AHO WORKS STUDIES 2012-2013
Architectural Studies
More Real
of form. The explosion of formal virtuosity as a result
of the availability of NURBS software has produced a
contemporaneity in architecture whose superficiality
completely dwarfs the stylistic free-for-all that ignited
modernist rigor one hundred years ago. As a result of
the evaporation of meaning in computer-generated
work, the school has backed off of further exploration
and has sought again first principles. In this light, the
emergence of parametric design offers new promise.
Building from the organization of measurable inputs
and the definition of their relations, algorithmic mod-
elling must move past the generation of novelty and
towards the cartography of spatial and constructive
practice. In other words, we need to study the way that
meaning inheres in the generation of built form, and
model this process.
Finally, the school b uilds on a heritage of authorship.
But this should be sharply distinguished from ‘sig-
nature architecture’, which conflates recognizability
with identity, and often lacks the most important fea-
ture of authorship: the assumption of a deep-seated
responsibility for the work and its effects. In the highly
bureaucratized and impersonal world of building, it
is ever more important that the role of the architect
is reanimated as a human being whose personal free-
doms guides the process underway. Architecture is a
form of control, an exercise of power, and the concept
of authorship has the potential to carve out spaces of
unrestraint within a highly regulated order. By focus-
ing on the development of personal choice in the face
of societal demand, the school has the opportunity to
enlarge the humanity of architectural practice.
Images from doctoral
research project The
Photographic Absolute:
An Architectural Beginning.
© Pavlina Lucas 2013
