Architectural Models

in the Temple of Science II.) 1

Anecdotal observations from the

5th International Heinz von Foerster Conference

November 11th – 13th 2011 in Vienna

by Franz Sdoutz

» Everything said is said to an observer. « III.) 2 So Instead of listening, I observed what was being said.

As an architect I do know a thing or two about modelling. A model, that is to say, will never match reality regardless the degree of detail and sophistication attended to, simply because it has been devised as a model in the first place: namely as something (which is) different from what it is supposed to render.

For architecture, due to its practical terms, construction (of course) isn't an issue.

Hence architectural models are fabricated from the same stuff architecture is made of, including all physical objects and their representations, methods, strategies, abstractions, ideas, approaches, modes of perception, observations, all conceptual tools, metaphors, believes, narratives, artistic expressions, people, emotions, social interaction, communication … even "reality" as such can serve as a model (fetish) in architecture.

A model is a container - a placeholder - a variable for something else - infinitely in regress.

When anything can be utilized to denote anything else, what is the difference (between models and what they substitute for)? In architectural terms: none, in systemic terms it’s the distinction we’ve drawn.

And that is precisely the trick (of the trade) All we need to pass / understand is that: "this is a model" as in inverted commas " " (- indicated by different properties, in different traditions … )
Meaning: THIS (whatever we refer to) is different from what we are trying to achieve / establish / say BUT due to lack of alternative means we observe / test THIS as if we had already achieved / established / said it, in terms of anticipation and of disposability.

Thus Models are conditional [bedigt] (as if propositions) … pushing limits of converging indistinguishability …

As obvious fabrications, they shape reality precisely because they are not perceived as real. As real manifestations on the other hand, they persist as contrary to fabrication. In this respect models do charm (clients).
Similar to staging a play, a threshold / form is established by communal understanding (of audience and actors) that the "reality" performed, can’t harm (us), is not "real" in spite of evidentially taking place at the very moment in a joint (marked) space. Thus perfect crimes are committed on stage and in architectural modelling …

Issues in how far maquettes supersede (their) "reality", IV.) 3 or whether they illuminate … what’s signified by them, need to be addressed in view of such (theatrical) performance.
On stage success is measured in terms of how thrilled the audience leaves - how convinced spectators / observers are that pre-established limit(ation)s have been crossed / unmarked …

Furthermore, being intrigued (spellbound) is subject to Zeitgeist. Mockups applied / presented tell us about the state of the field / practise in relation to current trends in other professions and virtually nothing about their capacity to approximate, mimic, describe ... (notions of) "reality" (not labelled "model" for that matter), or the building that eventually will result from such discrimination(s).

In architecture THE property / attribute indicating / denoting "(this is) a model" is scale. V.) 4 By framing the scope / limit(ation)s of observation, scale provides focus and sorts magnitude(s) of aspiration.

It also marks / delineates the area of expertise claimed by architecture (as a field) thus outlining its domain. In this respect (scaled) models are devices of self-observation.

Size does matter. VI.) 5 Different scopes entail different issues. What to say / differentiate at what scale is by no means related to the (inferred) complexity of what's being observed / projected … , but purely a matter of modelling as such.

Consider physical objects created by 3d printing or CNC milling. Without labelling one cannot tell whether certain artefacts are actual parts of a building or its scaled (down) representations. If we refer to architecture in terms of spatial instruction / information, the same is true for proceedings / algorithms. Perceiving a routine as a mere descriptive argument, or as an actual tool, is a matter of believe (in meaningful labelling) … In this respect models do profess (truth) in order to be believed in.

Once (considered) true, models provide illusions of control. A mutual one-to-one correspondence (bijectivity) is inferred. Controlling the model implies to control what’s been "signified". In this respect models are delusional (fetishes).

» No architects were harmed in the making of these models. « I.) 6


I've come across two (fine) examples … The first case (study) discusses space in terms of graph mathematics (for modelling) and the second shows how architecture is addressed in model terms by an 'ethno-mathematician'.

1. 'Space syntax' with Tim Stonor VII.) [http://youtu.be/]

» […] Space syntax measures the efficiency of spatial layouts […] doing graph mathematics […] « VII.) 8 VII.) 9 VII.) 10

Foster+Partners promoted this model in assessing the eventual redesign VII.) 13 of » […] Trafalgar Square in London, transforming the square from a car dominated environment to a public focus place. […] « VII.) 7 As one would expect, such has been successful. Models (as models) are resilient to failure.

