Architectures of Time
Toward a Theory of the Event in Modernist Culture
Sanford Kwinter

In Architectures of Time, Sanford Kwinter offers a critical guide to the modern history of time and to the interplay between the physical sciences and the arts. Tracing the transformation of twentieth-century epistemology to the rise of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, Kwinter explains how the demise of the concept of absolute time, and of the classical notion of space as a fixed background against which things occur, led to field theory and a physics of the "event." He suggests that the closed, controlled, and mechanical world of physics gave way to the approximate, active, and qualitative world of biology as a model of both scientific and metaphysical explanation.

Kwinter examines theory of time and space in Einstein's theories of relativity and shows how these ideas were reflected in the writings of the sculptor Umberto Boccioni, the town planning schema of the Futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia, the philosophy of Henri Bergson, and the writings of Franz Kafka. He argues that the writings of Boccioni and the visionary architecture of Sant'Elia represent the earliest and most profound deployments of the concepts of field and event. In discussing Kafka's work, he moves away from the thermodynamic model in favor of the closely related one of Bergsonian duree, or virtuality. He argues that Kafka's work manifests a coherent cosmology that can be understood only in relation to the constant temporal flux that underlies it.

from: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=9048&ttype=2

Dear fellow e-archidoct participants,

The 10th March 2009 at 18:00 CET I will try to convey my presentation through Adobe connect so please join me in a Connect Pro Meeting. To join the meeting follow the link:

http://connect.forskningsnettet.dk/saggio_module/


Anders Hermund

Imagining the 10th Dimension

IT Revolution in Architecture

I have just completed the reading of the entire book. I find find it both inspiring and highly relevant to my own research topic.

Especially the chapters on Time and Space is extremely intriguing and for me to see crucial in order to enter the discussion of the technologies in the new paradigme of architecture.

I will not be able to attend the next virtual skype meeting, but will try to find a stand-in.

E.archidoct saggio module

Anders Hermund PhD fellow - Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture

Brief introduction to PhD project titled:

'Applied 3d modelling and parametric design'

How can a parametric working method contribute to the architectural design?

With this research question I wish to create a theoretical frame, in order to identify and clarify the new potentials of three dimensional practices. From this clarity I find it necessary to discuss the appliance and the ethics of the new means of communication and through practice based research establish a usable foundation from these experiences.

I think that the digital development must be seen as a tool that takes part in the interaction of the historical tradition and vision. A tool, and a method, that due to its possibilities of simulation and performing 3D space, will eventually change our perception of reality, and thus our architecture.

Project.

The field that has arisen in Denmark in connection to BIM [building information modelling] and the digital construction [and the laws of Client Demands and Digital Working Method – www.digitalconstruction.dk] has the peculiar nature that some regards it as a vision for the future, while others are already using it on a daily basis. In other words there are divergent views upon BIM as a general term, and the very specific Danish BIM [bygnings informationsmodel]. Research in this area could help identify the benefits and the importance of being able to influence the development of 3D technologies in a plausible direction for the architects.

Parameters

To work parametrically is working with a interrelation of the applied elements. This is actually not a new idea. Gravity could be an example of a parameter that architects have always been obliged to work with, and wind pressure on the facades of a building could be another. The digital parametrical approach offers a new way of simulating many different solutions within a shorter time span than earlier. The simulation can be brought into the design and then become a part of the design-process. But designing by external parameters requires a profound understanding of the working method – and the starting point becomes crucial. Can parametric design be used to create a frame of work that does not only facilitate the creation of organic shaped spaces, but which becomes a self-referencing logic and a new way of thinking and designing?

The new parametric design is ordered through sets of interrelated conditions, functioning in a certain topology, in a system based on digital parametric tools. The interesting part of this is therefore both the criteria of selecting the applied parameters and the way they are applied. Some questions in relation to this could be:

How is an architectural intention being communicated using parametric modelling? Can a specific sensation within architecture be created or translated using parametric design?

How does the impact of the new ways of working parametrically change the way we experience and perceive architecture?

In connection to this examination of BIM and parametric design I will use some time in architectural studios, in Denmark and abroad, to examine the different approaches to the use of the new technology. I will as well perform experiments myself related to the topics described.