Monday, October 1, 2007
T8 Thesis08
Hey guys, we now have a student organization called Thesis08. Who's going to make the shirts ;) I will do some research on how to get money and hold events. Hope this helps, William
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Linkages (working title courtesy of christian)
I had lois email everyone, but as a reminder please email me: stephanwaz@gmail.com a pdf of the single sheet you turned in on wednesday for thesis prep. for those of you who submitted multiple sheets please put them all on a single board (any size, but high resolution)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
blue paper
is anyone interested in some kind of collaborative thesis effort, i.e. a so-called "blue paper" group? shoot me an email if you are. likewise, we can survey the board outside the grad office one we've all posted our one page write-up.
chris
chris
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Independent study
Independent study-This is an option. Ideally a future thesis chair to run either a 299 or a 298. 299 is solo, 298 is group. There's a little confusion about whether this person can be a lecturer.
Notes From Meeting with Fraker
Minutes from the meeting w/ Harrison Fraker on August 22
We introduced the letter. HF: 'I wish I could have been there.'
Background - HE's always had a concern that
there is no History or Theory underpinnings. He has been concerned and
no one in the arch. dept. has addressed this matter.
Strength of the thesis depends on committee and prep profs.
It is a reality that not all thesis proposals will be great, and not all
great buildings will be great theses.
Will participate in prep/brown bag.
Will give a reading list and latest article.
Will bring in some reviewers and tie it to lecture series.
Thesis - about becoming an individual designer
Suggestions:
Ask Mary for funding for publication.
Ask Mary for funding for GSR coordinator.
To Read:
Moneo's Theoretical Anxieties
Framptons Tectonic Culture
Bernard Hauser (sp?) response to Rowe and Slutzky- Transparenz - Literal
and Phenomenal
We introduced the letter. HF: 'I wish I could have been there.'
Background - HE's always had a concern that
there is no History or Theory underpinnings. He has been concerned and
no one in the arch. dept. has addressed this matter.
Strength of the thesis depends on committee and prep profs.
It is a reality that not all thesis proposals will be great, and not all
great buildings will be great theses.
Will participate in prep/brown bag.
Will give a reading list and latest article.
Will bring in some reviewers and tie it to lecture series.
Thesis - about becoming an individual designer
Suggestions:
Ask Mary for funding for publication.
Ask Mary for funding for GSR coordinator.
To Read:
Moneo's Theoretical Anxieties
Framptons Tectonic Culture
Bernard Hauser (sp?) response to Rowe and Slutzky- Transparenz - Literal
and Phenomenal
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
lAt page of Rene's Syllabus
Sorry, it would only let me publish 5 images at a time. Here's the last page.
Rene David's thesis syllabus
Here's Rene's syllabus, I got permission to share it with you. Some of the readings are similar to Nezar's, Rem SMLXL for instance. My biggest problem with this syllabus is that 2/3s of the term is taken up with general background reading whereas only 1/3 of the term is spent on individual readings related directly to our research topic. Some of the assignments seem helpful, but some seem more general, geared to folks who don't know what they want to do. It suggests that almost two syllabai are needed, one for folks who are still trying to figure out their topic and one for those who already have. Also, I feel that thesis prep should result in getting much of our writing done for thesis. At least the background chapters of our thesis should be written.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
SIMPLE THINGS THAT MIGHT HELP MAKE FOR A HAPPIER THESIS EXPERIENCE
Recently, I have had some long talks with people who completed their theses last year or are planning their work for next year. That made me recall that I owe the blog a second post – but instead of a book suggestion, I will offer some thoughts on what I think helps make a successful research project (e.g., written or designed thesis, book, etc.). I am surely missing big areas that should be addressed, which Nezar, Renee, Roddy, Susan or others closer to the process than I can add. I also think that some of my comments overlap with advice Nezar has offered elsewhere, and apologize for redundancy.
• Do not pick – or avoid – a topic because it is uncool, too cool, etc. You want a challenge that lacks an obvious answer. Your topic should interest you enough that you will want to talk constantly about it for 1-2 years (Branners taking longer). It may be that the topic will also lay a foundation for your future as a professional or academic, so identify a problem that you find worthwhile and having sufficient depth in areas you like to work. You should be looking for how a more general question is shaped by your unusual perspective, skills and interests.
In thesis prep, do a literature search, identify and closely study related precedents, set out a group of criterion that define the problem and a way that you will assess whether you have been successful. Be very clear on the issues that are at the heart of the project, because you may (even in the Spring) find yourself tightening up the thesis topic or adding to it. You want to be able to assess whether adding (or subtracting) something helps you or distracts you.
As a reminder, start a file of some sort that will allow you to quickly review materials you collect, such as notes taken from books, graphics, etc.
• Identify the resources you need to accomplish your research. There are a number of different kinds of resources: your skills and knowledge; the people resources you can call on; equipment available; etc. (You can certainly come up with more such points.) Some that are often overlooked are the small grants and fellowships available to students through the department or university, local experts who cannot sit on your committee, unique local populations, etc. Part of the thesis prep should be to note what resources you already have access to and what ones you need to develop or get access to.
• You will be happier if you think about the people side of a successful thesis. First, consider honestly who you are and what you can do to make this conclude happily. Ideally, you bring a positive attitude, great time management skills, a strong ability to assess whether the work is progressing on track, rigor, and the ability to know when and how to demand help. I think few of us can claim all of that. If possible, during the Fall take classes (or read books) that might help with things like time management. You also need to get your support networks and systems in place to help you, because the thesis – any thesis – is at its heart an ambitious INDEPENDENT effort.
One support network is family and friends. Make sure that family, roommates and others who are unfamiliar with the process know you will need warm, generous comments when you are freaking out and a kick in the toosh when you are watching t.v. every night. Set dates with spouses and others you do not want to lose through neglect (and keep those dates). This network is a great one to help you keep a positive attitude, and perhaps to engage in reality checks. They can help with time management issues if they agree to take on some of your normal responsibilities, too.
Another support network that seems to get very little play in our department is akin to dissertation writing circles – a small group of 4-6 people you trust that you can sit down with about once every 3 or 4 weeks to do a progress and process check. This is the place where you can swap advice about how to use faculty wisely, for example. This network can help you with identifying roadblocks and how to overcome them, and may be useful in checking that you are genuinely making progress, staying on schedule, and working rigorously (no professor will ever be as ready to call bullsh*t as a friend you trust).