Nevertheless, in spite of thorough and extensive spatial examination [modelling] the obvious passes unmentioned. Models do avoid elephants, in this case the client’s symbolic ambition. I.) 14

Reshaping Trafalgar Square understands today’s London to be different from its past, precisely due to shifting power(s). (Altered) social frameworks require (altered) spatial imprints = architecture, in order to exact awareness of (its) establishment … Such functionality is purely representational (in its most traditional sense). To pass on, ideology must be(come) matter (of fact), as the English language points out so literally.

To signify a (public) site by populating it = making it popular, reaffirms sovereignty of the people (over land-use). The implemented central staircase is a success, because gatherings are endorsed, not objected.
Transition from lingering to trespassing is subtle, since usage is perceived / inscribed in societal terms (only). IX.) 15 Occupation distinguishes space from territory.

By masking (perceptions), the "objective" angle of (graph-) mathematics, creates a secure blind spot for architects to observe (from) and to contribute (to). In this respect models do make sense …

» Objectivity is a subject's delusion, that observing can be done without her. « III.) 16



2. 'African fractals' by Ron Eglash VIII.) [http://www.ted.com/]

A fabulous NARRATIVE on spatial recursion:
» […] I happened to notice that if you look at an aerial photograph of an African village, you see fractals. […] « VIII.) 17

A quick check on Google Earth usually sorts built topologies … Do mathematicians see an algorithm anywhere they look, or should we fancy that there is a plan (after all), even when (we) architects aren't aware of any … ?
There is recursion (in terms of "how to" routines) in architecture. Sometimes even as a conscious formal expression of the very notion. VIII.) 18
To inform space culturally (ordering it in a legible manner) is what architects do. The degree of sophistication applied to that process does vary, as do knowledge and aspirations inscribed in space. Retrieval of such information is yet another matter. So how representative is (social interaction with) space (supposed to be)?

The notorious London Terrace is as telling / legible (geometrically informed) as any native hut circle, and marking ones space in symbolic terms (territorialisation via distinction) applies to African villages as much as it is defining for Trafalgar Square in central London …

Apparent (reversed) colonial perspectives (here) root in attributing "value" to (spatial) "expression".
Ranking information (i.e. 'myth' beneath 'science', 'true' over 'false') proves problematic, for there is no such thing as "nonformation". Perception (of architecture) is a matter of distinguishing ("it") from white noise.

But back to modelling: How is architecture addressed in model terms?
Simply by suggesting: "This (building, fern, divination) is (based on) an algorithm". "This" then turns into a placeholder (model) for something else. Such is feasible (makes sense) because notions of “built algorithms” or “spatial instructions” like “do not cross” = "fence", have been at least as constitutive for architecture as have been (more appreciated) notions of shelter.

Additionally we infer that: having (also) known about sequences / fractals / ratios, but due to lacking adequate (professional) treatments, space was utilised to store (this) knowledge, until (finally) mathematical achievements "freed" architecture from such liability.
Quintessentially European in terms, this model (of architecture) is conditionally … an up to now proposition.

Such understanding is very close to home. The ubiquity of (golden) ratios and program(matic)s in (western) architecture has been discarded only very recently (if at all) merely to be substituted for "more sophisticated" mathematical concepts and societal program(matic)s. I.) 21 Which (in my view) is the very reason for (something like) 'African fractals' to have become observable (for westerners) in the first place .

• 'Decagonal and Quasicrystalline Tilings in Medieval Islamic Architecture' by Peter J. Lu, approx. 2007 http://peterlu.org/
• 'Where 2.0 2011, Genevieve Bell, "Context is Everything"' http://youtu.be/
• 'Garrett Lisi on his theory of everything' 2008 http://www.ted.com/

One more thing:
How do models differ from (simple) frameworks? In my view, by intertwining (them). I.) 22

References

1. 22 Why do we call one thing "frame" and another "model" ? Of course any frame can be utilised as a model by specifying it a "model". ^ But what if "frames" constitute labels themselves, and all models labelled frames equally serve their purposes?
   Do these labels attached designate a different usage, or do they merely indicate a mismatch in (understanding) terms, caused by simply not having grasped / consented what it actually means to make a model or to apply a conceptual frame(work). My approach to sort this, may well be idiosyncratic, but it makes sense (to me).
   My key criterion in detecting a model is its "as-if(ish)ness". </hilarious> Whereas frames tend to be unconditional [vorbehaltlos] (and thus harder to detect) models do stick out as labelled (consciously constructed).
   There's also a difference in how they can be observed to set out observation: Frames (and the English language is again very helpful in establishing this notion) allow to canvas the observer in respect to what's being observed (by her). Metaphorically imaging apparatuses [devices, deployments … ], frames filter, constrain, capture ... establish a view (in its physical sense) allowing to maintain a removed "position", focusing on content first and second on framing. (Such as Varela's ' referential cross hairs')
   Models on the other hand are being made for others (to observe). Their perspectives respectively need to be planed / considered beforehand. In architecture a successful model is built for the client (only). Outlining an (preferable path of) understanding via intertwined points of (pre)selected views, again conforms analogies to framing (stories) … » […] strictly speaking, Architects design frames. « X.) 23
   In this sense my model may well be my clients frame(work).
   
