Architecture + Animation

Response to "Beyond Animation"
Burry, Mark. “Beyond Animation” Architecture + Animation - AD Vol. 71 - No. 2. Ed. Bob Fear. John Wiley & Sons, 2001.

There are at least two opportunities for animation to be used as part of the development and representation of ideas:   (1) firstly as architecture considered and represented through animated treatment of 'real buildings'; and   (2) secondly at a conceptual level where animation is used as a device in architectural design, most usually as part of an iterative design generation or as an evaluation procedure (7).

Burry advocates for animation to be a new front of architectural expression. He also cautions the downsides to animation, namely those that distort the actual reality of the subject's space and time. The reading continues to delineate the process in which a designer uses animation to depict change or Δ of the process, which is then tweened to become a fluid form / image.


Response to "Towards an Animated Architecture Against Architectural Animation"
Spiller, Neil. “Towards an Animated Architecture Against Architectural Animation” Architecture + Animation - AD Vol. 71 - No. 2. Ed. Bob Fear. John Wiley & Sons, 2001.

"Neil Spiller, best known for his evangelizing of new technologies and as an advocate of cyberspace, argues that an all-too-eager appropriation of animation software from other industries is leading architects to abandon a rigorous approach to architectural space in favor of a fetishisation of surface imagery" (3). This headline surprised me as we finally see a critic against animation!

Spiller mainly dislikes architectural animation due to their "diversion from the primary task of creating architectural space" (4). He finds that rather than the design becoming animate and dynamic, the design grounds to an object in space. Spiller claims that using an enigma as a tool suits architecture better than film theory.

The critique was very brusque and thoughtful. I lost it at the last sentence of the article.

Besides, an architect's personal touch is a critical marketing tool; to animate is often to dilute the difference between one architect and another. Something the Americans might like to consider.

Response to "Vigorous Environments"
Hensel, Michael and Sotama, Kivi. “Vigorous Environments.” Contemporary Techniques in Architecture - AD Vol. 72 No. 1. Ed. Ali Rahim. pages 34-42. John Wiley & Sons, 2001.

Eco-logic. The authors relate design to human interaction; because human activity and milieu is dynamic, discrete objects and processes become futile in present day(36). From the authors questions, they synthesize (1) the level of mediating exchange processes determines level of intervention, (2) design operations must be versioned and iterative, (3) interactivity between information and synergy determines performativity.

Performativity. The authors define this based on Elin Diamond's interpretation of performance: "to study performance is not to focus on complete forms, but to become aware of performance as itself a contested space" (37). 

Technology. Technology optimizes design and manufacturing. In this fashion, technology also serves to provide the infrastructure in which interaction can be facilitated. By incorporating technology into interventions, different effects are produced in the exchange between subject and milieu.