Lecture_03: Why diagramming?

UMN- College of Design School of Architecture Arch 2281: DFII Instructors: Andrea Johnson Adam Jarvi

First, A FOUR MINUTE STORY…

1. A figure composed of lines, serving to illustrate a

definition or statement, or to aid in the proof of a proposition.

2. An illustrative figure which, without representing the

exact appearance of an object, gives an outline or general scheme of it, so as to exhibit the shape and relations of its various parts.

3. A set of lines, marks, or tracings which represent

symbolically the course or results of any action or process, or the variations which characterize it; e.g. the intensity of action or quality, the rise and fall of temperature or pressure, of the death-rate, rate of emigration, rate of exchange, the derivation and mutual relation of languages, etc.

-Oxford English Dictionary

what is a diagram?

What is a diagram? In general, diagrams are best known and

understood as visual tools used for the compression of

information… A diagram is not a blueprint. It is not the working

drawing of an actual construction, recognizable in all its details

and with a proper scale…The diagram is not a metaphor or

paradigm, but an ‘abstract machine’ that is both content and

expression… and is instrumental in the production of new

objects or situations.

--Excerpts from Diagrams, in Move by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos

diagrams: the caricatures of the drawing world

Portrait Face

diagrams: the caricatures of the drawing world Portrait, sort of…

1. Animation means to invoke life, not imitate it

2. Animation is not the art of drawings that move, but the art of movements that are drawn.

3. Character always comes first, before the physical representation.

4. If you start with character, you probably will end up with good drawings. If you start with drawings, you will almost certainly end up with limited characters…for identity, you do not draw differently, you think differently.

5. Our characters are based on individual personalities, their anatomy abstracted only in the most general way from their prototypes—rabbits, ducks, cats, canaries, etc…What they looked like grew in each case from our discovery of who they were.

6. Its not what or where a character is, nor the circumstances under which they find themselves that determines who they are. It is only how in a unique way they respond to that environment and those circumstances which identify them as an individual

Chuck Jones, Chuck Amuck as quoted in (M. Rakatansky, ANY 23, pp52)

“The primary utility of the diagram is as an abstract means of

thinking about organization. The variables in an organizational

diagram include both formal and programmatic configurations: space

and event, force and resistance, density, distribution and direction.”

-Stan Allen, ANY 23: Diagram Work

Notation

Francis Ching, Point to line to plane to volume

Francis Ching, Circulation diagram

Thomas Thiis-Evensen, Diagrams from Archetypes in Architecture

Francis Ching, Diagrams from Form, Space and Order

Pythagorean Theorem: C.V. Durell, Elementary Geometry, 1936 Pythagorean Theorem: W. Pickering, 1847

Pattern

1. RELATIONAL DIAGRAMS Represent relational connections in time-space scenarios.

They INFORM.

2. ANALYTICAL DIAGRAMS Illustrate existing entities, spaces or systems.

They REVEAL.

3. INSTRUCTIONAL DIAGRAMS Instrumental in the production of new objects and situations.

They INSTRUCT.

1. RELATIONAL DIAGRAMS Represent relational connections in time-space scenarios.

They INFORM.

Napoleonic military march from Paris to Moscow and return with geographical, time and climatic information

Diller Scofidio Renfro – Disorder in a Dining Table

Edward Tufte

Bernard Tschumi – The Manhattan Transcripts

2. ANALYTICAL DIAGRAMS Illustrate existing entities, spaces or systems.

They REVEAL.

Social organization of Aboriginal camp

Le Corbusier: Villa Savoye, Poissy, France, 1928-29 Diagrams by Francis Ching

3. INSTRUCTIONAL DIAGRAMS Instrumental in the production of new objects and situations.

They INSTRUCT.

How To - Book binding

Francis Ching, Instructional diagram for a paper airplane Proper folds for an American and Danish flag

“a diagram is a representation in reverse… in the end,

the object is always a representation, not of itself but of

the diagrams, the outlines, the motives, the ideas—the

ideas of certain arrangements and relations.”

-Mark Rakatansky, ANY 23: Diagram Work

In The Fold, 2007 Design for an open-ended play piece Designers: John Comazzi, Assistant Professor of Architecture Adam Jarvi, Graduate Research Assistant

• pliable, playable terrains

• supports active learning for children ages 3-5

• open to interpretation through imagination and manipulation.

• 3 designs (“MEW”, “Zig-Zag” and “Spiral”) each of which allows for multiple arrangements and configurations

• encourages active participation in the transformation of one’s surroundings.

• developing language skills • prepositions (under, over, through, between, in, above, etc.) • verbs (bend, roll, twist, lift, pull, fold, crimp, tuck, etc.)

In The Fold: process photos

The Saarinen Legacy: Photographs by Balthazar Korab Curators: John Comazzi, Balthazar Korab and Christian Korab Designers and fabricators: John Comazzi and Adam Jarvi Minneapolis Central Public Library October 6th through November 29th

MVRDV, Double House, Utrecht 1995-1997

MVRDV, Double House, 1995-1997

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MVRDV, Double House, 1995-1997

MVRDV, Double House, 1995-1997

MVRDV, Double House, 1995-1997

OMA: Netherlands Embassy, Berlin, Germany, 2003