   All images by [me] Franz Sdoutz
   
   Img. _01 Main Ceremonial Chamber [Großer Festsaal] during lunch break. 11. 11. 2011
   Img. _02 Louis H. Kauffman at the podium. 12. 11. 2011
   Img. _03 Panel with Jan Müggenburg, Dirk Baecker, [chaired by] Alexander Riegler 11. 11. 2011
   Img. _04 Didier Sornette at the podium. 11. 11. 2011
   Img. _05 Bernard Scott at the podium. 12. 11. 2011
   
   6 Someone ought to say it, and the text needs a break here … alluding to » No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Motion Picture. « promoted by the American Humane Association.
   
   14 Commissioned by Transport for London 'Trafalgar Square Redevelopment' presents a significant shift in urban representation. According to Wikipedia » Trafalgar Square is owned by the Queen in Right of the Crown, and managed by the Greater London Authority, while Westminster City Council owns the roads around the square, including the pedestrianised area of the North Terrace. «
   The new City Hall (also designed by Foster+Partners 1998-2002) for the recently [2000] established administrative body Mayor of London conveys in similar terms. Trafalgar Square is (and has been) the place for symbolic statements (more or less subtle).
   
   21 Some quick links for perspective:
   'soProto - a soft body architecture' Architectural Association School of Architecture, DRL 2011 http://vimeo.com/
   'The Sympathy of Things: Ruskin and the Ecology of Design' by Lars Spuybroek 2011 http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/
   'Parametric Order—21st Century Architectural Order' by Patrik Schumacher 2012 http://youtu.be/
2. IN: Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, Band 55 Teil I und II - Festschrift für Lorenz Mikoletzky - Beruf(ung) Archivar, published by Studienverlag, 2011 http://oesta.gv.at/
   
   'Kastalia - Zur Interpretation einer Skulptur im Arkadenhof der Universität Wien im Kontext der Wiener Moderne' by Mario Wimmer and Mitchell G. Ash, 2011 [pages 1137 to 1156] http://www.wiss.ethz.ch/ [PDF]
   
   1 a Excerpt from the speech delivered by vice chancellor [Rektor] Ernst Tschokke on the occasion of inaugurating the [then] new university building on the 11th of October 1884.
   » Lichtvoller als je schwebt uns heute am Beginne einer neuen Aera die hehre Idee vor Augen, der wir hier in diesem Tempel der Wissenschaft entgegenzustreben haben: Die Universität ist eine Stätte zur Pflege der Wissenschaft, welche die allgemein höhere Bildung gewähret, eine Anstalt, die das große Wissenschaftsgebiet durch Forschung und literarische Produktivität zu erweitern hat, der Zentralpunkt für die vier seit einem Halbjahrtausend zu einem Körper verschmolzenen Fakultäten, welche, so vielfach auch ihre Berufssphären auseinandergehen, doch nur einem gemeinschaftlichen Ziele zusteuern: Die Harmonie des menschlichen Wissens zu bezeugen und zu betätigen. «
   This speech is quoted from: 'Richard Meister, Ruhmeshalle der Wiener Universität.' by Ernst Tomek, published by Donauwörth-Wien-Basel 1934, page 7, preface [Geleitwort]
   [Details according to Mario Wimmer and Mitchell G. Ash, note 14, page 1142]
3. IN: 'The Certainty of Uncertainty: Dialogues Introducing Constructivism' by Bernhard Poerksen, 2004 http://books.google.at/
   Translated by Alison Rosemary Koeck and Wolfram Karl Koeck from the German original 'Die Gewissheit der Ungewissheit. Gespräche zum Konstruktivismus' published first by Carl-Auer-Systeme in 2001 http://www.uboeschenstein.ch/
   
   » At each and every moment, I can decide who I am
   Heinz von Foerster on the observer, dialogic life, and a constructivist philosophy of distinctions « [Chapter 1, page 1]
   
