Reiser + Umemoto

presented by: natasha harper

ATLAS OF NOVEL TECTONICS

Intensive vs. Extensive

Intensive-- When something is divided into two equal parts, their intensive properties will not be divided.

Extensive-- Values that can be divided such as mass, vol-ume, measurement.

“If we divide a volume of matter into two equal halves we end up with two volumes, each half the ex-tent of the original one. Intensive properties on the other hand are properties such as temperature and pressure, which cannot be so divided.” -Manuel deLanda, Intensive science and virtual philosophy

Difference in Kind vs. Difference in Degree

Difference in Kind-- They have a clear, and fixed identity. In chess, each piece has its own specific rules that it must follow and it’s own particular characteris-tics. Similarly, classical architectural orders follow that same logic.

Difference in Degree-- Difference in degree in contrast, has no intrinsic meaning outside of its contextual relationships. It is its relation to its neighbor that create difference within the whole. You can find zones within the overall that display different characteristics. In the game of Go, every piece is alike, but it is how they are formed together that creates the game.

Part to Whole Relationships

Top down hierarchy-- The modernist architecture deals exclusively with top-down hier-archies. Each piece plays a specific role and has a specific relationship with the next piece

Complex hierarchy-- involves both top-down and bottom-up hierarchies operating in a feedback loop. This enables the emergence of new organizations and new architectural effects out of the whole that is not reducible to its parts. “These emergent organizations become legible not as parts to a whole but as whole-whole relationships.” In other words, the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Similarity and Difference

“You can’t have similarity without difference, and you can’t have differ-ence without similarity.” -Claude Levi-Strauss

The idea that similarity can arrive out of difference and difference can arrive out of similarity, and that they are not mutually exclusive.

The example given here is that perhaps the racehorse is closer the grey-hound than it is to the drafthorse and perhaps the drafthorse is closer to the oxen than they are to each other. While they look alike, and are both types of horses, on a performative level, they are much closer to different animals.

Fineness

This topic looks at the idea that architecture is not resolved within the logic of a single model, surface, or material. Rather, architecture deals with assemblies of multiple materials, models, and surfaces.

Fineness breaks down the fabric of building into finer and finer parts so that it can register small differences while maintaining an overall whole that is coherent.

In the example to the right, it is important to find the right level of fine-ness. If it is too fine, it acts as a homogenous solid. If it is too coarse, and it is constrained to its members. Architecture must do the same, and find the right balance between material geometry and force.

The Diagram

Diagrams provide an abstract model of materiality. A diagram can be derived from any dynamic system at any scale. It can be mapped as a gradient field that can be abstracted .

What emerges is a diagram of relationships, not of scale. The diagram becomes a field of relationships awaiting a scale and materiality. This elastic yet precise diagram thus can acquire other material systems such as architecture and have the capacity to affect those systems in ways specific only to architecture.