01 Mapping Assignment, Due Wednesday
The objective of architecture and interior architecture is to create a built environment that serves the people of its time and place.
The work of this term specifically investigates design of the built environment in an urban condition in Portland. Sociology philosopher Bruno Latour and Albena Yaneva in Give Me a Gun and I Will Make All Buildings Move use the term ‘attachment’ to describe a new approach to understanding how architecture may serve people in time and space. We will work as a studio to understand our site as both the human and natural forces that exist there.
At the University of Oregon we especially cherish our values of sustainability, social equity and urban design. The objective of this term is to empower you with the design methods to make these values available to the people of our communities.
.
ATTACHMENT ASSIGNMENT: Observe, Measure, Document
We begin the studio by understanding the human behaviors of a startup environment. We will observe and diagram, or ‘map,’ our understanding of the spaces around us through diagramming and abstraction. Media ARCH 610 will support this effort.
(see circles at lower left)
Observe, measure and document human experience at the following spaces:
- Hearth / Outside Hearth (3rd space)
- Studio (Industrial Office)
- Department of Architecture, Small Office Space or Lab (Tech Startup Space)
- Event space outside LA 206 ( formal or informal)
.
METHOD
Media: ink pilot pen preferred, each drawing 5″ x 5″ on portrait oriented letter sized paper.
Stand at four to eight positions around the room and measure the following qualities as different sized radius circle for each point (1-5; yes/no; type A, B, C). You may record this in a sketch book and then neatly hardline as a measured drawing. Please, choose from the following list:
– Ability to see (lighting)
– Ability to see out (view)
– Ability to be seen (visual exposure)
– Ability to sit (casually vs formally; with interaction with others)
– Ability to interact socially (alone but observe others, 1 on 1, group of 3-4, larger assembly)
– Ability to write or use a laptop
– Ability to work or ‘make’ (use hand tools, power tools, digital fabrication tools, etc)
– Ability to present design work (pin-up, white board, digital)
– Ability to gather in large groups
– Ability to eat, snack, drink
– Ability to hear, smell, feel, taste
Draw first the background (walls with windows) TO RELATIVE SCALE and then diagram your observations as YOU understand them. Measure the space. Pace your space if necessary. Before you draw, think first. Observe. Think of a visual language to differentiation your measurements (circle radius). Test the language and make a small key. Imagine the diagram. Burn the image in your mind. Pause. The background information should be light.
.
READING
* Please read the article Between Diagrams and Matter by Alejandro Zaera-Polo.
**Optional reading on new methods of site analysis Parametric Methods and Place_SPERANZA
