Movement in Architecture

Defining historical architecture through dance, a field not normally and necessarily perceived to be related to it allows us to engage in a dialogue with architecture, which would otherwise have not been possible. Movement/dance is not a part of architectural history education, or vice versa yet both disciplines can borrow from each other, in their process of creation; ideas about experiencing space and the visualization of space are just two examples. On the whole, architectural researchers have few methodologies for assessing the impact of movement on the perception and cognition of architecture.
When re-interpreting an existing building, it is important to be as creative as  when designing a new building. The idea that aesthetic perception and creation of architecture cannot be achieved without the inclusion and application of digital interactive technology forms the basis of this paper. The perception of spatial volume, which is the essence of architecture, is dependent on the viewer obtaining as many different perspectives through bodily movement as possible. Architecture, unlike sculpture or painting, incorporates the possibility of action, which naturally is tied to a bodily reaction. Any architecture that aims to be evocative should go beyond being a series of retinal images.
This paper, and the project it refers to are about deconstructing space such that it is experienced differently. Through the use of the graphic programming environment Isadora, the structure provides a reassessment of itself. The architectural experience of a space can thus be extended from just being a dwelling to a more aggressive, seeking approach to architectural forms with the use of new psychophysical coordinates. This can then be linked to the design problematics in architecture, or to different analyses of theories of architectural history.

The late 19th and early 20th century was a period of transition architecturally, marking the entrance into a new era of building. This was the beginning of forward looking architectural design with styles not based on previous building forms. Changes in construction techniques, especially the development of sky scraper technology, and a desire to create houses that fit visually into the natural environment influenced the developing styles of this era.

This thesis aims to explore the temporal and material limits of architectural drawing through the question of urban representation. Challenges posed by the latter are used to put pressure on the fixity of drawing conventions, in order to expand architectural drawing’s range of concerns to the transitory conditions of space that emerge between order and event. Since the eighteenth century, the city has acted as the ground and mirror of the productive, economic, social and epistemological breaks and turns that have marked the passage to modernity. This radical transformation of the city and its modes of experience and inhabitation, combined with the visual culture that has since emerged, have raised questions of presence and representation with regards to both the city and its image in architectural drawing. This thesis aims to bring these questions into the frame of the current concerns in architectural representation, following the deconstructive and cartographic approaches that merged in the latter half of the twentieth century and the effects of a rising virtuality. As the understanding of space has shifted from the idea of an a priori extensity of vacuum versus matter to a dynamic multiplicity of relations, respectively architectural representation is understood as itself a transaction: a complex oscillation between the real and the mental. This research becomes concerned with exploring drawing as a situated experience that involves the inhabitation of both the space of the city and the drawing. Such a consideration of drawing as a distinct spatiality consequently brings to the fore a dynamic and productive reciprocity between the city and its representation. In order to engage with the intangible projective spatiality of drawing and the negotiations that take place in the movement of representation, the thesis examines the processes involved in the representation of the urban through the immersive site-specificity of installation. Installation is proposed as a way of drawing in space, and thus of foregrounding the question of the space of drawing. The thesis unfolds as a movement across the space of drawing, through a series of essays and corresponding installations which cumulatively form a survey of a city, while performing a close inquiry into the agency of the distinct elements of drawing. Edinburgh serves as both the object and the place of performance, the testing ground, for this act of observation and representation.

Activated Surfaces, Spaces and Light: Installation Art and Architecture
Convener: Dr. Kimberly Connerton
Panelists: Dr. Kimberly Connerton, William Feuerman and Dr. Claudia Perren

I convened and presented at the, Activated Surfaces, Spaces and Light: Installation Art and Architecture, panel at the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) 2012 Conference, Together <> Apart, University of Sydney, AU, July 12-14, 2012. Presenters: William Feuerman, Office Feuerman & University of Technology, Sydney,  Dr. Claudia Perren, Director of Bauhaus Dessau and Dr. Kimberly Connerton, Parsons School of Design, New York.

"Activated Surfaces, Spaces and Light: Installation Art and Architecture" focused on a broader practice in architecture that expressed our commitment to art and spatial practice and the various ways surfaces are activated in architecture.

In William Feuerman's talk he presented ongoing research in both practice and academia, to demonstrate how perception, specifically defined as the relationship between eye and mind, becomes distorted by physiological changes. Claudia Perren's talk investigated activated Surfaces and Spaces in the work of Blu, Dan Graham and Jurgen Mayer H. It argued for a strong perceptive and cognitive relationship between art and architecture in the process of activation. Lastly, in my presentation I analyzed the work of James Turrell and Jean Nouvel and the use of light and activation in art and architecture. The threshold was understood to be a portal for natural light to activate interior surfaces and building facades, translate and contemporize cultural motifs and screens aided by technology in design, and facilitate renewed experiences of sunlight and synthetic light.

Event Date: Jul 13, 2012

Organization: Art Association of Australia and New Zealand

Conference End Date: Jul 14, 2012

Conference Start Date: Jul 12, 2012