The faculty committee is your third support network. I think we get burdened with things that sometimes would be better served in the other networks, like emotional support or kicking tooshie. Faculty committees ANYWHERE AND AT ANY LEVEL are notoriously hands off. In truth, faculty are pretty overscheduled and when we have free time we would rather be thinking about our research than yours. So you need to know how to use us, and not assume that we are worrying about your thesis as much as you are. This group helps assess the quality of work and its rigor, identifies blindspots, and may be good at connecting you with resources. Students often want faculty to address time management, attitude, and things you can cover elsewhere – and in the process, I think such students waste the limited amount of time you can reasonably demand of faculty.
Since I am a professor (and one frankly selfish of my time), I would also add that it helps when you meet with committee members if you have a set schedule (once every two weeks?) and communicate clearly at the beginning of the meeting what you what to accomplish in the discussion, then conclude at the end by agreeing what the next step should be. Writing the goal for next time down in an e-mail or research notebook, and then starting the next session by acknowledging it is also helpful. Take notes – nothing is more annoying that saying the same thing to a very tired student two or three times in a row and not even getting the concern acknowledged in any substantive fashion. It also helps to conclude meetings with faculty by going over the big context: where the project is and where you want to be at the end, what is not yet accomplished towards that goal, etc. Meet with committee members individually (in general), but in temporal clusters.
• Have a clear sense of where you want to be at the end of the process, and make a schedule that works for you (calendar, critical path chart, etc.). The schedule should also include key deadlines set by the university, the department and in your classes (tests, papers, etc.) so that you will keep on top of them. If you need lead time (e.g., for a course assignment), note the beginning points in your schedule, too, in order to give yourself time to meet the deadline. Formally, I like critical path charts, because they show how spinning your wheels at an early stage will rob you of your conclusion. If you have to rework the critical path schedule each week, do so OVER the existing one, so you can clearly see this slippage. Refer to the schedule regularly – at the start of each week is a good time, since it will help you set tasks for the week. When you set tasks for the week, give yourself differing ones to keep several activities going. A typical list for a one-week period might include “review research on curtain wall systems that reduce heat gain, start wall sections on south and west facades, rough out the written text on how walls affect thermal comfort” and other similar points. Your “to do” list will help you know what to do when the design is stuck, and can encourage appropriately synergetic activities.
• The last point I will add is frankly the most controversial: be reasonable. I think the students who are most unhappy have bitten off too big a problem – whether just too darned big, or too big for them, or too big for one short semester. The thesis statement can help keep your intellectual challenge bounded, but think carefully about other issues, too: scale, production time for drawings and models, some down time for your mental health, etc. It is not a long way from early January to the end of April.
Having said that, I just bumped into a student last week who should have completed his thesis two years ago and was only just bringing it in. He was delighted by his work and glad he took the extra time. You may be one of the people who have the financial resources to take this approach, and have a topic important enough to dedicate the time. But that thesis, that student, is rare; most students would be better off being reasonable.
Finally, it seems to me that most of us somehow believe a thesis in architecture is different than a thesis in other departments. While our problems are perhaps more complex and thus “wicked,” your thesis has much in common with any other research projects. Look at advice on the web or in books regarding successful masters theses, dissertations, and book production. Some will speak directly to you.
Hope this helps~ If you have comments or you do want me to elaborate, that positive attitude (Christian...) is a nice place to start from.
• Do not pick – or avoid – a topic because it is uncool, too cool, etc. You want a challenge that lacks an obvious answer. Your topic should interest you enough that you will want to talk constantly about it for 1-2 years (Branners taking longer). It may be that the topic will also lay a foundation for your future as a professional or academic, so identify a problem that you find worthwhile and having sufficient depth in areas you like to work. You should be looking for how a more general question is shaped by your unusual perspective, skills and interests.
In thesis prep, do a literature search, identify and closely study related precedents, set out a group of criterion that define the problem and a way that you will assess whether you have been successful. Be very clear on the issues that are at the heart of the project, because you may (even in the Spring) find yourself tightening up the thesis topic or adding to it. You want to be able to assess whether adding (or subtracting) something helps you or distracts you.
As a reminder, start a file of some sort that will allow you to quickly review materials you collect, such as notes taken from books, graphics, etc.
• Identify the resources you need to accomplish your research. There are a number of different kinds of resources: your skills and knowledge; the people resources you can call on; equipment available; etc. (You can certainly come up with more such points.) Some that are often overlooked are the small grants and fellowships available to students through the department or university, local experts who cannot sit on your committee, unique local populations, etc. Part of the thesis prep should be to note what resources you already have access to and what ones you need to develop or get access to.
• You will be happier if you think about the people side of a successful thesis. First, consider honestly who you are and what you can do to make this conclude happily. Ideally, you bring a positive attitude, great time management skills, a strong ability to assess whether the work is progressing on track, rigor, and the ability to know when and how to demand help. I think few of us can claim all of that. If possible, during the Fall take classes (or read books) that might help with things like time management. You also need to get your support networks and systems in place to help you, because the thesis – any thesis – is at its heart an ambitious INDEPENDENT effort.
One support network is family and friends. Make sure that family, roommates and others who are unfamiliar with the process know you will need warm, generous comments when you are freaking out and a kick in the toosh when you are watching t.v. every night. Set dates with spouses and others you do not want to lose through neglect (and keep those dates). This network is a great one to help you keep a positive attitude, and perhaps to engage in reality checks. They can help with time management issues if they agree to take on some of your normal responsibilities, too.
Another support network that seems to get very little play in our department is akin to dissertation writing circles – a small group of 4-6 people you trust that you can sit down with about once every 3 or 4 weeks to do a progress and process check. This is the place where you can swap advice about how to use faculty wisely, for example. This network can help you with identifying roadblocks and how to overcome them, and may be useful in checking that you are genuinely making progress, staying on schedule, and working rigorously (no professor will ever be as ready to call bullsh*t as a friend you trust).
The faculty committee is your third support network. I think we get burdened with things that sometimes would be better served in the other networks, like emotional support or kicking tooshie. Faculty committees ANYWHERE AND AT ANY LEVEL are notoriously hands off. In truth, faculty are pretty overscheduled and when we have free time we would rather be thinking about our research than yours. So you need to know how to use us, and not assume that we are worrying about your thesis as much as you are. This group helps assess the quality of work and its rigor, identifies blindspots, and may be good at connecting you with resources. Students often want faculty to address time management, attitude, and things you can cover elsewhere – and in the process, I think such students waste the limited amount of time you can reasonably demand of faculty.
