Architecture As Agency

This paper reflects on the role of computation in speculative design. It suggests that found, unexpected traces of computational processes can amplify designers’ imagination. This theme is considered through a reflection on a practical workflow that pays close attention to the artifacts of algorithmically generated mesh geometries. The resulting interpretation of found artifacts as active participants in design processes is innovative in the field where computational objects (such as meshes) are typically thought of as neutral tools. Reconsideration of meshes as objects with agency can be extended to other computational entities, resulting in significant implications for design thinking and design craftsmanship.

The following essay sketches varieties of imagination operative in the best architectural work. It was published in Warehouse Journal, a student-edited journal produced annually by the Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba. Student editors for Warehouse 25 were, Alena Rieger and Ally Pereira-Edwards.

The elaborate Major sakkos of Metropolitan Photios of Russia (1408-31) is one of the finest surviving examples of medieval liturgical vestments.  In this paper, the shape, architectonics, and decoration of this canopy-like object is compared to the church and to the holy tent known from Mosaic traditions, thereby raising questions of materiality and conceptual framing of the sacred.  By analyzing ritual performance within a Byzantine-rite church and practices of defining sacred space with specific materials, this paper suggests the transferability of the architectonics of textile and masonry canopies into sakkos.  When Metropolitan Photios wore this conspicuously superb “garment of glory and beauty,” he reenacted the “living icon of Christ,” Jesus as the High Priest, and His mystical re-birth in the sanctuary.  Within this “spatial living icon,” the sakkos framed the ritual and spiritual transformation of the human body as well as the dynamics within the performative spaces of God’s manifestations.

The task of architecture is usually understood as an aesthetic or utilitarian endeavor; my study of the ethical approach provides an expanded perspective.  Drawing from Karsten Harries’ The Ethical Function of Architecture, I argue that architecture presents interpretations of an ethos for a specific time and place.  Architecture’s ethical task can be performed by moral agents who interpret the built environment according to their community’s ethos and Christian conceptions of justice and human flourishing. Interpreters should assess whether architectural projects support justice and liberation goals as these interpreters respond to contextual and normative questions about their communities and specific buildings.  In the presentation of this paper, I use images from the US Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. to demonstrate how an interpreter would critique an architectural work in this way, determining if their built environment interprets an appropriate community ethos and serves the common good.

"This paper argues for a pre-theoretical and pro-theatrical understanding of theory. To begin, it considers the Greek tradition of theōria as practiced around the fifth century BCE in the period just before Plato appropriated the cultural practice of theōria as a model for philosophical inquiry. As will be shown, this proto-philosophical practice of theōria was profoundly theatrical, which is to say, spectacular and dramatic in social, situational, and symbolic ways. Such events of theōria involved diverse citizens participating as active witnesses in recurring festivals that had both intimate and far-reaching political, religious, and aesthetic significance. Reflecting on some present-day settings and occasions for practicing theory, this paper concludes with a disciplinary provocation: the re-engagement of theōria’s fundamental theatricality can reanimate the social, situational, and symbolic dimensions of architectural theory, without sacrificing either its relative independence or its capacity for heuristic wonder.
      Before theory was a thing, it was a practice. In ancient Greece theōria was a spatiotemporal practice thoroughly intertwined with socio-political experiences and endeavors. The cultural practice of theōria involved traveling to a foreign place, primarily for the sake of witnessing a spectacular festival and/or consulting an oracle, then returning home to share with others an account of events seen and understandings gained. All three stages of theōria – traveling, spectating, and returning with a report – were vitally important. Individuals would temporarily leave behind the familiarity of their local conditions, assumptions, and problems to immerse themselves in intensely social, synesthetic, and metaphysical encounters at a Panhellenic festival. They would then return home with the obligatory challenge of communicating the truth of what was witnessed to those who stayed behind...." — Lisa Landrum

This chapter attests to the antiquity of architecture’s practical and poetic involvement with justice by describing three ancient Greek plays in which ‘architects’ figure into the dramatization of just acts. The plays to be discussed include: Aeschylus’ fragmentary Dikē Play, Aristophanes’ comedy Peace, and Euripides’ satyr play Cyclops.

This paper explores the notion of ethics in the built environment, and professional accountability, topics which are generally sidelined or given little direct consideration in teaching and practice. However, this status quo is increasingly being questioned. Built environment educators and practitioners need now to develop the intellectual and skill resources to address new questions, formulate a position, and set guidelines to be able to incorporate and make these 'measurable' in the performance of educators and practitioners, and for achieving a level of accountability.

The paper will present the general development of definitions in the field of ethics. It will then focus on architecture, where ethical considerations may have spatial implications, as spatial characteristics are a reflection of thinking on opportunity, access and equity.

These concepts are at the core of the University of Johannesburg's UJ_UNIT2, Architecture and Agency: Design, Make, Transform. UJ_UNIT2 aims to explore the boundaries between architecture and planning, building and city, and architecture and infrastructure. At its core, UJ_UNIT2 is essentially about people, wherein the built environment functions as a 'mediator' and 'interface' between individual and collective needs.

Conference Chair, Lisa Landrum: "Each year the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture hosts an interdisciplinary symposium entitled Atmosphere. This symposium explores the less tangible aspects of design and experience: the ephemeral, social, situational, emotional, elemental, phenomenal and epi-phenomenal conditions of our shared world." 

The theme of Atmosphere 2014 is Action!

“Action” shifts attention from designed objects to design motives, agencies, conditions and effects. “Action” poses questions about performative and collaborative modes of making and inhabitation. “Action” prompts designers and researchers to reflect on their
modus operandi, and on the actions and interactions of the diverse materials, circumstances, policies and people they work with. “Action” invites consideration of the transformative agencies of situations and situated events.

We invite PAPER PROPOSALS for 20-minute presentations exploring one of the following six sub-themes: building acts, dwelling acts, representational acts, socio-political acts, environmental acts, and research in action. Proposals should be well grounded in historical, theoretical or creative research, and develop compelling arguments and insights that contribute to interdisciplinary knowledge""Submit Paper Proposals by October 15th 2013. 

Who?  Academics in the allied disciplines of Architecture, Landsape Architecture, Environmental Design, Interior Design and City Planning."

5 Keynote speakers to be announced. See website for futher details, including inspirational quotes, a suggestive bibliography, and updates.
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