describes the aftermath of the event on Corn Market street and the final image shows speculation of how the smoke created from the smoke bombs might occupy parts of the city.

Bibliography

Bruno, Giuliana. (2002) Atlas of Emotion: Journeys in Art, Architecture, and Film.

London: Verso Dimendberg, Edward. (2004) Film noir and the spaces of modernity. London:Harvard University Press Dutton, Thomas A; Mann, Lian Hurst. (1996) Reconstructing architecture : critical discourses and social practices. London : University of Minnesota Press.

Eisenstein, Sergei. (1989) Montage and Architecture. MIT Press.

Eisenstein, S.,(2009d). The Dramaturgy of Film Form (The Dialectical Approach to Film Form) (1929). In: Taylor, R.,ed., The Eisenstein Reader.

Eisenstein, Sergei, 1898-1948; Taylor, Richard, 1946-; British Film Institute; Powell, William. (1998) The Eisenstein Reader. London: British Film Institute.

Forget, Thomas (2013). The construction of drawings and movies: models for architectural design and analysis. Abingdon: Routledge.

Kenez, Peter. (2001) Cinema and Soviet society from the Revolution to the death of Stalin. London : I. B. Tauris Koeck, Richard & Roberts, Les (2010) The city and the moving image: urban projections. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Bruno, Giuliana. (2002) Atlas of Emotion: Journeys in Art, Architecture, and Film.

London: Verso Schaal, Hans Dieter. (1943) Learning from Hollywood: architecture and film.

Stuttgart; London: Edition Axel Menges.

Schwarzer, Mitchell. (2004) ZoomScape: architecture in motion and media.

New york: Princetion Architectural Press.

Tschumi, Bernard (1944) Manhattan Transcripts. London : Academy Editions 1981 Allen, Stan; Agrest, Diana. (2000) Practice: architecture, technique and representation Amsterdam : G&B Arts International.

Lectures: Harriss, H. (2014). P30027 Representation Module. Architecture & col¬lage/ montage. February. [Lecture] Oxford: Oxford Brookes Univer¬sity.

Shew, T. (2014). P30027 Representation Module. Film making & composite animation (part I and 2).

February-March. [Lecture] Oxford: Oxford Brookes Univer¬sity.

Lamster, Mark. (2000) Architecture and film. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

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Illustrations

Cover Image: Photograph of projection on installation: By Author.

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‘Kuleshov Effect’ test (1910-1920’s): http://anysoundyoulike.files.wordpress. com/2012/01/tumblr_lwpyxlw2p11qdiiwlo1_500.png [Accessed: 01 Apr 2014] Fig2.

Strike (1925) by Eisenstein : http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SZqAkfGjwG4/T31xtQdPFkI/AAAAAAAAACU/do5XAftdBgc/s1600/Intellectual+Montage+-+Strike.bmp [Accessed: 01 Apr 2014].

Fig 3.

Super Studio Photomontage: http://www.revelinnewyork.com/sites/default/ files/superstudio_-_life.jpg [Accessed: 01 Apr 2014].

Fig 4.

Allison and Peter Smithson: http://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/805/ flashcards/2462805/jpg/slide321355456697862.jpg [Accessed:01 Apr 2014].

Fig 5.

Montage of last scene stills from Robots of Brixton (2011) by Tavares.: http:// vimeo.com/25092596 [Accessed:01 Apr 2014].

Fig 6.

CCTV Still: By Author.

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Effect Box Sketch: By Author.

Fig 8.

Ordering of Intelectual Montage used in the Northgate Project film for the

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One Months Without Models Model Define The Origin Of Model Model as Representation A Challenge For Tomorrow’s Models Collaborative Works Bibliography List of Figures

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One Month Without Models_ Figure. 1

An experiment has been carried out within OMA Architects by Albena Yaneva to find an answer in response to whether model making is an important process of architecture. The experiment was to test architects/model makers at the OMA by not allowing them to work with models or produce any models to help assist in their design process. The response from the model makers or the architects involved was that “it’s not possible to work without models, you can have drawings and diagrams, but with the model you can visualise the thing in a few seconds� Interview with Sarah and Erez : 10 April 2002 (Yaneva, A, 2009)

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It is quite clear that models are an important part of the design process within architecture. Thus the questions then rise as to how does the everyday making of things in an architectural office evolve into a form of making that is genuinely of a design nature?