Since I am a professor (and one frankly selfish of my time), I would also add that it helps when you meet with committee members if you have a set schedule (once every two weeks?) and communicate clearly at the beginning of the meeting what you what to accomplish in the discussion, then conclude at the end by agreeing what the next step should be. Writing the goal for next time down in an e-mail or research notebook, and then starting the next session by acknowledging it is also helpful. Take notes – nothing is more annoying that saying the same thing to a very tired student two or three times in a row and not even getting the concern acknowledged in any substantive fashion. It also helps to conclude meetings with faculty by going over the big context: where the project is and where you want to be at the end, what is not yet accomplished towards that goal, etc. Meet with committee members individually (in general), but in temporal clusters.
• Have a clear sense of where you want to be at the end of the process, and make a schedule that works for you (calendar, critical path chart, etc.). The schedule should also include key deadlines set by the university, the department and in your classes (tests, papers, etc.) so that you will keep on top of them. If you need lead time (e.g., for a course assignment), note the beginning points in your schedule, too, in order to give yourself time to meet the deadline. Formally, I like critical path charts, because they show how spinning your wheels at an early stage will rob you of your conclusion. If you have to rework the critical path schedule each week, do so OVER the existing one, so you can clearly see this slippage. Refer to the schedule regularly – at the start of each week is a good time, since it will help you set tasks for the week. When you set tasks for the week, give yourself differing ones to keep several activities going. A typical list for a one-week period might include “review research on curtain wall systems that reduce heat gain, start wall sections on south and west facades, rough out the written text on how walls affect thermal comfort” and other similar points. Your “to do” list will help you know what to do when the design is stuck, and can encourage appropriately synergetic activities.
• The last point I will add is frankly the most controversial: be reasonable. I think the students who are most unhappy have bitten off too big a problem – whether just too darned big, or too big for them, or too big for one short semester. The thesis statement can help keep your intellectual challenge bounded, but think carefully about other issues, too: scale, production time for drawings and models, some down time for your mental health, etc. It is not a long way from early January to the end of April.
Having said that, I just bumped into a student last week who should have completed his thesis two years ago and was only just bringing it in. He was delighted by his work and glad he took the extra time. You may be one of the people who have the financial resources to take this approach, and have a topic important enough to dedicate the time. But that thesis, that student, is rare; most students would be better off being reasonable.
Finally, it seems to me that most of us somehow believe a thesis in architecture is different than a thesis in other departments. While our problems are perhaps more complex and thus “wicked,” your thesis has much in common with any other research projects. Look at advice on the web or in books regarding successful masters theses, dissertations, and book production. Some will speak directly to you.
Hope this helps~ If you have comments or you do want me to elaborate, that positive attitude (Christian...) is a nice place to start from.
readings
the following readings are in no particular order, aside from the order in which they are currently stacked next to my desk.
Edward Tufte : Envisioning Information
Venturi : Complexity and Contradiction
Plater-Zyberk + Jeff Speck + Andres Duany : Suburban Nation : The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream
PRAXIS vol 6 : New Technologies ://New Architectures
Stan Allen : Points + Lines : Diagrams and Projects for the City
Pamphlet Archtiecture vol 27 : Tooling
Michel Foucault : The Archeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language
Hilde Heynen : Architecture and Modernity : A Critique
Tom Robbins : Skinny Legs and All
Cecil Balmond : Informal
Deleuze + Guattari : A Thousand Plateaus
OMA : SMLXL
Stan Allen : Practice : Architecture, Technique and Representation
Exit Utopia : Architectural Provocations 1956-1976
Rafael Moneo : Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies
FROM the OpPOSITIONS READER :
3. On Reading Heidegger : Kenneth Frampton
9. Post-Functionalism : Peter Eisenman
18. Monument/Memory and the Mortality of Architecture
39. Industrialization and the Crises in Architecture : Kenneth Frampton
105. Aldo Rossi : Thhe idea of Architecture and the Modena Cemetery : Rafael Moneo
188. Aspects of Modernism :Maison Domino and the Self-Referential Sign : Peter Eisenman
331. Design vs. Non-Design : Diana Agrest
355. Archtiecture and Transgression : Bernard Tschumi
365. The Beauty of Shadows : Jorge Silvetti
437. The Idea of Type : The Transformation of the Academic Ideal 17650-1830 : Anthony Vidler
579. The Architects' Ball - A Vignette : Rem Koolhaas
FROM ARCHITECTURE THEORY SINCE 1968 : Michael Hays
2. Towards a Critique of Architectural Ideology : Manfredo Tafuri
72. Introduction to Five Architects : Colin Rowe
214. The Architectural Paradox : Bernard Tschumi
296. Heterotopias and the History of Spaces : Georges Teyssot
306. Post Modern Architecture : Charles A. Jencks
362. The Status of Man and the Status of His Objects : Kenneth Frampton
428. Space Knowledge and Power : Michel Foucault (an interview with Paul Rabinow)
478. In Front of Lines that Leave Nothing Behind : Robin Evans
490. Architectural Design as a System of Research Programs : Stanford Anderson
588. La Citta Nuova :Modernity and Continuity : Stanford Kwinter
660. The Translation of Architecture, the Production of Babel : Mark Wigley
The rest of my books are in my trunk because they dont fit in my room - so Ill post more once I dig them out.
Enjoy.
