SRD163_TRI-1_2025_Waterfront_D2.194_Lecture_2025-03-13-10_00_00_2025-03-13-11_50_00_default_8564ba3e

Introduction to Architectural Representation

Welcome and Acknowledgment
- Speaker acknowledges the traditional owners of the land (Kulin Nation) and respects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander custodian roles.
- Highlights the importance of architectural representation in various cultures.

Role of Representational Artifacts
- Architects do not make buildings directly but create mediating artifacts (drawings, models) that enable building.
- Perez Gomez and Paletia emphasize this mediating aspect historically in Western architecture.
- Robin Evans asserts that representation has always played a crucial role in architecture.
- Famous quote: "Architects do not make buildings; they make drawings of buildings."
- Architectural representations facilitate discussions and ideas among designers and the public.

Examples of Architectural Representations:
- Peter Zumthor's Thermal Baths:
  - Charcoal drawings illustrate design through contrasts of light and dark, materiality, and spatial arrangements.
  - Model shows clarity in material and spatial qualities.
- Specification Drawings:
  - Includes detailed drawings that guide construction and communication between architects, contractors, and surveyors.
- Mary Duggan's Sketch Model:
  - Illustrates the mass and circulation around a building, emphasizing the entrance experience.
- Astley Castle Model:
  - Demonstrates adaptive reuse of structures and iterative design processes.
- Thomas Demand's Paper Models:
  - Focuses on not just the model as a representation but emphasizes how photographs of models convey existing spaces.

Concepts of Tectonic Models:
- Models that express how a building is constructed, showing the impacts of construction methods on architectural aesthetics.
Representational Sketches:
- Examples emphasize design evolution—from initial ideas to specified architectural elements.
- Models and sketches help visualize relationships between spaces, materials, and human interaction within architectural designs.

Drawings and Cultural Context:
Different cultures have their ways of representing spaces, showcasing unique architectural styles and practices.
Historical perspectives:
- Figures like Aldo Rossi and Le Corbusier expand on how representations influence architectural understanding.

Reverse Directionality in Architecture:
- The designs are discussed and treated as real before they exist, emphasizing the belief in future possibilities.
Architecture as Prophecy:
- The act of designing requires a belief in the unbuilt building's reality to guide and create.

Playing and Experimentation:
- The importance of 'playing' in architecture for novel ideas and concepts is discussed, linking it to Montessori-style learning for adults in creative fields.
- Encouragement to embrace experimental design through iterations and small model making.

Upcoming Class Activities:
- Encourage students to engage with architectural representations through various forms, both physically and digitally.
- Importance of peer collaboration and feedback in evolving design concepts is emphasized.

The speaker reinforces that architectural representation is essential for understanding space, creating buildings, and fostering creativity within the design process through diverse means.