Course Number: CSU-ARC 410
Course Name: Architectural Design 5
Number of Credit Hours: 4 Credits
Prerequisite(s):
N/A
Corequisite(s):
N/A
Course Description:
In general, film (and film theory) will serve as the conceptual underpinning for this design studio. It will be the lens through which we’ll explore the course objectives for CSU ARC 410, included in the following DTU Catalog description: “continuation of CSU ARC 311 and CSU ARC 361 plus the theories, concepts, processes and skills pertaining to context, structure and climate as determinants that shape the built environment and support the communication of intended concepts and meanings. 3 laboratories.
Is it strange to look beyond the scope of architecture for inspiration? Does this indicate some crisis of confidence in the power of our own discipline to inspire? In truth, architects have sought connections with other fields since at least the 1970s. Initially art and sculpture were mined for their potential overlap with architecture, then philosophy and literature, while lately science has captured our imaginations. In a world that is constantly changing and becoming more complex, this search beyond the boundaries of architecture is empowering for its potential to link architecture to a broader world of ideas. To me it is important to pursue architecture as a discipline, but do it in an open way by considering alternate modes of thinking. Of course the challenge to is find tangents and overlaps in speculations and research outside the bounds of architecture which can be brought to bear on the creation of the built environment, by making it richer rather than simply more complex.
Why film? To put it simply, both architecture and cinema propose temporal and spatial structure/sequence and in doing so create the atmospheric conditions for life. Juhani Pallasmaa writes that “Both forms of art define the dimensions and essence of existential space; they both create experiential scenes of life situations. The fact that images of architecture are eternalized in matter, whereas cinematic images are only an illusion projected on the the screen, has no decisive significance. Both art forms define frames of life, situations of human interaction and horizons of understanding the world.” Besides, film, or more loosely photography, is at the core of modern visual culture. In our work and our discussions we’ll also consider film’s subthemes of concept, atmosphere, movement, framing. aperture and light. Especially light.
Which brings us to deep focus. Associated with deep space, deep focus is a cinematic technique that manipulates aperture (and light) to bring the background, middle-ground and foreground into clear focus. We’ll explore this concept in both a physical sense (can space be collapsed in architecture? Can perception be extended architecturally?) and a philosophical sense (Can we confront multiple considerations such as context, structure, space and climate simultaneously to add layers of meaning and perception in our work?)
