1998.08.04
Encyclopedia Ichnographica - the Equiria in 3D
I just thought about beginning a 3d extrusion of all the building plans along the Equiria. This idea was brought on by thinking about the Equiria entry for the Encyclopedia, which will go into detail about all the buildings that line the course. Specifically, I was thinking how aerial and ground level perspectives would make the article very effective, and therefore require some 3D representation.
1998.08.09
Bye House in a new context
I thought today of placing the Bye House model along the slopes of the Covent for the Dominican Sisters. In doing this, I want the entrance and study to be at the top of the hill. This makes the bridge most effective, and the wall and the pilotis will have to be extended downward to meet the ground.
1998.08.18
organizing and archiving Quondam's Collection
I also recently had the idea of being much more playful with the downloaded model data. My reasoning is that most of these buildings already exist, and, therefore not necessarily to be correctly documented within Quondam. I also feel this approach is appropriate because these models are generally not entirely accurate, so the models are not that "sacred" to begin with, and being playful with them is almost logical.
1998.08.25
what does it mean to be a virtual museum of architecture?
As part of the reorganization and updated display of Quondam, I also want to address the full potential of a virtual museum of architecture. The main issue to address is that Quondam's collection is "virtually" an infinite collection, meaning that the base model data can be used to generate evermore data, be it new line drawings such as elevations, axons, and perspectives, any number of renderings, and even whole buildings derived from a manipulation of the existing data. It is particularly the possibility of creating whole new buildings to add to the collection that makes a virtual museum of architecture (in this regard at least) completely unprecedented. The closest example of this "manipulative" attitude toward architecture is (ironically) again Hadrian's Villa where the form of remembered places was morphed into another style and an entirely other location.
I have to give this entire concept a lot more thought because I don't want to just create a set of buildings that just reflect my own personal ideas. I would like whatever "new" buildings to come out of the collection to have a meaningful place within a virtual museum collection. I just thought that it might be interesting to create collaged buildings like Media and the Berlin Science Center. Of course, the analogous building idea is also a prime candidate for "new" buildings.
In any case, I want Quondam to start representing the wholely new and "other" entity that it is.
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1998.11.27
gallery 1999 - the Otto Houses
After experimenting a little with the Danteum plan (plus the morphed Bye House), I began to think of the resultant "crazy" plan as a house for Otto. Oddly enough, the "program" really fit what I was doing, and thus was born the idea to do a whole series of houses for Otto as one of the main aspects of Schizophrenia and Architecture.
1999.01.09
Re: Quondam's agenda
Quondam's began because of a substantial collection of computer models of significant architectural designs that were never built. Quondam is thus primarily a museum that is "not there" about architecture that is "not there", and the key to its "existence" is precisely the internet/world wide web. Quondam is well aware of the technological and electronic medium within which it builds and designs, and, almost ironically, chooses to remain fairly "low-tech" in its web page designs for the very reason of sustainability. Simply put, Quondam is concerned with uncovering those natures of architecture that already exist but are nonetheless mostly unseen.
1999.01.10
ideas
maison millennium??(????) - the same collaged models gone crazy.
1999.01.12 10:58
Re: virtual (muesum) dialogue
I'm not entirely sure what your question here fully entails, but I will nonetheless address how virtual/unbuilt buildings are dealt with at Quondam and how they thus contend within the "grand narrative" of architecture. Quondam's collection of 3d cad models is more than an act of documentation and/or preservation in that a cad model facilitates literally infinite illustrative and investigative possibilities, therefore a virtual museum like Quondam offers a wholly new paradigm in terms of establishing a truly unlimited collection. Admittedly, Quondam's display of its collection thus far is not all that it could be -- there are currently many still and animated images, but no VMRL files available for 3d venturing -- however, Quondam's present position/goal is to fully investigate the 2d possibilities of an electronic museum before it offers "3d" presentations. As to the question of how unbuilt architecture contends within architecture's grand narrative, Quondam is glad to be a forerunner in more completely engaging such designs into architecture's historical discourse, as well as setting an example of how to best approach the subject. For example, architectural (educational) courses that deal with constructing computer models of architectural designs should focus almost exclusively on the construction of unexecuted designs because the model construction of actual buildings is undeniably redundant. Unexecuted architectural designs offer multitudinous "untapped veins" of architectural history, and it is precisely 3d cad that facilitates the "mining" of such virtual architectures.
