Course context:

In this seminar students will engage in a research project on a particular “place”, located in the Auckland Region, and will explore and evaluate different possibilities for ‘mapping’ this place. This seminar will traverse practice and theory and will weave together discourse from an array of disciplines; architecture/design, planning, urbanism, geography, philosophy, information design. The particular formal outcomes of this seminar will be that of the map and the diagram, and it is anticipated that these will operate across a range of media. In the seminar students will be encouraged to work collaboratively on projects and these projects will be publicly exhibited.

The seminar centres around two provocations. Firstly the call for complex forms of notation to meet the contemporary form(less-ness) of the city, and secondly, the contention that discursive forms such as drawing and as image-making are powerful and persuasive in the setting of agendas for the design of the city. A “key” prompting discussion into each provocation follows.

Complex notation:
Stan Allen calls for new forms of notation in order to engage with the contemporary city. He says,
Traditional representations presume stable objects and fixed subjects. But the contemporary city is not reducible to an artifact. The city today is a place where visible and invisible streams of information, capital and subjects interact in complex formations. They form a dispersed field, a network of flows. In order to describe or to intervene in this new field architects need representational techniques that engage time and change, shifting scales, mobile points of view, and multiple programs. (Allen, 2000, p. 40)

For Allen architecture requires a continual shuttling “between the abstraction of architecture’s graphic instruments and the unyielding concreteness of the building” (Allen, 2000, p. 36), and it is this shuttling that, “makes it possible for architecture to work within the complexity of the real, and to engage the shifting field of the contemporary city” (Allen, 2000, p. 36). http://www.stanallenarchitect.com/

Image making:
muf are an art and architecture practise committed to working in public space. They describe their practise as engaged with the limits, edges and limitations of a brief (Ainley, 2001, p. 9), and that these provide the clues and content for their urban place-making strategies. http://www.muf.co.uk/
muf operate with an awareness of the powerful role images play in the design process. In their drawings muf gather together a range of ideas for a project, from the imaginary or strange to the technical, in effect giving this wide range of ideas a formal representation, a place. The making of images in the practise of muf could be seen as a political device whereby all parties in the project can have their needs and desires for the project articulated and represented with equal weight. For muf, 'making images that acknowledge the imaginary, the unexpected and the unofficial is an attempt to value the kind of knowledge that is often marginalised or ignored; it is an attempt to say to the people who are the larger client body, ‘your most weird thoughts are socially relevant’. (Ainley, 2001, p. 91)

These two positions act as starting points for the seminar. To summarise, the seminar contends that new forms of notation are required and that all forms of notation and drawing convey an agenda in terms of the place represented.

Operations:
The seminar will commence with three weeks of discussion lead by key readings. The themes for these sessions will cover the “why”, the “what” and the “how” of the seminar. We will begin by considering WHY new forms of notation are called for and why diagramming and the mapping might fit as a response this call. This will be followed by a discussion of WHAT place is, through differing disciplinary lenses. Finally we will discuss HOW various forms of research and design can be used to convey particular agendas or points of view.

In the next part of the course we will identify places (physical and digital, contained and networked), that might prove useful and engaging in terms of a mapping project. To pursue these further, project teams will be formed and a collaborative in depth research period will follow. Finally a series of maps in a range of media (still and moving image) will be prepared, critically analysed and publicly exhibited.

ViRaCoP 2009 Introduction

ARCH GEN 710: Visualising Research and Communicating Places: Overview

Aim: The intention of this course is to engage students in a critical discussion and experience of ‘mapping’, as used in contemporary architectural and urban design methodologies for the visual representation of data in relation specific places. In 2009 the course will focus on the Auckland region

Learning Outcomes:

• On the successful completion of this course students will–
• Be able to discuss WHY new forms of notation are emerging in architectural/urban design contexts
• Be able to discuss WHAT place is, through differing disciplinary lenses, and to engage with the cross-disciplinary nature of such discussions.
• Have gained an awareness of HOW various forms of research and visual information design can be used to convey particular agendas or points of view.
• Be able to procure data, analyse this material and represent it visually in contemporary forms.
• Have publicly exhibited their work
• Have critically reflected on work produced by self and peers in course

Course Content:
Contemporary techniques of visual and spatial research, with particular references to the paradigms of the map and diagram. ‘Place’ as conceptualised in different disciplines; with specific reference to architecture, urbanism, philosophy and geography.

Modes of learning:
The course will provide authentic contexts and activities that reflect the way such knowledge would be used in real life.
It will provide access to experts in the field, will support collaborative investigation and construction of knowledge and will promote reflection and articulation through the following:

• Readings and discussion, (a course reader is provided)
• Collaborative project research
• Peer to peer analysis and critique
• Blogging, promoting self-broadcasting –reflection and articulation
• Course blog (facilitating exchange and interaction, address http://viracop.blogspot.com/)
• Visiting critics and guests

Assessment:
Each student will produce a series of maps/diagrams with data from the Auckland region. These will be critically analysed and publicly exhibited. See assignments for assessment criteria and marking breakdown.