Project_03_Final_Board

The final board illustrates the potential surface iterations that the model can produce given the truncated constraints.  The difference between the elevation and perspective of the model lend unique vantage points of a singular model.

Project_03_Diagram

The arrangement of the model is focused upon a circular loop, which is mediated by an integer slider.

Project_03_Final_Video

The attached videos depict the surface iterations of a plane relative to a circular rotation of an extruded grid.  When perceived from an elevation, the cleverness of the model is reduced to a dynamic perspective that seems more architectural than the perspective view port.

Project_2C_Digital_Models

Project_02_Final_Movie

Vigorous_Environments

This article was well conceived, in my opinion,  as it poses a question that lacks an answer, rather than pompously proposing the absolute solution to a problem.  I'm not a contrarian, I'm more of an anarchist, and those who tend to believe they hold the answers are those I aim to defile.  I believe that design is an iterative process, and that buildings pose opportunities for architects to test theories within the physical realm.

The authors' presentation of the approach, guidelines and goals allows for a discourse to emerge where designers can test ideas within the physical constructs of the urban realm, and didactically decide upon the direction of a particular period relative to the wants and demands of the populace.

 This is 425 Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C.  A good friend of mine in the planning office was instrumental in the development of this buildings' facade, as it was thought that a continuous facade would be too overbearing, it was proposed that two distinct facades would be constructed in order to decrease the scale of the street wall.  As it turns out, this individual in the planning office just happens to live directly across the street from this building, as has had the chance to critique her decision over many years.  As it turns out, the decision is regrettable, as the final product appears disjointed, and does little to decrease the imposing nature of the facade. 

Between_Surface_and_Substance

No.  I don't agree.  I won't write a review of this, since there is little to be reviewed.  The tactics that are discussed are of a flailing interest to me, as they seemingly lack the rigor in order to be adapted to the macro scale of the built environment.  That's not to say that any of the methods or theories mentioned  in the article aren't plausible as architectural forms, but I would argue that they aren't important enough to be studied at the academic level.  More and more, the vernacular and visualization of the digital practitioners seem to be the masturbatory habits of those obsessed with digital games.

As mentioned in the essay, the "Truth to materials," comment leads to a debate over the final application of digitally conceived design schemes, as examined by the Burry in the article.  When a hyperbolic surface is construed utilizing oblique geometries, the shape tends to be alluring to the designer, but the image doesn't really truly convey the massing, but simply presents a planar rendering as a visualization.  When true extrusions of constructed surfaces are forged, the integrity of such surfaces may be complicated by the adaptation of structural supports, insulation, lighting, and other systems that need to integrated into the building components. 

I've yet to see a digitally designed project that I find to celebrate the elegance of the medium, and instead highly gestural buildings conceived via a machine, and built by human hands have yet to bridge the liminality of the artificial purity that can be captured on the computer screen. 

As a final note, Mr. Burry mentions one highly intellectualized phrase in this piece, which reads as follows.  "It is the visualization concurrent ideas that appear to be the same yet different at the same time."  In the context of the article, this notion may be founded in the principles of modern art, but it's application is justified relative to the development of a digital language.  I would argue that greater analysis of the modern pieces of Picasso, Braque, Oldenburg and Lichtenstein could lead to a development of an architectural language that could be composed of a series of pieces that seamlessly integrate in order to forge a magnanimous typology, which could utilize the digital realm in the production of the design, but not it's initial realization.