Edward Tufte : Envisioning Information
Venturi : Complexity and Contradiction
Plater-Zyberk + Jeff Speck + Andres Duany : Suburban Nation : The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream
PRAXIS vol 6 : New Technologies ://New Architectures
Stan Allen : Points + Lines : Diagrams and Projects for the City
Pamphlet Archtiecture vol 27 : Tooling
Michel Foucault : The Archeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language
Hilde Heynen : Architecture and Modernity : A Critique
Tom Robbins : Skinny Legs and All
Cecil Balmond : Informal
Deleuze + Guattari : A Thousand Plateaus
OMA : SMLXL
Stan Allen : Practice : Architecture, Technique and Representation
Exit Utopia : Architectural Provocations 1956-1976
Rafael Moneo : Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies
FROM the OpPOSITIONS READER :
3. On Reading Heidegger : Kenneth Frampton
9. Post-Functionalism : Peter Eisenman
18. Monument/Memory and the Mortality of Architecture
39. Industrialization and the Crises in Architecture : Kenneth Frampton
105. Aldo Rossi : Thhe idea of Architecture and the Modena Cemetery : Rafael Moneo
188. Aspects of Modernism :Maison Domino and the Self-Referential Sign : Peter Eisenman
331. Design vs. Non-Design : Diana Agrest
355. Archtiecture and Transgression : Bernard Tschumi
365. The Beauty of Shadows : Jorge Silvetti
437. The Idea of Type : The Transformation of the Academic Ideal 17650-1830 : Anthony Vidler
579. The Architects' Ball - A Vignette : Rem Koolhaas
FROM ARCHITECTURE THEORY SINCE 1968 : Michael Hays
2. Towards a Critique of Architectural Ideology : Manfredo Tafuri
72. Introduction to Five Architects : Colin Rowe
214. The Architectural Paradox : Bernard Tschumi
296. Heterotopias and the History of Spaces : Georges Teyssot
306. Post Modern Architecture : Charles A. Jencks
362. The Status of Man and the Status of His Objects : Kenneth Frampton
428. Space Knowledge and Power : Michel Foucault (an interview with Paul Rabinow)
478. In Front of Lines that Leave Nothing Behind : Robin Evans
490. Architectural Design as a System of Research Programs : Stanford Anderson
588. La Citta Nuova :Modernity and Continuity : Stanford Kwinter
660. The Translation of Architecture, the Production of Babel : Mark Wigley
The rest of my books are in my trunk because they dont fit in my room - so Ill post more once I dig them out.
Enjoy.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Mission Statement Draft
As we begin our thesis, we want to be certain that the M.Arch program can provide us with the intellectual resources and contemporary perspective that are critical to the successful formation and execution of relevant design theses. It is imperative that the CED's self-professed activist intentions remain grounded in critical, rigorous, and experimental design, using the particular tools of our discipline. Our aim is to resolve these issues and build confidence throughout the course of thesis.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
summer waning
Dear Students,
It's inspiring to see that you have begun already to work toward the framing of your theses, through reading and conversation.
I have undertaken some new readings this summer, and reread some old favorites-- in the hope that they may become common texts for the coming year--
Manfredo Tafuri, Architecture and Utopia
Sanford Kwinter, Architectures of Time
Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation
Annie Dillard, Living by Fiction
Edward Soja, Postmodern Geographies
and many others.
Let me know if you would like to have a preliminary meeting next week.
Best,
JStoner
It's inspiring to see that you have begun already to work toward the framing of your theses, through reading and conversation.
I have undertaken some new readings this summer, and reread some old favorites-- in the hope that they may become common texts for the coming year--
Manfredo Tafuri, Architecture and Utopia
Sanford Kwinter, Architectures of Time
Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation
Annie Dillard, Living by Fiction
Edward Soja, Postmodern Geographies
and many others.
Let me know if you would like to have a preliminary meeting next week.
Best,
JStoner
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Yes
It would be great if anyone who is interested in biweekly meetings can come prepared with a 200 word statement of their proposal at the next meeting. Included in this statement should be an idea of the paradigm you are working under and your proposal (program, site, scale of intervention, and methodology). The way Nezar ran the last meeting was by having everyone read each others writing and comment on them while the author is silent.
Thursdays after 8?
Thursdays after 8?
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
discussion?
Anyone out there interested in bi-weekly meetings (evening or weekend) to discuss research/topics and readings such as those posted and discussed by the group meeting with Nezar? Post comments so we can coordinate, if interested.
Monday, July 9, 2007
nezar's suggested readings, v.2
courtesy of marina, i scanned nezar's second packet of suggested thesis prep readings
download here as a single 5M PDF file:
https://webfiles.berkeley.edu/cmd/shared
file is called CED thesis prep.nezar2.PDF
chris
courtesy of marina, i scanned nezar's second packet of suggested thesis prep readings
download here as a single 5M PDF file:
https://webfiles.berkeley.edu/cmd/shared
file is called CED thesis prep.nezar2.PDF
chris
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Hi all -
Five architectural writings that have been important for me and seem useful for thesis prep. I've read portions of all of them (and hope someday to finish all). I also strongly second (or third) previous mentions of Zumthor's Thinking Architecture.
Moneo, Rafael
Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies in the Work of Eight Contemporary Architects
ENVI NA680.M65 2004
Porphyrios, Demetri
Sources of Modern Eclecticism: Studies on Alvar Aalto
ENVI NA1455.F53.A236 1982
I read part of this book in article form. Porphyrios argues that Aalto is not a sort of one-off, entirely idiosyncratic Modernist but is rather firmly rooted in the traditions of
Nesbitt, Kate, editor
Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture : An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995
ENVI NA680.T45 1996
Really good place to start. Lots of relatively brief essays by a wide variety of theorists. Really helpful introduction about architectural theory and its place in practice and the discipline.
Brooks, Turner
Work
ENVI NA737.B694.A4 1994
A monograph, not a treatise, but such beautiful, ecovative work - compare with below. Wonderful way to conceive of architecture.
Cohen,
Contested Symmetries and Other Predicaments in Architecture
ENVI NA737.C63.A4 2001
Another monograph - incredibly thoughtful, beautiful, very formal, highly intellectual. I'€™ve only read bits and pieces (including Moneo'™s foreword, which helps situate the work). I'd like to understand and explore more.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thesis thoughts
Here are some notes from an initial conversation with Nezar about thesis.
Focus your effort into an idea or proposition that will give you joy. You must have passion for it.
Thesis is a proposition with many qualifiers and variables with three main parts:
Underlying assumptions: that which you don’t have to prove
Hypothesis: potential answers to a problem you define
This is never a question, but to propose a response
Descriptive, exploratory, and explanatory
Paradigm: what is essential to the argument, the basis on which your argument rests
Those involved in the discussion must agree on the paradigm, it sets the base on which you control the conversation
Example:
“Low rise low income housing with adequately surveyed space operates better than the same kind of housing with high rises.”
Underlying Assumption: Defensible Space
Hypothesis: The surrounding height of a public space impacts the actions of people within it
Paradigm: Physical Determinism
Thesis will not prove anything. It is a framework that is set up to help others assess its success or failure.
