Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said about obscenity that he could not define it but knew it when he saw it. We have yet to determine if the same can be said for architecture.
Many of us seek to create architecture, not just for publication, but to contribute to the environment in which we live. Unless we believe that we are the first to do so, it should be possible to find examples of architecture in that everyday environment. The participants in this course will take on this task, as well as that of discussing and documenting the qualities that qualify the examples that they identify as architecture. Specimens of architecture identified in the course will be collected in a field guide for architecture.
Goal of the course
The goal is to identify examples of architecture which are part of everyday life and at the same time inspiring. Although this could potentially be a very large set of examples as I have gone about thinking what examples I would propose myself I have found surprisingly few. There are many buildings in the city which are part of the cannon of modern architecture, however unless you work inside them or have a reason to walk by them regularly they may not be a part of your everyday life- -If they are they would be a fine example to bring in for the course. If not, what buildings or portions of buildings do have an exemplary presence in your everyday life?
Time Frame of the examples proposed
The reason for the exclusion of recent buildings is that while we all have a catalogue of recently completed and published work in our minds we may be less aware of buildings which are no longer news but still interesting. Being removed from the moment of the creation of these buildings should give us a better perspective on their enduring qualities- -qualities which may be most significant to consider in our current work.
At the same time although I have not specifically excluded them, buildings which are of interest as historic structures are not the most useful for the course. Their history may cloud our perception as much as the novelty of recent work, and in as much as their interest lies in being different from current construction practice, it may be less useful to us in our work.
Buildings are only new for a while and many of them do not make it to being historic so identifying buildings who’s architecture succeeds in the period in between is both interesting because it represents a large portion of a building’s life and a large share of the built environment. It is also in this middle age that we can appreciate their qualities and flaws unbiased by either novelty or history.
Home work:
Since we are trying to cover a lot of ground in one or potentially two class meetings the preparation each student/participant undertakes before the first class is critical. The first class will be based on presentation and discussion of the examples of architecture proposed by each student, so it is essential that everyone bring images which document the building and their day-to-day interaction with it or observation of it. It may be helpful to post these images to this website in advance of the first meeting.
Between the first and the second class each participant would have an opportunity to visit and document the examples proposed by others and bring their observations back to class for discussion.
- Date
- October 13, 2009 at 4:00pm
- Location
- Center for Architecture
- Facilitator
- Guido Hartray
- Limit
- 20
- Fee
- free
Comment
great proposal. how many classes? one discussion on field study? or is this an all day thing?
don't have any specimens in mind at the moment, but examples and images could be posted to this site as notes or something.
oh yeah, great itle too...suggests lots of things.
13 Sep 2009 7:45AM
that is a big fist exception! ...and i wonder whether it removes from consideration works that may really call into question the definition of architecture. i am concerned that the number of specimens accepted as "architecture" will be very large, unless the criteria is very focused or the area of study is limited. it might be worthwhile to consider making this a neighborhood study... in the end, it may be that the rejects are a more interesting pool than those selected.
are you talking about architecture with a capital "A" and why is that important? how does this exercise relate, for example, to the work of the Landmark's Preservation Commission or other national organizations that seek to identify culturally valuable architecture.
18 Sep 2009 8:44AM
Clarifications:
Goal of the course
The goal is to identify examples of architecture which are part of everyday life and at the same time inspiring. Although this could potentially be a very large set of examples as I have gone about thinking what examples I would propose myself I have found surprisingly few. There are many buildings in the city which are part of the cannon of modern architecture, however unless you work inside them or have a reason to walk by them regularly they may not be a part of your everyday life- -If they are they would be a fine example to bring in for the course. If not, what buildings or portions of buildings do have an exemplary presence in your everyday life?
Time Frame of the examples proposed
The reason for the exclusion of recent buildings is that while we all have a catalogue of recently completed and published work in our minds we may be less aware of buildings which are no longer news but still interesting. Being removed from the moment of the creation of these buildings should give us a better perspective on their enduring qualities- -qualities which may be most significant to consider in our current work.
At the same time although I have not specifically excluded them, buildings which are of interest as historic structures are not the most useful for the course. Their history may cloud our perception as much as the novelty of recent work, and in as much as their interest lies in being different from current construction practice, it may be less useful to us in our work.
Buildings are only new for a while and many of them do not make it to being historic so identifying buildings who’s architecture succeeds in the period in between is both interesting because it represents a large portion of a building’s life and a large share of the built environment. It is also in this middle age that we can appreciate their qualities and flaws unbiased by either novelty or history.
Home work:
Since we are trying to cover a lot of ground in one or potentially two class meetings the preparation each student/participant undertakes before the first class is critical. The first class will be based on presentation and discussion of the examples of architecture proposed by each student, so it is essential that everyone bring images which document the building and their day-to-day interaction with it or observation of it. It may be helpful to post these images to this website in advance of the first meeting.
Between the first and the second class each participant would have an opportunity to visit and document the examples proposed by others and bring their observations back to class for discussion.
29 Sep 2009 9:42PM
Dear Finding Architecture participants,
We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the opening class of the Public School (for Architecture) New York. This class will meet in the lower gallery of the Center for Architecture 536 LaGuardia Place on Tuesday, Oct 13 at 4pm.
Guido Hartray the teacher for this class has up-dated the course description clarifying the intentions for this discussion. Please use the Notes tool on the Public School website to upload images of proposed examples (jpegs preferred). Alternatively you can bring a hardcopy or digital file to class:
“Since we are trying to cover a lot of ground in one or potentially two class meetings the preparation each student/participant undertakes before the first class is critical. The first class will be based on presentation and discussion of the examples of architecture proposed by each student, so it is essential that everyone bring images which document the building and their day-to-day interaction with it or observation of it. It may be helpful to post these images to this website in advance of the first meeting. Between the first and the second class each participant would have an opportunity to visit and document the examples proposed by others and bring their observations back to class for discussion”
We are looking forward to an interesting discussion.
Best,
Todd Rouhe
11 Oct 2009 6:39PM