And then how does everyday making, experimentation of design develop into a specific architectural understanding of design? (Yaneva, A, 2009) It is said that a building cannot be obtained in a double-click instant of creation but through numerous little operations of manipulation, scale and the refining of materials and by reusing old models. The process involved is not right and wrong, it is experimental until we are fully satisfied with the design.

Thus it can also be understood as surrogates, as models allow us to carry out experiments, in belief that the outcomes of these experiences will be translated into the reality in which they are to be built. (Ayres, P, 2012 p.43)

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Model Define_

The intention of model making in the architectural world can be used in two contrasting ways, first is to illustrate and secondly is to explore. These intentions are used within model making to reflect a certain degree of curiosity and questioning. (Ayres, P, 2012 p, 44) Thus the idea between model illustrating and model exploring, reflects the distinction between the model as ideal and the mode as surrogate.

Model of illustrate is when a model of object and process reports/reflects on its appearance of that representative object.

However in contrast, models for are then used to facilitate action by exploring and experimental.

Thus model for become model for acting upon which support changes that allows the designer aim for accomplish. (Ayres, P, 2012, p, 45) This is why models can also be interpreted as surrogate models as it allows the ability for testing, proposing changes and experimenting as a function of surrogacy.

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As an architect, by having active involvement that would later on lead to unique outcome in this particular field is very crucial.

Therefore models that have the ability to illustrate the final outcome become the most important part for that architect.

In contrast there will be no outcome if there is no action, thus models that support the idea will also be crucial. This is why the relationship of both “model of” and “model for” are essential to each other.

Figure. 2

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The Origin Of Model_

Figure. 3 A Model of Sagrada Familia by Gaudi.A wire model that

can self-generate the form under the influence of gravity and the load

The root of ‘model’ or ‘modello’ was used during the Middles Ages as a synonym of “module”, and it derived from the words “moulding” and “mould”. It is a reflection of words to describe the relationship between the existing order of the universe and the artefacts (Perez-Gomes, A, Palletier, L, 1997, p.106) The Italian word “modello” was frequently used in the renaissance period and it referred to the making of rough studies and detail construction architectural models.

(Stavric, M, Sidanin,P , Tepavcevic, B, 2013, p.17) During the seventeenth century “model” often represented a full scale mock up of a building that was related to architecture and scenography, which then slowly started to emphasize the meaning of “model” and defined its “originality” that would later on be imitated by understanding it both as a small scale representation and or full scale mock up built in the reflection of the building. (Perez-Gomes, A, Palletier, L, 1997, p.108) Brunelleschi used this newly discovered idea of model making in order to convey the complex elements of his designs to the stonemasons for them to construct the exact vision. (PerezGomes, A, Palletier, L, 1997, p.6)

The significance of the model during this period can also be seen in Dominico Cresti’s painting which is titled “Michelangelo Shows Pope Paul IV the model of the Dome of St. Peter’s”. Here introduced a first glimpse of model making in action, which shows the apparent high quality through its detail, structure and form of the building. (Porter, T, Neale, J , 2000, P,6).This can be shown in figure 2.

The work emerging from Gaudi’s final years demonstrates that not only can ‘idea’ persist beyond the architect; the model can itself become the persistence of the ideas. (Ayres, P, 2012, p.39).

Gaudi’s model of the Sagrada Familia Church was a crucial element which was used as engineering studies to explain his complicated ideas to others.

Gaudi used his model as a guide for his successors, thus he has always been one step ahead all the time for him to be able to visualise this complicated framework.