How can a design be proven?
When you build it, people get it
Building does what you said it would do
The experience is enjoyable and it accomplishes number 1 and 2
Don’t solve an unsolvable problem. The solutions can actually change the paradigm. However, the paradigm can change without you knowing it.
Know exactly what you want to achieve.
Know exactly what you are proposing to change.
Your statement should be solid and to the point (less than 50 words). The statement cannot be challenged. This is your chance to control the conversation and set the ground rules. If others miss the point, remind them and bring them back.
The paradigm must be shared with others
The proposition must be solid.
You have the opportunity to embed the norms in the discussion and give you something solid to stand on.
In the case of Good City Form by Kevin Lynch, he asks the question: What makes a good city?
He offers a couple of normative examples:
Vitality
Sense
Fit
Access
Control
Justice
Efficiency
.
Each of these offers a normative model by which the city can be evaluated. The question is not about the characteristics that make a city good, but about how those can be measured and qualified.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
nezar's suggested readings
all -
courtesy of luke, i've scanned the readings that nezar distributed last week at his first informal thesis prep seminar. bibliography is as follows - MLA purists are forewarned. since blogger.com doesn't support PDFs, go here to download the scans:
https://webfiles.berkeley.edu/cmd/shared/
1. Abbey, Bruce. Thesis: “As Necessary for the Health of the Institution as the Student"
2. Hackeh-Fischer, David. Chapter 1, Fallacies of Question-Framing from Historians’ Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought, 1970.
3. Jarzombek, Mark. A Thesis.
4. Mack, Mark and AlSayyad, Nezar. History as a Design Mode: The New Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Journal of Architectural Education 44/2 (February 1991)
5. Roy, Ananya. Chapter 11, Transnational Trespassings: The Geopolitics of Urban Informality from AlSayyad, Nezar and Roy, Ananya. Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, Latin America and
6. Scott Brown, Denise. On Formal Analysis as Design Research. Journal of Architectural Education, 1978, p. 8-11
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Contemporary discourse
There is a great article by Ashley Schafer (chair of Architecture Dept. at Ohio State) in Perspecta 38 : "Theory After (After-Theory)" pp. 109 -125 that examines the relationship between theory and practice, specifically in our contemporary predicament.
and kudos to you guys for starting this blog. best of luck with thesis.
and kudos to you guys for starting this blog. best of luck with thesis.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Measuring buildings with a camera and software (Field work 2)
This is a nice update of some old-fashioned tricks that many of you may appreciate knowing about: HOW TO MEASURE ANYTHING WITH A CAMERA AND SOFTWARE .
Monday, June 4, 2007
and more
Our own library's "Preparing for thesis research" guide page:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/thesis.html
And more from our very own school...What happened after 2004?
http://www2.arch.ced.berkeley.edu/ced_people/gallery/student/2004thesis/
SCI-Arc has this little bit up on the web about their thesis program:
http://www.sciarc.edu/course.php?id=61&category2=0
Search the slow and flash-y Columbia GSAPP website, and you can find something about thesis there:
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/index.php?pageData=59905
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/index.php?pageData=44658
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/index.php?pageData=40834
Why stop there? An incomplete set of core readings at UCLA, which may or may not be relevant to their alt-thesis (a research studio):
Greg Lynn - Animate Form
Greg Lynn - Folds, Bodies, and Blobs
Sanford Kwinter - "Landscapes of Change: Boccioni's Stati d'animo as a General Theory of Models" from Assemblage
Mood River catalogue - from exhibition curated by Jeffrey Kipnis
Stan Allen - Points and Lines, especially "Field Conditions"
Manuel DeLanda - A Thousand Years of Non-Linear History
Rem Koolhaas - Delirious New York
Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media, especially "Media Hot and Cold"
Mark Wigley - Architecture of Deconstruction
Colin Rowe & Robert Slutsky - "Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal" in Mathematics and the Ideal Villa
Rosalind Krauss - "Sculpture in the Expanded Field" in The Anti-Aesthetic book (also Baudrillard's "Ecstasy of Communication")
Jeffrey Kipnis - "The Cunning of Cosmetics" in El Croquis 84 (Herzog and deMeuron)
Sylvia Lavin - "Temporary Contemporary" in Perspecta 34
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/thesis.html
And more from our very own school...What happened after 2004?
http://www2.arch.ced.berkeley.edu/ced_people/gallery/student/2004thesis/
SCI-Arc has this little bit up on the web about their thesis program:
http://www.sciarc.edu/course.php?id=61&category2=0
Search the slow and flash-y Columbia GSAPP website, and you can find something about thesis there:
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/index.php?pageData=59905
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/index.php?pageData=44658
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/index.php?pageData=40834
Why stop there? An incomplete set of core readings at UCLA, which may or may not be relevant to their alt-thesis (a research studio):
Greg Lynn - Animate Form
Greg Lynn - Folds, Bodies, and Blobs
Sanford Kwinter - "Landscapes of Change: Boccioni's Stati d'animo as a General Theory of Models" from Assemblage
Mood River catalogue - from exhibition curated by Jeffrey Kipnis
Stan Allen - Points and Lines, especially "Field Conditions"
Manuel DeLanda - A Thousand Years of Non-Linear History
Rem Koolhaas - Delirious New York
Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media, especially "Media Hot and Cold"
Mark Wigley - Architecture of Deconstruction
Colin Rowe & Robert Slutsky - "Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal" in Mathematics and the Ideal Villa
Rosalind Krauss - "Sculpture in the Expanded Field" in The Anti-Aesthetic book (also Baudrillard's "Ecstasy of Communication")
Jeffrey Kipnis - "The Cunning of Cosmetics" in El Croquis 84 (Herzog and deMeuron)
Sylvia Lavin - "Temporary Contemporary" in Perspecta 34
thesis pre-prep @GSD
Courtesy of this year's Maybeck Professor, Jeannette Kuo, see the 2002 GSD pre-prep readings suggested by GSD professor Sarah Whiting.
--posted as a jpg image--
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Field work
I am wrapping up my Fulbright year in Japan, so the thing that is foremost on my mind is field work. Later on I would like to offer some written resources, but here I want to say a few brief words about engaging with the physical artifacts of architecture, interviewing, and other activities you will do this summer.
