Course Number: ARC 561j
Year: Elec
Credit Hours: 3
Semester(s): Spring
Prerequisites: graduate standing
Instructor(s): Álvaro Malo
Course Description:
Modeling is an activity that makes hypothetical propositions of a possible order of things, real or imaginary. A systematic (instrumental) model is a reasoned proposition. In its constitution, it is aimed at giving logical and empirical proof of the elements and forces that make up a possible physical reality. It explains the physical limits of the order as an object, fixing the number and kind of its parts and their relative positions, its permanence or change, and its capacity for internal and external movement. A physiognomic (iconic) model is a proposition that is made effective predominantly, if not exclusively, in the realm of sensations. It is a phenomenon of perception making a direct appeal to our affective consciousness, often bypassing the filter of reason. The pedagogy of modeling must not operate by giving precepts, but by the culture of experimentation making an appeal to the imagination in its transactions with reason, eliciting aesthetic and rational judgment, and giving to precise criticism the positive force that advances the sense of the proposition.
Objectives
1. Understanding of physical properties of materials: mechanical, optical, acoustical, thermal, electromagnetic, etc.
2. Understanding of aesthetic (sensorial-perceptive) properties of materials: visual, auditory, haptic, kinesthetic, ergonomic etc.
3. Ability to set clear hypotheses of design and device protocols of simulation that include testing, evaluation, feedback and practical applications aimed at developing an inventive model of design practice.
Course Structure & Topics
Seminar topics:
METHODS: deduction~induction; systematic~physiognomic; parametric~stochastic; mathematical~physical.
ATTRIBUTES: isotropy~anysotropy; similarity~difference; intension~extension; "striated"~"smooth".
MODES: Typology: archetype, prototype, type, stereotype. [Re]Presentation: analytic, performative, phenomenal. Production: structural, factural, tectonic. [E]Valuation: functional, utilitarian, affective.
Laboratory products: Model series, tests and evaluation. Abstract and paper.
The discussion of topics will precede and initiate laboratory modeling activities, keeping in mind that, (1) no definite rule for production can be given, since it may inhibit the necessary freedom of imagination; instead, the play must be heuristic, originating its own sense (or meta-logic) from the modeling activity itself; (2) paradoxically, while the products are not to be derived from imitation, they must in themselves be exemplary, i.e. models that serve as a standard or original meter for judgment; and, (3) while artistic production, similar to scientific knowledge, is founded on empirical observation and verification, the knowledge of art is eminently practical, it issues from the act of making as a mode of free play between mind and matter. In the aesthetic sense, it is the animating force which is set up in the material and then given back to the imagination: this reciprocating force "sets the mental powers into a swing that is final, i.e. into a play that is self maintaining and which strengthens the powers for such activity."1
1 Kant, I. (1999) The Critique of Judgment. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Course Requirements
Model series,iterative modeling series developed through testing and evaluation vis-à-vis modeling hypothesis, change of variables, materials, etc.
Scholarly paper,written synthesis of research and development protocol including abstract, full text, drawings and photographs following the submission format of pertinent journals, i.e., Journal of Architectural Education, Nature Materials, etc. Proof of submission required.
PDF files,for archival storage.
