John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

with sensors which were activated by visitors to the gallery. A series of video
projections created the appearance of fluctuations in the surface of the object,
driven by the viewer’s proximity. This interactive architectural work would
appear to respond and change its physical and morphological state.
There are increasing examples of projects like these which explore the critical
discourse at the intersection of intersecting disciplinary domains. This indicates
a multidirectional morphing or increased fluidity between disciplines and the
opportunity to create fundamentally new types of designed objects and practices
that eclipse conventional models. As Greg Lynn states:
“Many people are saying that this exhibition 17 is not about architecture
but about digital technology and form, but that is just because today
architects are not willing to accept the role the computer plays beyond
being just a tool… The emergence of digital media spaces introduces a
new field with new design issues that architects are better equipped to
solve than many other designers, because virtuality has been our field
since we stopped building and started drawing 18 .” (Lynn and Rashid,
2003. p.84)
These practitioners are trained as architects but are engaging in a model of 3D
digital praxis which explores innovative design processes and attempts to reexamine
object making using computer-based design and fabrication tools from
a cross-disciplinary perspective. These new models of disciplinary practice exist
alongside traditional models and indeed these practitioners continue to produce
buildings.
17 The US pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, 2000.
18 “Despite the increasing rationalisation of construction processes through the use of industrialised methods and
products, building remains a labour intensive activity largely informed by the circumstances surrounding the
involuntary actions of the body. But these temporal concerns are no longer the direct charge of architects, whose
role is now limited to the representational and legal description of the building on its site. Architects have thus
become increasingly preoccupied with describing a proposed building as an abstraction rather than as a collection of
processes that occur over time...” (Hoffman, 1994)
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