Monday, February 4, 2013

>>>>>[P1] The Williamsburg Trilogy/ Constructing a scenario


P1.1 Atlas/ Constructing an archive:
>>>Duration: 1 week

Peter Wilson, Tokyo Rooftop matrix [1]

>>(…) I always tell my co-workers and students that they should, above all, look at things, because it is through observation that one can learn the most. Someone visiting Paris can, for example, go to a museum, or simply go for a walk, and this view of the city can be enough to enrich his individual style of architecture (…)<<[2]
Aldo Rossi
A Scientific Autobiography

The New York City combines wonderful and extraordinary places, people, textures, smells and sounds… It provides a wide range of inspirations and material, understood as potential components for the architectural proposal. The question is how these issues can be used as the matter of the project and processed spatially. Therefore, the first assignment will focus on the site-archeology. Exploring New York City during the study trip, you were asked to observe and register your observations, focusing both on objective data and individual interpretations of the site as well as the wider locale of the area of Williamsburg- using drawings, photography, video, audio or any other media. Based on these recordings and mappings (students who visited the site) an/or collected data from books and network (students who visited the site virtually)- all the things you have found and learnt along the way- you will try to unravel the secrets and the potential of the site.

Gerhard Richter Atlas Sheets 10/1962 and 14/1964 [3]

>>But my motivation was more a matter of wanting to create order – to keep track of things. All those boxes full of photographs and sketches weigh you down, because they have something unfinished, incomplete, about them. So it's better to present the usable material in an orderly fashion and throw the other stuff away. That's how the Atlas came to be, and I exhibited it a few times.<< [4]
Gerhard Richter

Using the collected material- notes, drawings, recordings, notations, maps, photographs…- you will be asked to present your findings and reflections, constructing an Atlas- i.e. an archive containing a valuable information about the site. The material should be processed and comprehensive and coherently organized in your own way, as the character of the Atlas depends on the nature of the collected material. Through its format and presentation you should try to penetrate and highlight the most important aspects of the place- its configuration, its history, its atmosphere, its people… and make it visible. Moreover, you will be asked to process all the data and to elaborate a series of maps of the site (1:100) containing the most important and valuable information. This collection of maps is to be understood as a plug-in tool you can add to the site-model- the point of departure for your design agendas.
This task is to be undertaken in teams of 4 students with two conditions: [1] at least one member should have visited the site; [2] each team should involve one newcomer student.
Note: During the Friday pin-up you will be asked to be very strict with the time assigned to each presentation- 20 minutes




[1] WILSON, Peter: in Bolles+Wilson. A Handful of Productive Paradigms, Bolles + Wilson Publishers, 2009
[2] ROSSI, Aldo, HUET, B: A conversation. in ROSSI, A; GEISERT,H: Aldo Rossi Architect, Academy Edictions, London, New York, 1994, pg.18.
[4] RICHTER, Gerhard:  Interview with Stefan Koldehoff, 1999 in: Text, wriitings, interwievs and letters 1961-2007.  Thames and Hudson, London 2009, pg. 350

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