Brief Project 01

A. BRIEF TITLE

GHOSTS – THE SPACES OF OBSERVATION AND ROLE PLAY

B. EXPLANATION OF BRIEF

We will start the year with a series of short projects based on the ‘Ghosts’ short story from the New York Trilogy.  As part of these projects students will be asked to engage in techniques of role-play, city mapping, and voyeurism.

For Project 1 Students will be asked to develop characters that may either be familiar to them or totally unknown. They will experience the phenomena of being followed as well as following. Videos, Maps, Photographs and notes will be collected in order to reconstruct this narrative. They will record and present their experiments both through narrative and graphically.

Part one:  Characters and Role Play

Students will start by experiencing Janet Cardiff’s ‘the Missing Voice, case study B’, which is an audio walk through the East End, starting from the Whitechapel Gallery.

Students are to chose a fictional, historic of familiar character or individual.  This character may be taken from a novel, be famous artists, a long forgotten acquaintance or someone observed as part of their daily routine.

Students are to identify and isolate a particular characteristic from their chosen character and describe what is particular to this individual either in a text, drawing, photograph or film.   Points of particular interest maybe a particularly unusual style of walking, dressing or behaving. It may be characters have an original attitude to science or art or took part in an historic event. Memorabilia can also form part of the character’s presentation.

In parallel, students will read the short story ‘Ghosts’ and identify a paragraph of interest for them to analyse and present.

Part Two: Role Play and the Inhabitation of the city

Taking on their character’s features, students are to occupy an area London. If their character was a microbiologist then potentially you would inhabit the city at a molecular level if they were on the run then the city should be seen and occupied as a place to hide. They might be entering specific museums, shops, going to unusual places or iconic ones related to the character’s activities.

Meanwhile, another student will take on the role of the observer and follow the said student in order to record his/her whereabouts and particularities. Use of photography, audio recordings, sketches are all recommended, taking utmost attention to details all along. Noticeable elements such as time, weather conditions, unusual objects, can all form part of the report. The recording of these experiments is essential and you may want to test them prior to the tailing. The private eye may not know the real identity of the chosen character. The format of the report should also be thought through, is it a booklet, performance, video including maps, an atlas, etc… ?

Part Three:  Revealing the Hidden

These wanderings, observations, derives or trails are to be fully documented in photography, drawings, and models. In particular students are to indentify an independent and original system for viewing and recording the city.  You may, through your observations want to reveal and map hidden or forgotten spaces in the city or spaces to observe without becoming seen.  You may discover an unusual or hidden microclimate or subculture or focus on a particular detail of your earlier investigations.  All exercises and observations are to be presented in a review on the 12th of October, and will be used as a staring point for Project 2.

C. LIST OF ARCHITECTURAL REFERENCES

Books:

Auster, Paul, 1947-, The New Yok trilogy: City of Glass, Ghosts, The Locked Room/ Paul Auster, London, Faber and Faber 1988, City of Glass first published in USA by Sun & Moon Press 1985, Ghosts first published by Sun & Moon Press 1886, The Locked Room first published by Sun & Moon Press in 1986.

Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940.:  The arcades project / Walter Benjamin ; translated by Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin ; prepared on the basis of the German volume edited by Rolf Tiedemann. Cambridge, Mass. ; London : Belknap Press, 2002.

Calle, Sophie 1953- , Suite vénitienne / Sophie Calle; Jean Baudrillard; translated by Dany Barash and Danny Hatfield, Please follow me. Seattle : Bay Press, 1988, first published in 1980.

Calle, Sophie 1953- , Double game / Sophie Calle with the participation of Paul Auster, London, Violette 1999, First published as Doubles-Jeux, Paris, Actes Sud, 1998

Art Works:

Cardiff, Janet : Missing voice (case study B), 50 min audio walk, 1999

Nauman, Bruce: Slow angled Walk, 1968

Calle, Sophie: Suite Venitienne, 1979

Calle, Sophie: The Hotel, 1981

Bronstein, Pablo: Doorway in the style of James Stirling 2005

D. SITE MAP

N/A

E. SCHEDULE

Week one 27th September

Tues 28th Sep: Introduction to project, MB CR

Friday 1st Oct: Presentation of Part One, Group Tutorials CR

Tues 5thth Oct: Pin Up and Presentation of Parts One and two, Introduction to part three

Friday 8th Oct: Presentation of Part three, Group Tutorials MB

Tues 12th Oct: Final Pin up to parts one two and three, Introduction to project three MB CR

ATELIER DESIGN BRIEFS PROFORMA

F LEARNING OUTCOMES (LEVEL 3 ONLY):

Atelier tutors to indicate outcomes assessed in this brief.