What I gleam from contemporary texts regarding architecture and the virtual realm is that all of today's "virtual" designers /thinkers /critics are oblivious to the long history of architecture's relationship with the virtual. My personal favorite example of an architectural/virtual environment is the emperor Hadrian's villa at Tivoli built in the early 2nd century -- different sections of the villa were designed to evoke Hadrian's favorite places within the Roman Empire -- a true virtual reality in the making. There is no question that today's computer /electronic technology is rightly responsible for bringing virtual architecture to the fore, but it is also a serious mistake for architects and designers to remain unmindful of the virtual realities of architecture that have absolutely nothing to do with computers. As to the potential similarity between a video game experience and a virtual tour of a computer model, yes the two experiences are probably very close indeed, but I would caution that the two experiences also serve too very different purposes, and thus their comparison is limited. Moreover, in the same way that I think constructing models of actual buildings is redundant, I feel that video games would be more exemplary if they rendered whole new environmental paradigms rather than the mostly overly romanticized architectural settings they offer.
I have already from time to time entertained the idea of "building" a 3d model of/for Quondam, and the truth of the matter is that I am nowhere near convinced that the creation of an illusory museum is necessary for Quondam to fulfill its museum operations. Furthermore, and on the other hand, Quondam can already stand firm in the conviction that each of the "buildings" in its collection represents a virtual museum of architecture, and thus sets forth the notion that a truly virtual museum is indeed an institution that can readily be any building and/or any number of buildings. In either case, the illusion /incorporation of halls, stairs, rooms, etc. would demonstrate an "untruthfulness to materials" because Quondam utilizes the structural system of HTML and web browsers rather than architecture's traditional "building blocks".
Lastly, I want to comment on 2d and 3d representation /visualization. Architectural drawing in its true sense is a 2-dimensional entity, and it is the technical ability of architectural drawings to convey 3-dimensional space that gives the genre its unique representational power, indeed its virtuality (i.e., potential). Computer graphics has greatly enhanced an architect's graphic dexterity, and 3-d modeling specifically gives architects the unprecedented ability to construct 3-dimensionally within a 2-dimensional realm. Advances in computer rendering also play a negative /destructive role within the history of architectural drawing, however. Many, if not most, architects today view a computer generated photo-realistic rendering, the so-called high resolution image, as the ultimate architectural representation. I personally take a contrary point of view because I see high resolution images as a kind of "dead end after taking the wrong fork in the road." In other words, setting photo-realistic representation as the preferred goal tends to ignore, if not altogether eliminate, the literal infinitude of the other means of spatial representation that computer graphics afford. Essentially, as a representation becomes more real it simultaneously becomes less virtual.
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1999.01.17
gallery 1999 - ideas - metabolic buildings
I am now going to reverse the role where links from Otto's texts will lead to totally metabolic-spontaneous buildings (designs), which will initially be presented as h-line prespectives. I already know I'm going to collage Capital Park West, which is going to be lots of fun. I am also going to (finally) stretch savoy, firminy, and weber in a vertical direction. The resultant drawings will follow links from the blinking Otto quotes.
I thought that before I manipulate the models, I will first experiment on 2d elevations (nad plans). I have a feeling that this whole manner of manipulation and slapdash presentation (i.e., non sequitur, free associational, linking-naming) will become a major theme of the gallery even though none of the buildings will be explained at all. In the end, I will have this incredible collection of 3d models and subsequent plans and elevations.
In beginning the major overhaul of my arris databases, I came across the building composition elements, and right away thought they would make a great group of collages.
As I'm thinking more about this free for all process, I will also introduce plans (site plans) from other buildings and underlay tham within the collages. This will provide the collaged building with a context, and, of course, I will make my own additions to the process as well.
It looks like I'm finally addressing the infinite nature of Quondam, and along with collaging completed buildings, I am also going to make full use of the incomplete buildings as well. This is also the perfect time for me to begin opaquing the library elements.
It may just turn out that the more I get into this process, the more possibilities I'll see. For example, I just thought of some times using elevations to create the site plans
1999.01.19
infringement complex
I made a significant leap today regarding the composing of new metabolic buildings by way of collaging existing models. I used Capital Park West and, while the resultant collage is fine, it was actually the process of creation-design that is more significant.
