Schedule

PHASE I – CASE STUDIES 

Students must select three of the below listed case studies, provide a short summary of their formal features, and produce a series of diagrams (in isometric) that exemplify the conceptual bases of their chosen projects. Listed cases epitomize certain forms of assemblage, including formal, infrastructural, material, and even functional means. Students are encouraged to research their chosen projects to reveal forms of assembly that go beyond obvious their characteristics.

1. Giuseppe Terragni, Casa del Fascio, Como, Italy (1936)
2. Junya Ishigami, Kanagawa Institute of Technology Workshop, Kanagawa, Japan (2008)
3. Toyo Ito, Tama University Library, Tokyo, Japan (2007)
4. Peter Eisenman, Canareggio Town Square (House 11a), Venice, Italy (1978, unrealized)
5. Peter Eisenman, Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, Germany (2005)
6. Bernard Tschumi, Le Fresnoy Art Center, Tourcoing, France (1997)
7. Bernard Tschumi, Parc de la Vilette, Paris, France(1984 – 87)
8. Kevin Roche & John Dinkeloo, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, California(1968)
9. SANAA, Glass Pavilion, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio (2006)
10. SANAA, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa, Kanazawa, Japan (2004)
11. SANAA, Grace Farms, New Canaan, Connecticut (2015)
12. Herzog & de Meuron, VitraHaus, Weil am Rhein, Germany (2011)
13. Lacaton & Vassal, FRAC Dunkerque, Nord-Pas de Calais, Dunkerque, France (2015)
14. Louis Kahn, Bangladesh Parliament Building, Dhaka, Bangladesh (1982)
15. Constant Nieuwenhuys, New Babylon (1959 -74, unrealized)
16. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Campo Marzio (1762, fictional)
17. Quickborner Team, Bürolandschaft (1950s)
18. Wolfgang and Eberhard Schnelle (Quickborner Team), Bürolandschaft, (1958)
19. Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (1977)
20. Cedric Price, Potteries Thinkbelt Project, Straffordshire, UK (1996, unrealized)
21. John Soane, Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, UK (1792 – 1825)
22. Rem Koolhaas (OMA), Maison Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (1998)
23. Peter Cook (Archigram), Plug In City (1960 – 74, unrealized)
24. Yona Friedman, The Spatial City (various) (1950s onwards)
25. Aldo Rossi’s reading of Canaletto’s Capriccio Palladiano (1753 – 59)

Monday August 24

• Introduction of studio brief
• Assignment of Phase I – Case Studies
  • Brief presentation of projects
  • Selection of 3 case studies

Wednesday August 26 to Wednesday September 2

• Individual instruction on case studies

Monday September 7

• Presentation of case studies
• Introduction of Phase II: Readings

PHASE II – READINGS       

The second phase consists of a series of readings in which students are expected to translate seminal ideas found in text, towards their architectural diagrams of the previous phase. Each text was chosen as it relates directly to the methods and/or concepts inherent in assemblages and their architectural derivations.

1. SECTION A
2. Peter Eisenman, “Post-Functionalism”
3. Peter Eisenman, “Cardboard Architecture”
4. Peter Eisenman, “The Futility of Objects”

• SECTION B
• Bernard Tschumi, “Sequences”
• Bernard Tschumi, “Madness and the Combinative”
• Sergei Eisenstein, “Yermolova”
• Sergei Eisenstein, “Beyond the Shot”

• SECTION C
• Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter, excerpts from Collage City

Wednesday September 9 to Monday September 14

• Discussion of Readings: Section A
• Presentation of diagrams

Wednesday September 16 to Monday September 21

• Discussion of Readings: Section B
• Presentation of diagrams

Wednesday September 23 to Monday September 28

• Discussion of Readings: Section C
• Presentation of diagrams
• Introduction to Phase III: Exercises

PHASE III – DISCREET ASSEMBLAGES          

After developing diagrams of architectural assemblages based on theoretical precedents, the next phase involves testing these ideas through design. In a series of exercises, students will devise spatial ensembles that demonstrate complexities through architectural assemblages, from linear to field growth, and from regular to irregular compositions. The goal of this phase is develop formal hierarchies from relationships born of collisions, collages, and coincidences. Development of designs will be produced principally through drawn representation and 3D modeling.

Wednesday September 30 to Monday October 5

• Indexing elements of Assemblage

Wednesday October 7 to Monday October 19

• Compositing Linear Assemblages

Wednesday October 21 to Monday November 2

• Compositing Field Assemblages
• Discussion of Phase IV: Assemblages

PHASE IV – ASSEMBLAGES

The final phase of the term culminates with the design of a structure that demonstrates the complexities of architectural assemblages, using lessons learned throughout the semester. Integral to this final phase, the application of program and scale will be introduced to provoke novel approaches to conventional architectural functions. Despite this inclusion, proposals should prioritize the provocation of spaces that challenge, rather than conform to, norms of building use. A large part of this last phase will focus on forms of communication that resonate the underlying message of each design.

Wednesday November 4 to Monday November 30

• Individual instruction

Monday November 23 to Wednesday November 25 – No class

• Pacing Break / Thanksgiving Break

Wednesday December 2

• Final Presentation