Figure. 4 A Model of Sagrada Familia aat Minimundud

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Model As Representation_ “Only when attending what the form represents as a manifestation of higher objects may we talk about a real architectural experience” Christian Norberg- Schulz in Intentions in Architecture (Morris, M, 2004, p.114) Architecture has always required representation. Models can represent an essential tool in the realisation of built form thus they can also be used as a representation of design ideas.

What does the architectural model represent? A representation can be anything from images or reproduction of objects which are used as a medium to present to our minds and imagination. A representation in general can be seen as something that stands for something else or it can also be seen as an imitation with a change. According to Richard Wollheim ‘What a representation is being ‘seen as’ is connected with the intentions of the designer.’ (Smith, A, 2004, p.21) Are architectural models solely to do with representation?

If we began comparing the representation methods of two dimensional images with physical models, the latter can be seen to be closer to perceived reality.

They are understood more easily by the eye, and are more accessible to a wider range of people. This is why models are popular as a representation form

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with non- architects as they offer the clients and the public as the most accessible form of architectural communication. Models can also be seen as an anticipation of a thing to come or the documentation of a built project, thus they can show a process of work rather than a completed piece. (Morris, M, 2004, p.116) Hejduk’s Wall house is one of the examples that reflects upon the idea of whether the model is a representation of the building to be constructed later, or is it the building which is the over-scaled representation of the model?

(Morris, M, 2004, p.117) Hejduk’s Wall house was a replica of his original at a life size. It looked exactly like the scale-up model rather than the manifestation of a model idea. (Morris, M, 2004, p.116) Therefore the Wall house became a good example of where models can exceed their representational function and that not all models represent something that will be built or something that has been built but merely a representation of an idea.

Figure. 5 John Hejduk’s Wall house as Built

Figure 6 Hejduk;s wall house model as featured in Ideal as Model

Models may be versatile but they do have limitations as well as other methods of representation.

They cannot show every aspect of the architect’s creative line of thought and are unable to produce a single, selected image of the most attractive view of the design.

(Moon, K, 2005 p,16) Whilst the model is normally produced in reduced scale, this then causes restrictions as the interior spaces cannot be explored as freely

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A Challenge For Tomorrow’s Model_

Figure. 7 CNC machine in action

Figure. 8 Laser cut machine in action

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Change can come easily and silently and becomes noticeable only when nothing is the way it used to be. Changes in architecture occurred during the 1990s, when digital methods began their conquest of major architecture firms and finally become the standard that all architects have to follow.

(Oswald, A, 2008, p,9) When the changes occurred architects began to question as to why they needed or felt obligated to get their hands dirty when models of buildings or their design could be created just as easily on the computer. (Oswald, A, 2008, p,9).. One might ask as to when and how the changes were originated, first we must investigate the cause and effect of sudden changes to computers. A 1958 article in Architectural Forum noted that “The new models, miniatures though they are, can hardly be considered simply imitation of buildings. They are buildings with their own complex engineering and construction problems.” It also states that the increased demand of “architects and their clients for exceedingly realistic and accurate model design studies”. (Bush, A, 1991, p,55)

Computers have accelerated the model’s evolution, providing alternative means for the three-dimensional study and presentation. (Moon, K, 2005, p,185) The computer model can be altered with clicks of the mouse and also without adding any components to a real dustbin. It can also be reproduced in various ways and can be added into media presentations.

However computerisation of the design process can also get out of control which is reflected in model production. The production of a model from the technology of computers may offer precision, a high level of detail and finish, but if taken as fallback for model production it can also lose its many characteristics to the medium that computers are unable to offer.

The model will certainly continue to evolve as it’s currently at the peak of their ability to communicate. Daniel Libeskind has described the relationship between architect and model to that between puppet and puppeteer as opposed to the ability to use computer-aided manufacture alongside the traditional hand techniques.