I find that even though you could line up any research proposal I have written and find it a neat match for the outcomes, the truth is that the manner in which the research unfolds is always a surprise. I thought this book was going to be broad and thus not as deep as my first. The truth is that it has unrolled as a narrower, deeper text, demanding that I take on historical roof styles and structural character, contemporary ship-building practices in building structures, religion, aerchaeology, abstract art, and much more. A eclectic list. And, whether your ultimate result is a book or a building, you want it to come together in a clear way. (Remember, those of you who are interested in academe or something other than designing - even activites like being the technical or detailing person in an office, having a big role in the business or programming side, etc - may want to do a written thesis rather than a design thesis. This is a rare opportunity Berkeley offers, and one too few students recognize the potential for.)
As I develop an understand of a building, I read all I can get a hold of that has any plausible relation to it, interview the architect repeatedly (and whoever else seems to be suitable), and spend time with the building, not once but repeatedly. I would strongly recommend that you do the same for design projects by:
- Consuming an extensive pile of related readings on your topic.
Take notes - because good ideas can fade with time. I use 3x5 cards and a big box with dividers. I sketch on them, etc. Organization helps make sure you can easily revisit ideas.
- If you have a client, or know of people knowledgable on the key points of your project, try to interview them. Make a list of questions that you consider relevant before going, tape it, and turn the interview into notes as quickly as you can. Human resources are an important part of good research, because you get the points specific to your interests very efficiently.
- Commune with the site. Spend a lot of time there. Use photography, sketching, pacing, and other ways of seeing the site at a deep level. Go back often, to see the site at different times of day, in different lights, etc. If you have good written resources on the site (on its history, for example), take the book or notes along and read while there, pinpointing physical elements.
- If possible, bring someone with that will also look at the site and have discussions with you; talking with my husband, who is also shooting with me, is an important part of my process. While on the site, talk to folks who want to share their thoughts on it. Listen.
If you are doing a design project for your thesis, you may also want to find some precedents that you can study closely in a similar way. I find it very helpful to compare and contrast structures. Here are things that might be helpful:
- How does each precedent communicate? Does it communicate differently to people with different knowledge?
- How does each precedent relate to its site? I am looking at several buildings, for example, that are nestled into the ground, which is not a typical Japanese gesture - so what they do and why they do it are helpful to consider.
- What materials are used? How hard are they to get, to build with, etc.? How do the parts relate? Is it a Semperian or Corbusier separation of parts? How are corners, bases, etc. handled and what is intended in these gestures?
- How is light handled? Is decay present? Is the interior in nature or isolated from it?
- How do the precedents relate to each other? Are there some commonalities that seem to make sense for you, too? Or perhaps they all seem to ignore a strategy or character you are sure should exist?
I could go on, but have another interview tonight, so will wrap this up. Just a few last points:
1) Do not get tired of the big idea mid-point. You will get more from sticking with it and enriching it than you will by fighting it.
2) Work every day. Let your project possess you.
More on field work related references soon~
I find that even though you could line up any research proposal I have written and find it a neat match for the outcomes, the truth is that the manner in which the research unfolds is always a surprise. I thought this book was going to be broad and thus not as deep as my first. The truth is that it has unrolled as a narrower, deeper text, demanding that I take on historical roof styles and structural character, contemporary ship-building practices in building structures, religion, aerchaeology, abstract art, and much more. A eclectic list. And, whether your ultimate result is a book or a building, you want it to come together in a clear way. (Remember, those of you who are interested in academe or something other than designing - even activites like being the technical or detailing person in an office, having a big role in the business or programming side, etc - may want to do a written thesis rather than a design thesis. This is a rare opportunity Berkeley offers, and one too few students recognize the potential for.)
As I develop an understand of a building, I read all I can get a hold of that has any plausible relation to it, interview the architect repeatedly (and whoever else seems to be suitable), and spend time with the building, not once but repeatedly. I would strongly recommend that you do the same for design projects by:
- Consuming an extensive pile of related readings on your topic.
Take notes - because good ideas can fade with time. I use 3x5 cards and a big box with dividers. I sketch on them, etc. Organization helps make sure you can easily revisit ideas.
- If you have a client, or know of people knowledgable on the key points of your project, try to interview them. Make a list of questions that you consider relevant before going, tape it, and turn the interview into notes as quickly as you can. Human resources are an important part of good research, because you get the points specific to your interests very efficiently.
- Commune with the site. Spend a lot of time there. Use photography, sketching, pacing, and other ways of seeing the site at a deep level. Go back often, to see the site at different times of day, in different lights, etc. If you have good written resources on the site (on its history, for example), take the book or notes along and read while there, pinpointing physical elements.
- If possible, bring someone with that will also look at the site and have discussions with you; talking with my husband, who is also shooting with me, is an important part of my process. While on the site, talk to folks who want to share their thoughts on it. Listen.
If you are doing a design project for your thesis, you may also want to find some precedents that you can study closely in a similar way. I find it very helpful to compare and contrast structures. Here are things that might be helpful:
- How does each precedent communicate? Does it communicate differently to people with different knowledge?
- How does each precedent relate to its site? I am looking at several buildings, for example, that are nestled into the ground, which is not a typical Japanese gesture - so what they do and why they do it are helpful to consider.
- What materials are used? How hard are they to get, to build with, etc.? How do the parts relate? Is it a Semperian or Corbusier separation of parts? How are corners, bases, etc. handled and what is intended in these gestures?
- How is light handled? Is decay present? Is the interior in nature or isolated from it?
- How do the precedents relate to each other? Are there some commonalities that seem to make sense for you, too? Or perhaps they all seem to ignore a strategy or character you are sure should exist?
I could go on, but have another interview tonight, so will wrap this up. Just a few last points:
1) Do not get tired of the big idea mid-point. You will get more from sticking with it and enriching it than you will by fighting it.
2) Work every day. Let your project possess you.
More on field work related references soon~
a few sources from andy shanken
Here are a number of things I might study in preparation for studio.
1. I would learn one of the classical forms of sonnet and write one. It provides a rigorous structure within which one can be infinitely creative. The applications to architecture should be evident.
2. Kevin Lynch, Image of the City. A classic, which provides both a way of seeing the city and something rather easy to argue against.
3. Alan Colquhoun, Essays in Architectural Criticism, especially "The Modern Movement in Architecture," and "Symbolic and Literal Aspects of Technology" (since we are currently in a mood of technophilia).
