Exercise:
Architectural Ethnography: Visualizing the observable unseen
w/ Lucas Hoops
Architectural Ethnography: Visualizing the observable unseen
w/ Lucas Hoops
What we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners, our utensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms. To question that which seems to have ceased forever to astonish us. We live, true, we breathe, true; we walk, we go downstairs, we sit at a table in order to eat, we lie down on a bed in order to sleep. How? Where? When? Why?
Describe your street. Describe another. Compare.
- Georges Perec
Objectives:
Ethnographic method is aimed at generating a complete immersion of an observer into a context; because each context is different, it is difficult to clearly define how long, and what steps must be taken to find oneself ‘fully immersed’. However, the objective can be stated as: seeking to change one’s own perspective of a place, to see it at first, and then to try and ‘uncover’ it through patient and attentive observation and see it anew.
Scope:
As you have begun to see in class, everything is connected somehow. The scope of this exercise is open, but perhaps the starting point is your site. Therefore, the scope and extent to which you may explore should in some ways find its relation to your site. You can ask questions such as: where in the territory is your site found? What flows go through your site, i.e. rivers, roads and transportation, materials, etc.? What is the meaning of your site for the neighbors? How does your site change over time, i.e. short term, long term? And many more…
Deliverables:
Drawings can be made in a sketchbook, on trace paper, with collage integrating photographs; you can use pencil pen, charcoal, watercolor. The rules are simple: jot down everything you observe, observe everything you can; if you don’t have time to fully express it, record the details and finish it later.
What we expect is many drawings and sketches from immersion in your sites that will last hours and perhaps require two visits. We, as humans in the 21st century are impatient creatures, with short attention spans; this exercise is about resisting that impatience and expanding our attention.
To give some more specificity:
This should lead to many, many drawings; photography should be selective, limited, and integrated into drawings. Use Marie Combette’s presentation to inspire formats and approaches. Let’s see who can make it to 100 drawings!
Evaluation Criteria:
I will be looking at the quantity of work. This will demonstrate that you visited and observed many things, which will take some time.
I will also be looking at the inventiveness of the approaches. This will demonstrate that you began to interpret what you see, and not just take things literally at first view.
I will be looking for a story. What have you learned from the place, and from your observations and interpretations?
Reference material for further support:
Describe your street. Describe another. Compare.
- Georges Perec
Objectives:
Ethnographic method is aimed at generating a complete immersion of an observer into a context; because each context is different, it is difficult to clearly define how long, and what steps must be taken to find oneself ‘fully immersed’. However, the objective can be stated as: seeking to change one’s own perspective of a place, to see it at first, and then to try and ‘uncover’ it through patient and attentive observation and see it anew.
Scope:
As you have begun to see in class, everything is connected somehow. The scope of this exercise is open, but perhaps the starting point is your site. Therefore, the scope and extent to which you may explore should in some ways find its relation to your site. You can ask questions such as: where in the territory is your site found? What flows go through your site, i.e. rivers, roads and transportation, materials, etc.? What is the meaning of your site for the neighbors? How does your site change over time, i.e. short term, long term? And many more…
Deliverables:
Drawings can be made in a sketchbook, on trace paper, with collage integrating photographs; you can use pencil pen, charcoal, watercolor. The rules are simple: jot down everything you observe, observe everything you can; if you don’t have time to fully express it, record the details and finish it later.
What we expect is many drawings and sketches from immersion in your sites that will last hours and perhaps require two visits. We, as humans in the 21st century are impatient creatures, with short attention spans; this exercise is about resisting that impatience and expanding our attention.
To give some more specificity:
- Overall I want to see your first few drawings that describe your first impressions, and I want to see that slowly change and gain more depth as you continue to register observations, and I want to see the final drawings demonstrating a new perspective on the same site. Some ideas for what you can observe are found in Momoyo Kaijima’s curatorial statement for the exhibition “Architectural Ethnography”
- Drawings of architecture: collections and categories of buildings
- Drawings for architecture: how buildings are transformed; patterns of architecture and landscape as a language; descriptions of construction techniques.
- Drawings among architecture: objects, tools, and spaces that express how people‘s ways of life are shaped by different climates, topographies, cultures
- Drawings around architecture: drawings that go beyond the building to survey situations in the wider landscape—natural and manmade
- I want at least one attempt to describe a change over time, and/or over space.
- I want to see details of buildings, nature, and people.
This should lead to many, many drawings; photography should be selective, limited, and integrated into drawings. Use Marie Combette’s presentation to inspire formats and approaches. Let’s see who can make it to 100 drawings!
Evaluation Criteria:
I will be looking at the quantity of work. This will demonstrate that you visited and observed many things, which will take some time.
I will also be looking at the inventiveness of the approaches. This will demonstrate that you began to interpret what you see, and not just take things literally at first view.
I will be looking for a story. What have you learned from the place, and from your observations and interpretations?
Reference material for further support:
- Learning from architectural ethnography, Momoyo Kaijima’s curatorial statement
- Architectural Ethnography, Momoyo Kaijima presentation video
- Anthropology for architects, Ray Lucas book
- Life of lines, Tim Ingold book
- Species of spaces, Georges Perec book
- The Image of the City, Kevin Lynch book
- Levantamientos etnográficos, colecciones y cartografías, Marie Combette video