(Moon, K, 2005, p,212)

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Collaborative Works_

Figure. 9 Design development

Figure. 10 Design Development

Model making is used as one of the representational tools to convey an idea and collate primary design research. Our design idea was to use the Gate as a Kinetic Insertion that consists of a large number of hanging pendants, which create a physical barrier stopping people from passing through. When the gate is not in use it will be a suspended pavilion generating a new ‘public’ space. The idea behind it was to reflect on how St. Michaels at the Northgate has lost its importance as a gateway into the city of Oxford, consequently this kinetic intervention will help reinstate St. Michaels Northgate as a powerful and influential building within Oxford. The intervention will also explore censorship, or deliberately unreported global affairs, which are never publicized in the UK.

two different types of model, one is the site model showing the gate intervention in context and the other is a 1:1 scale model of the gate installation which I have called “the experience box”. I have discussed earlier on regards to the disadvantages of models being scaled to the particular size, so we have tried to eliminate this disadvantage as much as we could by producing a larger size replica of the actual intervention. The site model is used as a framework for the 1:1 scale in reflection of how Gaudi used his scale model to represent his complex design to others.

The purpose of the “experience box” was to allow the audience to be able to visualize and participate in the atmosphere within this installation. Me and my fellow colleagues created a timber frame with hanging timber pendants on strings, then we projected a video in front of the installation to represent our idea and fully express our intention of the intervention. The use of new technology paid an important role in our design as we have used a laser cutting machine to help archive the work load at a more accurate and efficient time.

I have created a series of development models to serve as a surrogate model for experimenting and testing out the design idea. From this I was able to single out the best possible options for the intervention of the gate. As a result I have created

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Going back to the beginning of this chapter in relation as to how the architects would react if they were unable to work with models as one of their methods of representation, I can confidently say that we would definitely struggle to express our idea across to the audience as some ideas are best expressed through model making. Especially from this collaborative work, as models were one of the most crucial elements for our design, without models we might not be able to fully develop our design idea nor would we be able to fully visualize the intervention at the life size scale.

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Bibliography

Allen, S. (2009), Practice : Architecture Technique and representation :Routledge Ayres, P. (2012), Persistent Modelling : Extending the role of architectural representation : Routledge Betsky, A , Adigard, E. (2000), Architecure must burn : a manifesto for an architectre beyond building : Thames and Hudson Ltd Busch,A. (1991), The art of the architectural model : Design press Engeli, M. (2001).Bits and Spaces: Architecture and Computing for Physical, Virtual, Hybrid Realms, 33 Projects by Architecture and CAAD, ETH Zurich : Birkhauser Verlag AG Frascari,M. Hale,J. Starkey, B. (2008),From models to drawings :Imagination and Representation in Architecture : Routledge Giedon,S. (2009) ,Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition : Harvard University Press

Oswald , A. (2004), Architectural models : DOM Publishers Perez-Gomez, A , Palletier, L. (1997), Architectural Representation and the perspective hinge : The massachusettes institute of technology Porter, T , Neale, J. (2000) Architectural Supermodels :Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd Schilling, Alexander. ( 2007) , Modelbuilder : Basel : Birkh채user Smith, A. (2004), Architectural Model as Machine : A new view of models from antiquity to the present day : Elsevier ltd Stavric,M. Sidanin, P. Tepavcevic, B. (2013), Architectural scale models in the digital age : Design , representation and manufacturing : Springer Wien Yaneva,A. (2009), Made by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture : an ethnography of design :Rottendam Yaneva,A. (2012), Mapping Controversies in Architecture :Ashgate

Healy, P. (2008), The model and its Architecture : Rottendam Moon,K. (2005), Modeling message : The architect and the model : The monacelli press inc Morris,M. (2006),Model: Architectural and the miniature (Architecture in pratice) : John Wiley and Sons.

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Front Cover Image: Photograph of projection on installation: By Author.

Fig1.

Photograph of projection on installation: By Author.

Fig2.

Michelangelo Shows Pope IV the Model of the Dome of St. Peter’s by Domenico Cresti. [Online]. Accessed 2014, March 29 from http://web.tiscali.it/plasticiarchitettura/immagini/papaemichel.jpg Fig 3.

Model of Sagrada Familia by Gaudi (Online). Accessed 2014, April 1 from http://www.christopherwhitelaw.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/GaudiCatenary.jpg Fig 4.