After generating the collage, I then underlayed the Strasbourg site plan to create a context. In doing this, I needed more underlay so I copy enlarge and rotated the site plan and in cleaning up that plan that real design possibilities came to the fore.. In doing this I quickly saw the potential of creating Ottopia in this manner. I immediately wanted to create a 3D base model for the collage complex.
After generating a series of h-line perspectives taken from a height of 750', I began to realize that I could easily make all the buildings more mine by changing the elevations (which will be easy enough to do especially I just apply any number of other building elevations along with any other designs for that matter, e.g., the patterns.)
I'm hoping that this infringement complex develops into a great design process-project because I really got the sense that I was finally using CAD capabilities that I have been thinking about using for so long. It seem that all I really have to do is just get myself started even if I'm not sure exactly the process is headed. I did already learn however, that I should always concentrate on creating a plan first. It seems that having the plan hepls to generate further ideas of how to design and compose.
I'm just now wondering whether I will meet continued success in composing as time goes on, especially since with Capital Park West I am able to ‘play' with a uniquely abstract set of buildings.
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1999.01.21 13:11
Re: def: Computer Aided Doctrine
Mark asks:
I'd also be interested in hearing from other CAD-literate types: how many times have you made a decision based on the commands you knew (or didn't know)?
Steve replies:
The following text first appeared in Drawing Toward Building - Philadelphia Architectural Graphics, 1732-1986, the catalogue of the Drawing Toward Building exhibit (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1986). This text accompanied a series of CAD drawings I generated of Center City Philadelphia from a 3-dimensional computer model of the city that I constructed. Although this text is now 13 years old, it is still relevant today, especially with regard to the issue of (individual) architects now having, through CAD, a tremendously upgraded form of manual dexterity.
"It would quickly be seen that the tools that man has made for himself, . . . and which till now have undergone only slight modifications in a slow evolution, have been transformed all at once with an amazing rapidity. These tools in the past were always in man's hands; today they have been entirely and formidably refashioned and for the time being are out of our grasp. The human animal stands breathless and panting before the tool that he cannot take hold of; progress appears to him as hateful as it is praiseworthy . . . This is a great but critical period, . . . we must create the state of mind which can understand what is going on . . . we will see that things have changed: and changed for the better."
The above excerpt, written in 1923 and taken from the opening paragraph of "Architecture or Revolution," the concluding chapter of Le Corbusier's Towards a New Architecture, almost prophesies the arrival of graphics computers in the world of architecture, and more specifically their arrival in the world architectural drawing. The graphics computer is indeed a new drawing tool, one that has not "refashioned" the old tools as much as it has replaced them. Pencils, triangles and parallel rules are simply no longer necessary to produce a drawing. The heart of the issue, however, is that the graphics computer has also eliminated the need for manual skill, that is, the graphic dexterity of the architect/delineator. Until now, an architect's drawing could be appreciated for both the idea that is manifested and the dexterity with which the idea is presented. It has always been the combination of mind and hand that has made architectural drawings very appealing. The question now is whether a drawing generated with the aid of a computer can be appreciated in the same way.
The 3-D graphic model of center city, commissioned by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, is a prime example where the capabilities of the machine, in this case Intergraph, far outweigh the capabilities of a delineator or any number of delineators. The model extends from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River, and from Spring Garden Street down to South Street. On the overall street map are projected, into three dimensions, the general mass of buildings. Since the nature of a 3-D "drawing" allows oneto view the subject isometrically from any angle and offers the ability to draw perspectives from any vantage point, the Philadelphia City Planning Cormnission uses the 3-D model to view and compare the effect of zoning recommendations as well as study the effect of proposed development in center city.
In addition to the infinite number of drawings and views that can be produced through a 3-D graphic model, the computer also offers the chance to view the city dymanically, directly on the screen monitor, as if the city were floating and rotating in space, and the ability to set up a series of selected perspectives to simulate what a person might see walking down a given street.
SHL
postscript:
My feeling all along has been that architects and designers should explore all the capabilities that CAD offers rather than being distressed over CAD's popularly per[con]ceived limitations. What is rarely mentioned in this regard however, is the potential need to abandon a whole bloc of aesthetic principles (well established within architecture before the arrival of CAD) in order to allow unfettered experimentation. I personally never view CAD operations as limiting factors; to the contrary, it is often an architect's imagination that has (deeply rooted educationally structured) limitations.
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