The Viewing Machine

Authors

Alice MinSoo Chun, University of Pennsylvania

Published In

Proceedings of the 18th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2002

Subjects

Architecture -- Research, Design -- Study and teaching, Design (philosophy)

Abstract

Technology in architecture. rhetoric of construction. often expresses an erotic search for knowledge. As Marco Frascari explains, "Technology is the fertile factor for the architectural production of elegant meanings, it deals with both the construction- the logos of techne (elegant art)- and the construing- the techne of logos (rhetoric)." ¹ In this case technology translates from figures of thought into figures of site, and figures of making. It may be construed as a condition that attempts to answer the question: How does one begin? The curriculum developed for the Undergraduate Architecture Program at the University of Pennsylvania provides a place for the cultivation of technology through the demonstration of architectural strategies for making. This is explored through a constant variable. the interest in building: the delight in experimental construction 1s the adventure into the space of the unknown condition, between conception and execution. This adventure, into the constructional unknown, uses technology and the discipline of drawing as a poetic act. In this sense. technology is demonstrated along with cosmology as it reconciles the art of construing and constructing. One vehicle for this reconcifiation is through a process and product called the viewing machine taught during the first year of architecture. Most of the students. beginning the Bachelors of Arts in Architecture, are quite young and eager to explore the unknown. The studio meets for three hours, two days a week. The studio begins with an exercise in perspective and speculation.

Description

Presented at the 18th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. March 14-16, 2002.

© Portland State University, published by Portland State University, Department of Architecture

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/15514

Recommended Citation

Chun, Alice MinSoo, "The Viewing Machine" (2002). Proceedings of the 18th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student. 17.
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/15514