Prof. Ricardo L. Castro;

Guest instructor: Ms. Rhona Richman Kenneally, Departmental Lecturer;

T.A. for all the D&C 2 Studios: Ms. Aliki Economides

Monday, 8 January to Tuesday, 13 February 2001

5 weeks

Due date: Tuesday 13 February 1999, at 9:00 a.m., Room TBA

Intermediate reviews: Tuesday 16 ,23, and 30 January.

Every Monday morning, starting at 9:00 a.m., we will be discussing the assigned readings most of which will be from Ignací de Sòla-Morales, Differences (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1998), and Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, (New York: Harcourt, 1978) both available at Paragraph Bookstore.

Objectives: The purpose of this project is multifold: first, to allow the participants to involve themselves with concepts of urban mapping in order to develop a sense of urban awareness and urban design strategies; second, to provide the participants with the opportunity of exploring the fascinating relationship of art, cinematography, literature and design and place-making activities, developing parallel related design strategies; finally, to provide participants with the opportunity and challenge to design and construct a project on a one-to-one scale that will allow a thorough exploration of construction and tectonic aspects.

In a lecture delivered in Turin in November 1967 (Cybernetics and Ghosts 1) he comments on the nature of storytelling, and its ongoing relationship to myth which seems particularly pertinent in relation to Alan Garner's work.

Myth tends to crystallize instantly, to fall into set patterns, to pass from the phase of myth-making into ritual, and hence out of the hands of the narrator into those of the tribal institutions responsible for the preservation and celebration of myths. The tribal system of signs is arranged in relation to myth; a certain number of signs become taboo, and the 'secular' storyteller can make no direct use of them. He goes on circling around them, inventing new developments in composition, until in the course of this methodical and objective labour he suddenly gets another flash of enlightenment from the unconscious and the forbidden. And this forces the tribe to change its set of signs once more.2

Notes

1: Included in Italo Calvino (translated by Patrick Creagh): The Literature Machine (Picador, 1989)

2: ibid pp 18-23

Encuadramiento and encadrement respectively in Spanish and French.

The idea of frame refers to things and activities both in the real world as well in the conceptual realm. Concepts such as that of framing a buildings, or using a window to frame the landscape are familiar to any architect as well as the way in which the ideas appear in other contexts. Examples include the various ways in which frames may appear physically or conceptually in the art world and the virtual context of the internet. Framework is a concept used in many disciplines particularly in philosophy. ( Cf. Framing the Questions, a very interesting site on the web exploring some of these aspects:

Etymologically the ideas of frame and framing are related to concepts in which the body, architecture, and ideas are present. See appendix 1.

We shall be using the work of the British artist and film director Peter Greenaway as a frame of reference in our inquiry. Greenaway is one of the contemporary artists who has deliberately used the notion of frame and framing as a design strategy. It is important to remember that the idea of framing and the objet itself, the frame, are tightly related to the act of visualization, and by extension, to the sensory stimuli of the body. In this context it is possible to describe acoustic, olfative, haptic, and taste frames of reference.

At another level the concept of frame and framing are the basis of many film, painting and design strategies such as collage and montage. In this context the work of a writer such as Italo Calvino or an artist as Greenaway become precious sources of inspiration.

The theoretical framework that we will attempt to address throughout this term will be informed by the explorations carried out by the Spanish architectural theoretician and critic Ignací de Sòla-Morales.

Roam through known and/or unknown parts of the city’s downtown, during the day or/and night. Seek to discover its mysteries by drifting in its midst. Touch, hear, look, smell, taste and… Record. Record... and identify 3 sites that epitomize your journey.These sites should be located within a five-block radius in any direction, from the corner of Sherbrooke and St. Lawrence Streets One of them will become the site for your eventual intervention.

Bring the recordings of the three sites to class on Tuesday, 16 January. These recordings will become the first entry of your Sketchbook. It is a very important part of the design studio activities.

Concentrate on the discovery of the ordinary and its possible marvelous qualities.

This is the moment in which you will start generating idea sketches for your framing device in your sketchbook.

References:

BENJAMIN, Walter, Unpacking my Library: a Talk about Book Collecting, in Illuminations, 1931.

CALVINO, Italo, Invisible Cities, (Harcourt, 1978)

DE SÒLA-MORALES, Ignací, Differences. (Cambridge: The MIT press, 1997)

On Peter Greenaway:

And his stairs project in Geneva:

And his body of work:

On Italo Calvino:

There is an extraordinary number of sites which each member of the studio should explore throughout the term. Calvino was a member of OULIPO.

APPENDIX (from the Perseus Digital Library: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/)

Frame in Greek has many variations. For instance:

ka^non-is, idos, hê, acc. to Suid., = ergaleion kalligraphikon, ruler, dub. in AP6.62 (Phil.), dub. in IG22.1678.4.

2. in pl., cross bars for strengthening an engine, Ph.Bel. 57.11.

II. pl., profile-stones running along the top of a wall, IG22.1666A16: sg., row of such stones, IBID=au=IG 1672.186. [i_ APl.c., s. v. l.] ka^non-isma, atos, to, ruler, AP6.295(Phan.).

II. grammatical rule, Eust.439.26.

3. in Anatomy, suture, Hp. Off.25, ti=Hp. Oss.12; union of two bones by mere apposition, Gal.2.737; also in pl., adjustments, porôn Epicur.Fr.250.

4. framework, rhêgnus harmonian . . luras S.Fr.244; boos Philostr.Im.1.16; esp. of the human frame, harmoniên analuemen anthrôpoio Ps.-Phoc.102; neurôn kai kôlôn eklutos ha. AP7.383 (Phil.); tas ha. diachalai tou sômatos Epicr.2.19.

c. framework of the universe, Corp.Herm. 1.14.

2. generally, music, autôi de tôi rhuthmôi mimountai chôris ha. IDEM=Pythag.Po.1447a26.

b. esp. the enharmonic scale, Aristox.Harm.p.I M., Plu.2.1135a, al.

VI. Pythag. name for three, Theol. Ar.au=Pythag. 27.16=lr.

VII. name of a remedy, Gal.13.61; of a plaster, Paul. Aeg.au=Gal. 3.62.

In Latin the concept is very rich as well:

corpus, oris, n. [cf. Sanscr. kar-, to make; Lat. creo], any object composed of materials perceptible by the senses, body, substance (opp. anima and animus; cf. the definition in Dig. 41, 3, 30 pr.).

I. Lit. (very frequent in every period and species of composition).

B. In partic.

1. The flesh of animal bodies: ossa subjecta corpori, Cic. N. D. 2, 55, 139; cf. Quint. 1, prooem. § 24; 12, 10, 5: amittere, to become poor, lean, Lucr. 1, 1038; Cic. Fam. 7, 26, 2 fin.; cf.: abiit corpusque colorque, Ov. H. 3, 141; and the opp. facere, to become fat, to thrive, Cels. 7, 3 fin.; cf.: quo cibo fecisti tantum corporis, Phaedr. 3, 7, 5.--In a play upon words: inque omni nusquam corpore corpus erat, Mart. Spect. 7, 6.--

b. Transf., the wood under the bark of a tree, Plin. 17, 24, 37, § 234.--Of discourse: nervis illis, quibus causa continetur, adiciunt superinducti corporis speciem, the covering, integument, Quint. 5, 8, 2; 2, 10, 5: corpus eloquentiae facere, the substance, the most essential part, id. 10, 1, 87; cf.: corpus orationis enervatur, Petr. 2.--

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