Sunday, May 4, 2014

Field Of Objects. The Raw and The Synthetic








Texas A&M University. Department of Architecture. T4T LAB Spring 2014.
"Field of Objects"
Invited Professor: Bruno Juricic.

With Gabriel Esquivel.
Team: Steven Hewett, Belinda Wood, Ricardo Gonzalez.



Field of Objects
This project has always developed around two ideas. The first being the epistemological approach to understanding objects and their qualities. The second being the reinterpretation of Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Campo Marzio Dell’Antica Roma.
 We understand the raw characteristics of the objects in terms of the physical model. The geometry of the objects themselves is characterized as a raw quality of the objects. There is a very clear, one to one, understanding of the geometrical quality of the objects. We simultaneously understand the objects in terms of the renderings as synthetic. The low polygon geometry is still present within the objects, however the linework present begins to allude to qualities in excess of what these objects are. This much more complex understanding of the objects is what we define as the synthetic understanding.
The synthetic understanding of the objects can be divided into two distinct categories that we understand int terms of the character of the linework. There are Exhausted objects and there are Less Exhausted objects, and the objects level of Exhaustion has to do with ideas of turbulence. Deleuze de­scribes exhausted as being sort of strung out, so we understand the objects that are more exhausted to be more strung out, much much more turbulent. The less exhausted objects are much more resistive to the turbulence of the linework, and are therefore much less strung out. Within the less exhausted objects the geometric quality of the object is much more retained. The linework starts to react to edge conditions within the objects and produces a certain tension between the objects and their qualities.
The tension that exists between all of these qualities of the objects simultaneously; the Raw, the Synthetic, the Geometry, the Turbulence, and the Levels of Exhaustion, serve to transition the objects from mere objects to Objects of Interest.
Turbulence is a quality shared by both the low polygon objects and the ground objects. The turbulence found within the vortices of the ground object calls into question it’s solidity, it’s materiality and starts then to talk about motion, flow, and duration. Yet, the ground has clear boundaries. It is NOT boundless. These material, formal, and idealogical qualities then allow for the self declaration of the ground objects objecthood. It is also these qualties and the tension between the ground object and these qualities that again, translate the object into an Object of Interest.
Furthermore, it is the interaction between the objects of interest and the ground object of interest that begins the reinterpretation of Piranesi’s Campo Marzio. Piranesi was also interested in an epistemological understanding of architectural objects. This is evidenced in that he placed together in the Campo Marzio architectural objects from different time periods, different physical locations, and even purely fictional objects. It is clear that he had a very complex epistemological understanding of these objects, in order for him to develop such a complex understanding of their figure to figure relationships. It has been through our understanding of our objects epistemologically that has afforded us the same ability. The placement of the objects is in direct correlation to the ground objects turbulence. More turbulent objects exist within the turbulence. Now that the ground has declared it’s objecthood, the relationships are no longer merely figure to figure, but have transcended into figure to figure to hyper-figure.