The Diptych
Instructor:
Alexis Rochas
Spring 2017
The 1GB studio expands on the fundamental problems of architectural
geometry and representation developed in the 1GA studio, completing the
foundational studio sequence of the first-year. The studio project is a duplex
of two single-family homes in Los Angeles. The form and program of the duplex
is framed through the analog of the diptych painting: a symmetrically arrayed
pair of frames that contain calibrated similarities and differences, each image
complete in and of itself while simultaneously comprising a part of a whole.
Through an initial precedent analysis and subsequent design exercises, students investigate problems inherent to the diptych: symmetry and asymmetry, repetition and difference, figure and frame, one or multiple centers. Conceptually, the students are asked to consider the difference between producing a house, typically understood to be a singular project for a known and specific user, and producing housing, which is repetitive and prototypical, and in which the end user is unknown. An emphasis is placed on developing and working through serial processes, enabling the production of both singular and multiple objects through controlled, iterative techniques. Students are introduced to the precise development of surface curvature and articulation through projections and intersections of profile curves.
In the design phase of the studio, students are asked to consider the role of doubling, symmetry, multiples and seriality toproduce permutations of a prototypical spatial organization, rather than a single, idiosyncratic object. From this series, they begin to calibrate the relationship between two iterations of the prototype, exploring the potentials of various symmetries (translation, mirror, rotation, etc.) within the configuration of each iteration as well as the configuration of the pair.
( Margaret Griffin , Alexis Rochas , David Eskenazi , David Eskenazi , 2017 )
Through an initial precedent analysis and subsequent design exercises, students investigate problems inherent to the diptych: symmetry and asymmetry, repetition and difference, figure and frame, one or multiple centers. Conceptually, the students are asked to consider the difference between producing a house, typically understood to be a singular project for a known and specific user, and producing housing, which is repetitive and prototypical, and in which the end user is unknown. An emphasis is placed on developing and working through serial processes, enabling the production of both singular and multiple objects through controlled, iterative techniques. Students are introduced to the precise development of surface curvature and articulation through projections and intersections of profile curves.
In the design phase of the studio, students are asked to consider the role of doubling, symmetry, multiples and seriality toproduce permutations of a prototypical spatial organization, rather than a single, idiosyncratic object. From this series, they begin to calibrate the relationship between two iterations of the prototype, exploring the potentials of various symmetries (translation, mirror, rotation, etc.) within the configuration of each iteration as well as the configuration of the pair.
( Margaret Griffin , Alexis Rochas , David Eskenazi , David Eskenazi , 2017 )
To the interplay of orthographic and axonometric projection elaborated in 1GA, the 1GB studio introduces projection along arcs as a third method of producing architectural form. Students are asked to develop and articulate a serial process for the projection of profiles through extrusion, sweep and rotation within parallel, oblique and radial regulating systems. Reference is made to precedents such as the articulated profiles found in the prints and drawings of Eduardo Chillida and the geometric frameworks found in Sol Lewitt’s wall drawings (for instance, Wall Drawing #260, in which square frames are bisected by arcs, and vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines). After the development of the initial pair of prototypical forms, further exercises in projection across the two objects introduce techniques for articulating the architectural surface in relation to interior volume and organization, for calibrating the degree to which the diptych is understood as comprising one or two (or more) objects, and for engaging the site and urban context in which the duplex is situated.
