Exercise 1.1a_Kaia Fink

Exercise 1.1a Diagramming

Minimalism, a reaction to work prior to 1960s in a belief that the traditional European system of “faceted planes & figural fragments” are overall inadequate. From there, an emphasis was placed on the spatial field between the viewer and thus object.  A direct use of industrial materials and simple combinations were prevalent in minimalist designs. Further defined as restrained and wielding idea behind the form.

Post Minimalism, a return of all the elements that Minimalism had initially rejected. Thus described as painterly and comprised of tangible things and more obvious ideas and reasonings. Increasing emphasis on the concern of the idea behind our nature of being. Moreover, an increase in emphasis on local interactions over an idea of the whole.

Moiré, similarly appreciated, or at least derived from Post Minimalism, “authentic and productive social differences” that would thus occur at a local and more intimate level rather than one idealizing the image of the whole. N0n random but relatively unexpected creations from a combination of two regular fields/elements. Further illustrating both the regular and emergent fields simultaneously.

Crowds and Flocks, as exhibited by Craig Reynolds in relation to the specific flocking behavior of birds, illustrates similarly to the idea of Moiré an emphasis on local conditions of the individual birds, having no care to the overall form & its extent. Reynolds notes this reasoning to the birds only executing actions that are in their immediate view, thus an unexpected, however not random, creation of the flock, or a crowd. Allen summarizes phenomenon within crowds as uncontrollable and operating on the edge of control yet still having a relatively unexpected, almost predictable, but not random behavioral pattern.

Overall within the text, Field conditions can be described as having the ability to create an opportunity in architecture to address the “dynamics of use”, “behavior of crowds”, and finally the “complex geometries of masses in motion”. In relation to architectural design, it can be regarded as something importantly tactical and not something that requires a researcher to physically visit the site.