The Physical Model as Means of Projective Inquiry in Structural Studies. The Paradigm of Architectural Education.
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Date
2018
Publication Type
Doctoral Thesis
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yes
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Abstract
Engaging in the discussion on the shortage of structural design creativity, the
present study advocates for the potential of the physical model as a tool for
conceptual structural studies of a synthetic rationale. The work embraces a
trans‐disciplinary mode of discourse, seeking to outline a theoretical
framework and propose a relevant methodological means for the structural
design inquiry. Within this context, fundamental concepts borrowed from
design and visual studies are introduced across two representative case‐studies
from the structural and architectural realm to highlight the synthetic
component of structural studies and the conceptual aspect of the physical
model.
To start with, a brief overview of the physical model in architectural education
comes to confirm the deficiencies of the prevailing modality: a means to reflect
on structural performance, eventually confined in the ways of the scientific
paradigm. Instances of a projective praxis – evoking the design culture – are
sought as an alternative. Cecil Balmond’s ‘informal’ is suggested as a theoretical
basis advocating for synthetic rationale and conceptual awareness.
In this track, Robert Le Ricolais’ research is selected as an idiosyncratic, yet
seminal, paradigm to disclose the design features (‘designerly ways’) of
structural studies; the physical model is employed here as a material diagram
to visualize transcending patterns across project ‘series’. Seeking to unfold this
potential in its full capacity, an example drawn from architectural studies is
brought into play. The Austin pedagogy offers a paradigm by excellence to
discuss conceptual awareness by means of perceptual constructs within a
design context; the physical model serves here as a conscious methodological
vehicle of diagrammatic nature for visual reasoning (‘dialectics of physical
modeling’), especially appropriate for the design inquiry.
Building on these foundations, a couple of educational practices – borrowed
from the ETH‐Zurich and the University of Thessaly respectively – explore the
notions of the structural concept and the material diagram, suggesting possible
strategies in projecting structural schemes by means of physical models.
In times of digital proficiency and proliferation of making, this proposition
advocates for a physicality of an intellectual order, a conceptual reductionism
by means of material constructs, to nurture the design competences and
conceptual awareness for extending the structural inquiry in a creative track.
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published
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Contributors
Examiner : Schwartz, Joseph
Examiner : Kotnik, Toni
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Publisher
ETH Zurich
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Subject
structural design; physical model; architectural education; conceptual design
Organisational unit
03800 - Schwartz, Joseph (emeritus) / Schwartz, Joseph (emeritus)
Notes
design studies
visual studies
cognitive reasoning
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