Barnes Assignment 1.1A
It is interesting that Allen says, “my concern parallels a shift in recent technologies form the analog to the digital” given our current virtual world. I think there has always been an aversion to technology in the arts, including architecture but now we are all forced to embrace it daily. You cannot refuse to be a part of it now because rejecting it is akin to rejecting society. Right now, Zoom is our field condition, it is a “matrix capable of unifying diverse elements while respecting the identity of each”. As cohort members, we are all coming from different backgrounds and locations, but we are unified under our given conditions.
I really liked the phrase Allen quoted from Alberti, “Beauty is the consonance of the parts such that nothing can be added or taken away” because I think striking that balance is so important. This applies to all combinations created in all ways. The idea that there are always “parts form[ing] ensembles which in turn form larger wholes” means that there are so many components that need to be juggled and handled with care and delicacy. There are different strategies to go about the combination but at the end of the day, preserving the unity of the whole is the goal. To me, this further emphasizes the initial point about individual units coming together.
Relinquishing control to the material reminds me of these hats and scarves I used to knit where I would roll dice to determine how many rows to use one color. The randomness of the stripe patterns created were way more exciting than something I could meticulously plan. When I relate this back to architecture and design, I think there are moments where you must just let things happen and relinquish control to what the building or site wants to be.
When Allen was describing how humans operate in crowds I couldn’t help picturing the Venice Boardwalk (in pre-Covid times) – there are always individuals and small groups but also crowds that form and disperse around various street performers or that will start congregating in front of Muscle Beach or the skatepark. People move at all different speeds – pedestrians, skateboarders, bikers, meandering tourists – and they’ll join the larger group and break off at random, there’s a sense of constant movement that you can sit back and watch or you can allow yourself to get swept into it. Our natural movement patterns when we do not have a destination are not linear and I see applications for those natural patterns to emerge in design.
We are all aware of the need to question the system more than ever these days. Just because things were done a certain way in the past does not make them right or mean they should be held on to or copied in the future. This phrase, “…by forming the institution within a directed field condition, connected to the city or the landscape, a space is left for the tactical improvisations of future users,” made me think of Mies van der Rohe’s concept of universal space. By creating flexibility and freedom in spaces, it allows them to evolve over time. Not only is it a better experience for the end user but it is also more environmentally conscious if a building can be re-adapted instead of being torn down to make way for something new.