   16 » Poerksen: "Objectivity is a subject's delusion," the American Society for Cybernetics quotes you, "that observing can be done without him." « [page 3]
   Quoted slightly different in the Preface » The circular view of the world «
   » Heinz von Foerster's cryptically aphoristic definition of objectivity - another key statement of constructivism, […] "Objectivity", he says, "is the subject's delusion that observing can be done without him." « [page xi]
   
   'Monologic and dialogic' [page 12]
   2 » [Heinz von Foerster: …] Therefore, the statement that opened our conversation - "Anything said is said by an observer" [Maturana] - is floating freely, in a sense. It exists in a vacuum as long as it is not embedded in a social structure because speaking is meaningless, and dialogue is impossible, if no one is listening. So I have added a corollary to that theorem, which I named with all due modesty Heinz von Foerster's Corollary Nr. 1: "Everything said is said to an observer." […] « [page 12]
4. 3 Models as artefacts … [Artefacts preliminarily perceived as architectural "models".]
   • 'Endless House' [several versions] by Frederick [Friedrich] John Kiesler 1950 - 1959
   • 'Broadacre City' model by Frank Lloyd Wright 1934 - 1935
   • 'Monument to the Third International' by Vladimir Tatlin 1919 - 1920
   • 'New Babylon' by Constant Nieuwenhuys between late 1950s and early 1970s
5. 4 Famous full scale models, 'modelli in grande', mock-ups, dummies [Attrappen], prototypes … (Note the shift in 'terms'.)
   • (Mobile) models for the 'Kröller-Müller Villa Project' by Peter Behrens and Mies van der Rohe. 1912
   • Wooden model by Mario Botta of Borromini’s church of 'San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane' in Rome, on the lakeshore Lugano, Switzerland, 1999-2003
   • Reinforced concrete 'lily-pad' column by Frank Lloyd Wright for the 'Johnson Wax Building' in Racine, Wisconsin, 1936
6. 5 Supersize: models as architecture
   • 'Body Zone' by Nigel Coates [Ltd.] London 2000
   • 'Luxor Las Vegas' by Veldon Simpson 1993
   • 'Cenotaph for Isaac Newton' [project] by Étienne-Louis Boullée 1784
7. ^ 'Spatial Layout Efficiency with Tim Stonor of Space Syntax' presentation by Tim Stonor from London based 'Space Syntax Limited' at the 'National Capital Planning Commission' on spatial layout efficiency on 15. June 2011
   http://youtu.be/ http://www.spacesyntax.com/
   Utilising methods for the analysis of spatial patterns pioneered by professor Bill Hillier [director of 'Space Syntax Limited' …]
   http://sms.cam.ac.uk/
   http://www.urbannous.org.uk/
   
   7 » […] Between 1996 and 2001 Tim [Stonor] lead the team, that advised architect Norman Foster on the redesign of Trafalgar Square in London, transforming the square from a car dominated environment to a public focus place. This project set a new standard for public space design in the UK […] « [Introduction by Marcel Acosta, timecode 00:02:18 to 00:02:34]
   
   8 » […] Space syntax measures the efficiency of spatial layouts […] « [timecode 00:04:11 to 00:04:17]
   
   9 Explanation of the model based on graph theory (graph mathematics).
   [timecode 00:11:10 to 00:26:38]
   
   10 » […] A computer analysis […] doing graph mathematics on the layout […] What's remarkable […] is that the computer analysis […] almost exactly […] mirrors, predicts the passage of people […] We have found this to be an absolutely consistent result in buildings and cities worldwide […] «
   [timecode 00:16:42 to 00:17:46]
   
   11 » […] This is a very simple, very quick traffic model, with one variable […] « [timecode 00:20:28 to 00:20:33]
   
   12 » […] But finally the really, really important one is to connect all of this to money […] finding consistent correlations between where people are spending their money, how much they are spending, how much houses are being bought and sold for, where the crimes are occurring and this layout of space. Space is this fundamental piece of infrastructure […] «
   [timecode 00:24:28 to 00:25:12]
   
   13 Trafalgar Square Redevelopment, London, UK, 1996-2003 by Foster+Partners
   [timecode 00:32:00 to 00:37:33]
8. ^ 'Ron Eglash on African fractals' talk by Ron Eglash filmed in June 2007, posted November 2007 for the 'TEDGlobal 2007' conference, Edinburgh, UK
   http://www.ted.com/ [quoted from interactive transcript]
   See also: 'African Fractals: modern computing and indigenous design' by Ron Eglash published by Rutgers University Press in 1999 http://csdt.rpi.edu/
   
