assignment 1

Few things have had greater historical significance for architecture than the introduction of consistent, coherent parallel projection into architectural drawing, and few things have been more transparent to critical attention than its effects. -Robin Evans





projection & measurement

due tuesday, february 24

Read “Seeing through Paper” from The Projective Cast by Robin Evans

In the article above, Robin Evans argues that the parallel lines used so comfortably by architects in orthographic projection are essentially representations of light paths. Not just any light path, but that of the sun whose distance is so great from the earth that its angle relative to terrestrial objects is effectively a straight line. The relationship between our orthographic drawings and representations of light & shadow would thus seem clear cut.

Read “Architectural Projection” by Robin Evans from VIA 11 ‘Shadows’

The site you have been given has particularities to its form and orientation that have direct effect on the conditions of daylight found there. You are to create detailed measured drawings of all aspects of the site that concern light. Use orthographic projection to generate the drawings, at a scale of your choice, but no less than 1”= 1’.

Track and document the patterns of daylight at your site over the course of several days. Determine a methodology that most effectively captures the conditions you find over time. Use technology where it is helpful but manual representation whenever possible. Record all light conditions: ambient, direct, reflective, refractive, color mappings, etc.

Based on what you record, initiate a formal response to the conditions present with specific materials, as any material you choose will have with its own particular characteristics in daylight. Propose a methodology for working within your site based on information gathered in your recordings and drawings.

possible tools & materials: cold press watercolor paper, pencil, charcoal, ink, bleach, water, light meter, camera (film or digital), sunprint or photo sensitive paper, emulsion coatings, cyanotype fabrics/papers

further reading:

D. N. Jordan and W. K. Smith. Simulated influence of leaf geometry on sunlight interception and photosynthesis in conifer needles. In Tree Physiology v. 13 pp. 29-39. 1992

Aljofi, E. The potentiality of reflected sunlight through Rawshan screens. From “Passive and Low Energy Cooling for the Built Environmnet” International conference, May 2005. (download pdf for images)

Frascari, Marco. The Lume Materiale in the Architecture of Venice from Perspecta. Vol. 24. (1988) pp. 136 – 145. (download pdf for images)

Neuman, Dietrich. “The Century’s Triumph in Lighting”: The Luxfer Prism Companies and Their Contribution to Early Modern Architecture from The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Vol. 54, No.1. (March 1995) pp. 24 - 53

Feynman, Richard. "Photons: Particles of Light" from QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. 1985.