4. Adrian Forty, Words and Buildings. This is a smart book, although it is frankly Anglocentric, which means that there is room to apply his approach to whatever local rhetorical environment you might like.
5. Reyner Banham, "A Black Box" and "1960-Stocktaking," in Banham, A Critic Writes. Or anything by him, b/c he's one of the most insightful critics.
6. John Summerson. Perhaps the most fluid architectural historian. Try "The Case for a Theory of 'Modern Architecture," in Unromantic Castle or The Classical Language of Architecture, which is formalist and thus a good way of seeing the formalist sympathies of the present moment.
7. The campus guide to Berkeley. Every architect should know her local environment and look at it.
1. I would learn one of the classical forms of sonnet and write one. It provides a rigorous structure within which one can be infinitely creative. The applications to architecture should be evident.
2. Kevin Lynch, Image of the City. A classic, which provides both a way of seeing the city and something rather easy to argue against.
3. Alan Colquhoun, Essays in Architectural Criticism, especially "The Modern Movement in Architecture," and "Symbolic and Literal Aspects of Technology" (since we are currently in a mood of technophilia).
4. Adrian Forty, Words and Buildings. This is a smart book, although it is frankly Anglocentric, which means that there is room to apply his approach to whatever local rhetorical environment you might like.
5. Reyner Banham, "A Black Box" and "1960-Stocktaking," in Banham, A Critic Writes. Or anything by him, b/c he's one of the most insightful critics.
6. John Summerson. Perhaps the most fluid architectural historian. Try "The Case for a Theory of 'Modern Architecture," in Unromantic Castle or The Classical Language of Architecture, which is formalist and thus a good way of seeing the formalist sympathies of the present moment.
7. The campus guide to Berkeley. Every architect should know her local environment and look at it.
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Post anything....thoughts, a few book titles, links, scanned articles, questions, etc.
You will need a Google/gmail email address to register/sign in. You do NOT need to use that email address after that, however. Your gmail account can be registered to your main email account.
Looking forward to more posts!
Post anything....thoughts, a few book titles, links, scanned articles, questions, etc.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
More readings...human factors, mapping, city planning
Here are some of my thoughts on readings:
Donald A. Norman: The Design of Everyday Things
Well written book on human factors. It should be a must read for every design student.
Renee Chow: Suburban Space
I'm not kissing butt, I enjoyed this book, it's provocative (and nice straight-forward prose). In essence it's a book about designing buildings that have longevity. Also enjoyed the Habraken book.
Jane Jacobs: Death and Life of Great American Cities
Even though it's 40 years old, much of what she writes about is still current, though there have been some cultural shifts over time (for example, no one I know allows their children play in the city streets anymore). Very casual chatty writing style.
Edward R. Tufte: Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations, Visual Display of Quantitaive Information, Beautiful Evidence
Any of these books are great for those of you interested in diagrams and mapping. Hell, you don't even have to read them, just look at the bloody pictures, they're beautiful!
Peronally, I didn't like Atlas of Novel Tectonics. I thought it was rather obvious and simplistic.
Donald A. Norman: The Design of Everyday Things
Well written book on human factors. It should be a must read for every design student.
Renee Chow: Suburban Space
I'm not kissing butt, I enjoyed this book, it's provocative (and nice straight-forward prose). In essence it's a book about designing buildings that have longevity. Also enjoyed the Habraken book.
Jane Jacobs: Death and Life of Great American Cities
Even though it's 40 years old, much of what she writes about is still current, though there have been some cultural shifts over time (for example, no one I know allows their children play in the city streets anymore). Very casual chatty writing style.
Edward R. Tufte: Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations, Visual Display of Quantitaive Information, Beautiful Evidence
Any of these books are great for those of you interested in diagrams and mapping. Hell, you don't even have to read them, just look at the bloody pictures, they're beautiful!
Peronally, I didn't like Atlas of Novel Tectonics. I thought it was rather obvious and simplistic.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
readings
After digging through my readers and binders and notebooks and bookshelves and trying to reread it all, here are 5+ readings that spur my thought reservoir relative to an architectural thesis. The Gourmet magazine article (attached) on Berkeley is a bonus reading. What does the eclectic and hyperpolitical Berkeley environment contribute to our education as architects? How does Wursterworld contribute?
Steven Holl: Questions of Perception, Phenomenology of Architecture (pg 40 of the July 1994 special issue of Architecture and Urbanism) --- on situating intent (I can scan and email this later if anyone wants it.)
Keller Easterling: Organization Space - Landscapes, Highways, and Houses in America --- research and synthesis. This strikes me as a thesis-become-book, thoroughly researched and carefully narrated. This book is worth owning, but you can get the idea from the introduction.
Mark Wigley: Local Knowlege (p101-109 in Phylogenesis, FOA's ark) -- on architecture as intellectual pollination and foreign vs. local. Important to read the last two pages.
Antoine Picon: Architecture, Science, Technology and the Virtual Realm (in Architecture and the Sciences, Exchanging Metaphors): --- runs the gamut from the Renaissance to cyborgs, but important, I think, because it asks what architecture can be, namely experimental and relational. [object-assembly-system]
N. J. Habraken: The Control of Complexity --- a methodology for considering architecture as an adaptive system, along with a vocabulary for discussing it.
M. Tafuri: Introduction to Theories and History of Architecture -- if a thesis is a critique, it is a critique beholden to critics and the idea of criticism itself. This is dense writing that I'd like to better understand. (I came across this in Joan Ockman's Architecture Culture 1943-1968.)
Gourmet magazine article (March 2002, 4 pages) on Berkeley by Michael Chabon--- attached as images. Read it for fun. Does the flavor of Berkeley pervade Wurster? (Email me if you want a pdf file with all 4 pages.)
Additional:
Reiser & Umemoto: Atlas of Novel Tectonics
Jane Jacobs: Death and Life of Great American Cities
Stan Allen: Points and Lines
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Readings: The Notion of Place
Some readings from an art & humanities perspective, gathered around the notion of place. All have been inspiring to me (over many years).
Isaac Babel, The Red Cavalry. Babel's stories--vivid, concise descriptions of the Western Ukraine during the Russian Civil War--stirring and heartbreaking, often at the same moment.