LEVEL 3 –             ARCT 1041 DESIGN EXPLORATION AND PROPOSITION

ARCT 1042 DESIGN RESOLUTION

BUIL 1074 INTEGRATED DESIGN TECHNOLOGY

1. Define your brief through drawings of observed processes, physical         Yes
and cultural conditions. (e) + (r)

2. Assess and prioritise architectural concerns and derive design     Yes
strategies through drawings  (e)

3. Explore context of the site and relationship with design proposal.   Yes
(e) + (r)

4. Design architectural spaces while negotiating issues of scale,    Yes
composition, structure and programme of occupation.  (p)

5. Communicate design processes through use of sketches, drawing,    Yes
collage, modelling, photographic, video or digital techniques.  (p)

6. Show how analysis, research, context, budget, technical,          No
environmental, material, structural and construction strategies inform
a design proposition.  (p) + (r)

7. Construct speculative design propositions (r)          No

8. Use conventions of architectural representation incl 2D and 3D          No
drawing, sketches, collage, modelling, photo or digital techniques (r)

9. Make coherent architectural proposals, using professional skill and          No
communicate your proposals visually.  This should embody a broad
conception of project while satisfying programmatic needs (r)

10. Design architectural spaces and detailed elements of construction          No
while negotiating issues of scale, composition, structure, programme
of occupation, and technical resolution of design intentions.  (r) + (t)

11.Make informed choices of material and construction methods (t) No

12.Describe and evaluate technical and material boundary conditions  (t) No

13.Use material properties and detailing as design tool, starting during – No
conceptual stages in parallel with brief and scheme development. (t)

14.Understand position of design within the construction industry (t) – No

15. Convey technical and environmental knowledge, in keeping with  – No
overall design concept, through detailed drawings and models (t)

(e) = learning outcomes assessed in the ‘exploration’ component
(p) = learning outcomes assessed in the ‘proposition’ component
(r) = learning outcome assessed in the ‘design: resolution’ course
(t) = learning outcome assessed in the ‘integrated design technology’ course

ATELIER DESIGN BRIEFS PROFORMA

G LEARNING OUTCOMES (LEVEL 2 ONLY):

Atelier tutors to indicate outcomes assessed in this brief.

LEVEL 2 –             ARCT 1039 DESIGN EXPLORATION AND PROPOSITION

ARCT 1040 DESIGN TECTONICS AND REALISATION

1. Define your individual brief through drawings of observed processes,          Yes
physical and cultural conditions.  (e)

2. Assess and prioritise architectural concerns and derive design          Yes
strategies through drawings.  (e)

3. Explore context of site and relationship with design proposal. (e)         Yes

4. Design architectural spaces while negotiating issues of scale,          Yes
composition, structure and programme of occupation.  (p)

5. Communicate design processes through sketches, drawing, collage,          Yes
modelling, photo, video or digital techniques.  (p) + (r)

6. Show how analysis, research, context, budget, technical, environ-         No
mental, material, structural and constructional strategies inform a
design proposition.  (p)

7. Design architectural spaces while negotiating issues of scale, context,          No
composition, structure and programme of occupation.  (r)

8. Make coherent architectural proposals with judgement and commun-         No
icate your strategies visually.  (r)

9. Design technological proposals through detailed resolution of your          No
project, its landscape, and its social and environmental conditions. (t)

10. Draw (and in some cases make) design details which embody a broad          No
conception of the project as well as satisfying programmatic demands.  (t)

11. Demonstrate an awareness of the way technical, environmental,          No
material, structural and constructional strategies inform a design
proposition.  (t)

(e) = learning outcomes to be assessed in the ‘exploration’ component
(p) = learning outcomes to be assessed in the ‘proposition’ component
(t) = learning outcome to be assessed in the tectonics component
(r) = learning outcome to be assessed in the realisation component