A system is a set of connected things or parts. What distinguishes one system from another is a unique organization of relationships between parts. These components when brought together into a set of meaningful relationships may form an integrated whole. If these parts are material and systems become adaptive, they may be re-organized by physical constraints and internal relationships causing these material systems to evolve.
The theme of the fall semester will be to consider the notion of part and whole relationships and how they relate to architectural issues of scale, spatial organization and effects, material connection, and relation to human scale and proportion. Between material, concept, and desire, it is anticipated that students will learn how to leap from an idea to architectural representation.
Matter may be considered a general term for the substance of which all things consist. Depending on how it is treated, it can fluctuate between solid and particle states. It can become an object or disperse into the field. While architectural design involves the generation of form by manipulating matter, this manipulation is driven by a multiplicity of factors. Internally, these factors may be a spatial logic or an architect’s unifying concept; externally, these factors may be program and site determined by a client or the scale of its inhabitants.
The theme of the spring semester is to consider the notion of “Object and Field” and how it relates to the negotiation of small-scale architectural program, inhabitation, and context. These parameters may be considered as opportunities to think critically about the work we generate and how to respond to these architectural design problems with innovative solutions.