Edmund Keeley, Cavafy's Alexandria. The poems of C.P. Cavafy, understood against the city that was their locus. (You'll need the poems, separately, as well.) The structure of the argument in Keeley's book is important--his treatment of history and metaphor.
Joseph Brodsky, Less Than One. Essays by the revered Russian poet of the Soviet post-war era. Read "A Room and a Half"--Brodsky's tribute to his parents--and an unforgettable description of their gray Leningrad apartment.
Czeslaw Milosz, Native Realm. You might start instead with Milosz's Native Realm--which he calls "an intellectual autobiography." Then, The Land of Ulro. The title comes from Blake--but the book itself presents Milosz's essays on a counter-Enlightenment tradition.
Franz Kafka, Diaries 1910-1913. Prague. Kafka's observations of daily life, as it intersects with the life of the imagination. The writing is unique.
Walter Benjamin, A Berlin Childhood, also his Moscow Diary, and the writings on Paris . Place, memory and the physical world--intertwined and re-imagined. Benjamin at his best.
W.S. Sebald, Austerlitz. A master novel in which architecture and place are made absolutely compelling. This is a book about place and innerness--and the impossible consequences of memory (or the impossible memory of consequences).
The photo above comes from this book--an example of how Sebald mixes photographs and text--always at their most evocative.
James Joyce, Dubliners. Joyce's first stories, maybe still his best. Unique piecing together of a city through fragments of the imagination. The Dead, Evangeline, Ivy Day in the Committee Room...
Willa Cather, My Antonia. The American mid-west--Nebraska in the 1860s. One of the best novels we have about the emotional consequences of how we deal with physical space--from boundless prairie to gridded plain.
Henry Roth, Call It Sleep. Immigrant New York. Impressionistic but vivid. This was a cult favorite for many years, until Roth was rediscovered (and then some).
William Faulkner, Absalom Absalom (well of course...)
Friday, May 18, 2007
Activism and Architecture
Hello buddies-
I met with Greig Crysler today about a potential class for the fall that, very roughly, would examine the connection between social movements, activism and architecture; attempting to ground the discussion historically, looking at the movements of the 60's and beyond and asking what lessons can be learned for today. Anyway, Greig is going to but together a more formal description that would include some of the readings (which I will post when I get it, probably early june), but he is still unsure whether to make a full fledged course out of it. Options include a one credit course that would spill into a full course in the spring (bad for us thesis people), A somewhat more substantial student led course (probably 2 credits, not too formal, limited reading) or a 3 credit normal old course (still trying to keep reading down for all us illiterate M.Arch studs). Reactions, feedback and suggestions welcome and encouraged. Greig is very interested in getting student feedback to develop the course and determine its direction, so share your thoughts.
I met with Greig Crysler today about a potential class for the fall that, very roughly, would examine the connection between social movements, activism and architecture; attempting to ground the discussion historically, looking at the movements of the 60's and beyond and asking what lessons can be learned for today. Anyway, Greig is going to but together a more formal description that would include some of the readings (which I will post when I get it, probably early june), but he is still unsure whether to make a full fledged course out of it. Options include a one credit course that would spill into a full course in the spring (bad for us thesis people), A somewhat more substantial student led course (probably 2 credits, not too formal, limited reading) or a 3 credit normal old course (still trying to keep reading down for all us illiterate M.Arch studs). Reactions, feedback and suggestions welcome and encouraged. Greig is very interested in getting student feedback to develop the course and determine its direction, so share your thoughts.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Welcome!
Here is a basic blog that we, the students of CED Thesis, 2008, can use to communicate and participate in each others' thinking. Please feel free to post any suggestions. To begin, it was suggested at our first thesis meeting that we use this blog to compile a communal reading list. Please suggest a handful of readings that have been seminal in your thinking about architecture and beyond.
My faves, by no means comprehensive:
Architecture:
Louis Kahn - 'On Monumentality' and 'Order Is'
Classic Modernist texts. Why post and beam doesn't cut it anymore, and why form, design, order, structure are important.
Peter Zumthor - 'Thinking Architecture'
Architecture of things in themselves. Memories and impressions of material and spatial qualities.
Hans Ibeling - 'Supermodernism'
Best description of contemporary practice set in timeline of history I've seen. Though it's now ten years old...
Bruce Mau - 'Incomplete Manifesto'
Survival guide to architectural life.
Grant Hildebrand - 'Wright Space: Pattern and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright's Houses'
Prospect and Refuge explained.
Greg Lynn - 'Animate Form'
The animate, emerging process of design in the 21st century.
Jane Jacobs - 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities'
Why New York is awesome. The streets need eyes. Early writing on emergent systems thinking.
Beyond:
Italo Calvino - 'Six Memos for the Next Millennium'
Multiplicity, Lightness, Exactitude, Visibility, Quickness and ....
Milan Kundera - 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'
The poetry of our own dialectic of existence. Are we grounded or light? Concrete or glass?...
Hegel - 'The Science of Logic'
The original dialectician. A thing and it's opposite together create the improved synthetic proposition.
Karl Marx - 'Alienated Labor'
Why do all architects houses look like hovels?
My faves, by no means comprehensive:
Architecture:
Louis Kahn - 'On Monumentality' and 'Order Is'
Classic Modernist texts. Why post and beam doesn't cut it anymore, and why form, design, order, structure are important.
Peter Zumthor - 'Thinking Architecture'
Architecture of things in themselves. Memories and impressions of material and spatial qualities.
Hans Ibeling - 'Supermodernism'
Best description of contemporary practice set in timeline of history I've seen. Though it's now ten years old...
Bruce Mau - 'Incomplete Manifesto'
Survival guide to architectural life.
Grant Hildebrand - 'Wright Space: Pattern and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright's Houses'
Prospect and Refuge explained.
Greg Lynn - 'Animate Form'
The animate, emerging process of design in the 21st century.
Jane Jacobs - 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities'
Why New York is awesome. The streets need eyes. Early writing on emergent systems thinking.
Beyond:
Italo Calvino - 'Six Memos for the Next Millennium'
Multiplicity, Lightness, Exactitude, Visibility, Quickness and ....
Milan Kundera - 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'
The poetry of our own dialectic of existence. Are we grounded or light? Concrete or glass?...
Hegel - 'The Science of Logic'
The original dialectician. A thing and it's opposite together create the improved synthetic proposition.
Karl Marx - 'Alienated Labor'
Why do all architects houses look like hovels?
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