Model of Sagrada Familia by Gaudi. Stavric,M. Sidanin, P. Tepavcevic, B. (2013), Architectural scale models in the digital age : Design , representation and manufacturing : Springer Wien Fig 5.

The wall house ,Stavric,M. Sidanin, P. Tepavcevic, B. (2013), Architectural scale models in the digital age : Design , representation and manufacturing : Springer Wien Fig 6.

Model of The Wall house ,Stavric,M. Sidanin, P. Tepavcevic, B. (2013), Architectural scale models in the digital age : Design , representation and manufacturing : Springer Wien Fig 7.

CNC Machine.Stavric,M. Sidanin, P. Tepavcevic, B. (2013), Architectural scale models in the digital age : Design , representation and manufacturing : Springer Wien

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Fig 8.

Laser cut machine (Online). Accessed 2013, April 1 from http://www.machinesales.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/laser-cutting-machine.jpg Fig 9. Development Model by Author Fig 10. Development Model by Author Fig 11. Model showing smoke machine effect by author Fig 12. Model showing smoke machine effect by author Fig 13. Process of Scale model by author Fig 14. Process of Scale model by author Fig 15. Process of Scale model by author Fig 16. Process of Scale modelt by author Fig 17. Process of Scale model by author Fig 18. Process of the Experience Box by author Fig 19. Process of the Experience Box by author Fig 20. Process of the Experience Box by author Fig 21. Process of the Experience Box by author Fig 22. Process of the Experience Box by author Fig 23. Process of the Experience Box by author Fig 24. Process of the Experience Box by author

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APPENDIX

Collaborative Works Group 16

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Dean Lewis Phillip Wing Jeremy Haest Wan Aisyah Nur Wan Jefri Sophie Rose Kachaporn Theeprawat

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Collages Drawings Rendered Images Models

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Intr o du c t i on St. Michaels at the Northgate has over time lost its importance as a gateway into the city of Oxford.

Once a powerful access point, the Northgate has been engulfed by the city and somewhat forgotten.

A political activist group has taken private ownership of St. Michaels Northgate and the Cornmarket Street in central Oxford.

The activist group has 3 main agendas; primarily censorship, or deliberately unreported global affairs which are never publicised in the UK. Another of the groups agendas explores the current privatisation of Britain’s streets and the capitalist commerce that drives this.

Thirdly they aim to reinstate St. Michaels Northgate as a powerful and influential building within Oxford.

They have taken it upon themselves to make a political statement. By re-introducing the historic city gate in the form of an architectural insertion they are using St. Michaels Northgate as the vehicle for exposing their political agendas.

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The Gate is a Kinetic Insertion that consists of a large number of hanging pendants, which create a physical barrier stopping people from passing through.

cal activist group to carry out this event as it is private land. This will raise public awareness of the issue of private ownership of perceived ‘public spaces’

Whenever a significant global event takes place the St. Michaels Gate will lower in a flurry of smoke engulfing the whole of Cornmarket Street, designed to shock and disorientate the public. Once the smoke starts to clear the gate will be in place and will once again restrict access to the Cornmarket street. The tower of St. Michaels will act as a beacon, sending out hacking signals to all electronic cellular devices and displaying footage and images from the action zone (global issue). Images will be projected onto the Tower of St Michaels to add to the power and significance of the event. The only way for the public to regain access to their phones and raise the gate is to tweet about the event, in turn raising awareness. The tweets will also in turn organically raise sections of the gate gradually reinstating the threshold through the gate.

As people move through the space they are moving through a spatial representation of data.

Living in the digital age we often don’t consider the spatial nature of data, by creating this physical manifestation it gives this digital data a contextual reference and removes some of the intangibility of digital data.

The release of smoke acts as a beacon to the city, letting people who are not in the immediate area know that something has happened. This ritualistic process will in turn put St. Michaels back into the public’s consciousness as an important and powerful building within the 21st century.

When the gate is not in use it will be a suspended pavilion generating a new ‘public’ space.

The private ownership of Cornmarket St. allows the politi-

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