Scale is an elusive though all pervasive concept in architecture. Though it is often used interchangeably with size, scale implies a system of relative measurement and places architecture in relation to something else – often the human body but also adjacent structures or urban conditions. This capacity for built-in relativity has made scale a polemical device that has been used to argue for an experiential and context-based architecture or, equally, for a large, infrastructure-based urbanism.
This class will focus on understanding the notion of scale in architecture through key texts, drawings and buildings. The class will study conceptions and misconceptions of scale in practice today and focus on key historical moments that argue that scale is a relatively new concept in architecture. Precedents will include Renaissance notions regarding proportion; the idea of the sublime; Le Corbusier’s Modulor; postmodernism’s rallying cry against modern architecture; and Rem Koolhaas’ SMLXL and polemic of bigness.
- Date
- October 16, 2009 at 4:00pm
- Location
- Center for Architecture
- Facilitator
- Irina Verona
- Limit
- 20
- Fee
- free
Comment
interesting. wondering if the Public School itself doesn't address issues of scale in some way: smaller than an institution but operating as an architectural event or installation at a 1:1 scale.
could these qualities of the Public School for Architecture inform the content or format for this class?
what do i need to bring to this class in order to understand scale? a tape measure an atlas...?
13 Sep 2009 7:39AM
great. i think the scope is manageable for a single class meeting, though it could easily be studied over the course of a semester. i can imagine this proposal as a seminar in an academic environment, but i wonder whether you would consider interjecting a practical component, a photographic assigment, for example. i would also encourage creativity as far as the class structure: reading and "homework" can be ssigned prior to the class meeting, field work, making, doing, follow-up meetings, class work can be displayed at the teachers' lounge and a publication is likely.
the proposed title is very provocative in a good way. what about the other pole, smallness, miniaturization?
24 Sep 2009 9:59AM
it'd be interesting to include a few contemporary texts from the landscape architecture or engineering fields as they relate to today's very real megaprojects. as sites and infrastructure and expectations get bigger and bigger, "scale" suggests not just size but things like shape, ambition, complexity, a need for new frameworks...
8 Oct 2009 10:05AM