   17 » […] I happened to notice that if you look at an aerial photograph of an African village, you see fractals. And I thought, "This is fabulous! I wonder why?" And of course I had to go to Africa and ask folks why. So I got a Fulbright scholarship to just travel around Africa for a year asking people why they were building fractals, which is a great job if you can get it. (Laughter) « [timecode 00:03:04 – 00:03:26] Samples: http://csdt.rpi.edu/
   
   18 » […] the path through that palace is actually this spiral here. And as you go through the path, you have to get more and more polite. So they're mapping the social scaling onto the geometric scaling; it's a conscious pattern. […] « [timecode 00:03:58 – 00:04:11]
   
   19 » […] In Angola, the Chokwe people draw lines in the sand, and it's what the German mathematician Euler called a graph; we now call it an Eulerian path -- you can never lift your stylus from the surface and you can never go over the same line twice. But they do it recursively […] « [timecode 00:08:51 – 00:09:07]
   
   20 » […] Bernard Tschumi at Columbia University has finished using this in a design for a museum of African art. « [timecode 00:15:29] http://www.thecityreview.com/ […]
9. 15 Evident in the 2011 London Riots also termed: » Post ideological zero level rebellion of disqualified consumers … «
   
   Alluding to a statement by Slavoj Žižek [referring to Zygmunt Bauman] taped 28.01.2012 in Istanbul http://youtu.be/ [part 8 time code 00:08:45 until beginning of part 9 time code 00:00:20, part 1 of 12 http://youtu.be/]
   And 'Slavoj Zizek - A New Kind of Communism' lecture by Slavoj Žižek recorded 2nd October 2011 in Sydney, Australia. http://youtu.be/ [time code 00:22:25]
   
   See also: 'Shoplifters of the World Unite: Slavoj Žižek on the meaning of the riots' posted by 'London Review of Books' 19. August 2011 http://www.lrb.co.uk/
   » Zygmunt Bauman characterised the riots as acts of 'defective and disqualified consumers': more than anything else, they were a manifestation of a consumerist desire violently enacted when unable to realise itself in the ‘proper’ way – by shopping. […] «
10. 'Earth Moves: The Furnishing of Territories' by Bernard Cache, translated by Anne Boyman, edited by Michael Speaks, published by MIT Press, second printing 1998 [published first 1995, translation of an French manuscript written 1983 under the title 'Terre meuble']
    http://books.google.at/
    
    23 » We can begin to answer this question by noting that, strictly speaking, architects design frames. This can be easily verified by consulting architectural plans, which are nothing but the interlocking of frames in every dimension: plans, sections, and elevations. Cubes, nothing but cubes. Architects have certainly been blamed enough for this. But we have to know what it is we are talking about and define the frame more precisely. In the first place, the term can be understood according to its most common meaning: a frame is four wooden sticks surrounding a picture. The model of architectural form would thus be the frame of a painting. […] « [page 22]
11. IN:
    'OASE #84 Models. The Idea, the Representation and the Visionary' Journal for Architecture published by NAi Publishers in Rotterdam 06.07.2011
    http://oasejournal.nl/ [Washed onto shores of my awareness in summer 2012.]
    
    'Models and Other Spaces' by Milica Topalovic [page 37 - 45]
    » To model is to construct […] « [page 38]
    » If architecture is […] space creation, then the model is fictional. […] imaginary. « [page 38, very abridged]
    
    'The Model as a Plan: A Monument to Scientific Error' by Kersten Geers [page 62 - 67]
    » Academic error proves more powerful than description as a formal strategy. By assuming the existence of something, and regarding that assumption as reality with a great deal of energy, it becomes reality. […] In this way the model as plan becomes a monument to scientific error […] a vehicle that, through its quasi scientific character and its representation of building, renders building itself superfluous. « [page 65]
    

Links

• Heinz von Foerster Congress 2011
  http://www.univie.ac.at/
• My models
  https://plus.google.com/
• More models [mockups]
  Thom Mayne
  Hayakawa Katsumi
  Thomas Demand [...]
  Cath Campbell
  Ingrid Siliakus
  Peter Callesen
  Masahiro Chatani
  http://www.designsponge.com/
  http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/ [...]
• http://en.wikipedia.org/

more Bikini Hypotheses

• Super-Flat MediaArchitecture
  Venice Beach - The Art of Systems
  Bikini Bottom ('The Autopoiesis of Architecture')
  Urban Space Pattern ('Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Built Bikini')
  Philip Johnson [discursive taxonomy]
  Models (in the Temple of Science)

File Log

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