UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURES et h M c D o w e l l

University of Virginia | Department of Architecture

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Publisher

Editors

Research Director

Credits

Paper Matters Press | Department of Architecture, University of Virginia

Iñaki Alday, Ryan Carbone

Seth McDowell

Copyright Texts | By authorCopyright Drawings | By authorCopyright Model Photos | Scott Smith / By authorCopyright Edition | Department of Architecture, University of Virginia

Graphic Design | Ryan CarboneLayout | Ryan Carbone, Luke EscobarProduction | Ryan Carbone

Printing | Department of Architecture, University of VirginiaISBN: 978-0-9892273-9-1First Edition | March 2016

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Architecture, as part of a research institution is a pedagogical program based in social responsibility, critical thinking and innovation. And as a design discipline, architectural innovation is achieved through design research in different ways. We “search” for information, and we “research” creating knowledge, most often on new scenarios through design speculation seriously informed. Rigorous collection of data, spatialized through mapping and diagraming, create the basis for design research. The critical step forward, assuming the risks of proposing future scenarios, is the unavoidable outcome of the creative work of the research teams.

The Research Studio system is the pedagogical innovation that merges instruction with faculty and students research. Two studios in the undergraduate program (3010 and 4010) and another two in the graduate program (7010 and 8010) are focused on profound architectural research aligned with research interests and expertise of the faculty members. The instructors commit for three to five years to sustain a research line, offering a series of Research Studios that take on a variety of relevant contemporary topics in a consistent multi-year research agenda. Students define their personal path through the program, selecting the research studios offered by Architecture faculty (and Landscape Architecture for the graduates), in their own preferred sequence for the fall of the last two years (3010 and 4010 or 7010 and 8010).

The diversity of topics reflects the intellectual diversity of the Department of Architecture of the University of Virginia. Research projects take on urgent international crises such as the changing condition of the Arctic, neglected cultural landscapes in depressed regions, or one of the most pressing urban ecologies challenge in the world (Delhi and its sacred and poisonous Yamuna River). Others work within local conditions, disciplinary inquiries or philosophical and spatial investigations.

Started in 2012-13, these first four years have been especially instrumental for the development of the youngest faculty, raising $529,000 in grants, five awards and two international symposiums. One of the research projects has become the first all-university grand challenge project. The Research Studio system of UVa has proven itself to be invaluable in defining what “design research” means, its potential to reach broader audiences and impact critical contemporary situations, and to redefine the research culture in the design schools.

Charlottesville, Virginia | March 2016

IñAkI ALDAyQUEsADA PRoFEssoR AND CHAIR, DEPARTmENT oF ARCHITECTURE

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P R E FAC E

Seth McDowell examines the fantastical absurdity existing in architectural

pursuits. Inspired by the experimental literary movement of ‘pataphysics, his work

challenges mechanisms of utility. McDowell is published and recognized for his

‘pataphysical projects within the areas of urban infrastructures, material waste,

and Building Information Modeling (BIM). McDowell is co-founding partner with

Rychiee Espinosa of the award winning practice of mcdowellespinosa—based

in Brooklyn, New York and Scottsville, Virginia. mcdowellespinosa has been

recognized internationally by the Architectural League of New York, the Institute

for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, Museum of Modern Art in NYC, Pamphlet

Architecture, the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, and the San Francisco Bay

Conservation and Development Commission.

McDowell’s design projects imagine alternate futures, rooted in chimerical

science. This work is positioned to disrupt the logics of science, technology,

optimization and aesthetics.

sETH mCDowELLAssIsTANT PRoFEssoRDEPARTmENT oF ARCHITECTURE

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Le’Bryant BeLLaidan GarrityKarim HaBBaBJosHua HadLey-GoGGinscott LevineBess LovernmarGaret nerstenLuis Perezmatson roBertsWiLLiam ruGGianoJaKe sPector

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R E S E A R C H T E A M

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This studio examines the relationship between radical speculations for architecture and the experimental literary movement known as pataphysics, an absurb, pseudo-science originating from the late 19th century writings of playwright, poet and prankster Alfred Jarry. Today, in a moment when architecture is chasing rapid developments in science and technology, this studio deploys pataphysics to challenge the field’s overzealous reliance on computation and optimization for rationalist agendas. It asks, how can the architect operate as a pataphysician and disrupt the “truths” of “reality” with alternate futures, rooted in chimerical science and ludic theories?

An unfindable architecture is the exception, the special occurrence, the outlier. This studio will develop a critical manifesto that positions pataphysics, the science of the particular, as a methodology for architectural production while exhibiting architecture as a strange concoction of particular, seemingly irrelevant concerns that accidentally stumble upon undiscovered territories..At the core of an unfindable architecture is the condition of the swerve, the unexplainable change in momentum that enables the exception. “Exceptions can resort to an assortment of modalities: variance (anomalos), alliance (syzygia), deviance (clinamen),” or dysfunction (the détournement). The anomaly finds a way to differ from every other thing in a system that values the norm of equivalence. The syzygy finds a way to equate things to each other in a system that values the norm of difference. The clinamen finds a way to detour around things in a system that values the fate of contrivance. Then, there is the détournement, which hi-jacks the normal, altering or recontextualizing it in order to oppose the original intention.

This research studio is formatted to build a manifesto for an unfindable architecture. Students are encouraged to think of their work as a declaration. They are producing a document that will declare a specific, radical position for architecture. Facilitating this, deliverables are structured within the format of a graphic novel. Emphasis is placed on developing a visual language that conveys the ideas and qualities of the vision.

R E S E A R C H D R I V E RS

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THE ANOMALY

THE SYZYGY

THE DÉTOURNEMENT

THE CLINAMEN

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RULES

TOOL | MATERIAL DIAGRAM

THE ANOMALY finds a way to differ from every other thing in a system that values the norm of equivalence. For the first ‘pataconstruct we will combine the concept of the anomaly with the notion of structure. What is a structural anomaly?

Examine Jacques Carelman’s CATALOGUE OF UNFINDABLE OBJECTS.Choose 3-5 objects that you can define as an anomaly.Reinterpret these objects as a structural condition for architecture.Develop a narrative for each study.

Build this reinterpretation of an exception.Limit yourself to 1 or 2 materials.Develop a rule-set for yourself that drives the definition of the anomaly.

THE ANOMALY

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DRIVER 1 | ThE AnomAly

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D R I V E R 1 | T H E A N O M A LY

9Spector, J | UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURE

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D R I V E R 1 | T H E A N O M A LY

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GAME | FUSION OF THE PLUS AND MINUS (+/-)

RULES

THE SYZYGY finds a way to equate things to each other in a system that values the norm of difference. For this second ‘pataconstruct we shall explore the exceptions produced by a binary relationship between two extremes. You will design as a mad scientist that discovers impossible formations derived from a careful combination of opposites.

Fuse, or introduce two material opposites.The materials should cause a reaction to each other and produce a new formation.(wax + water | paper + water | heat + ice)Design the situation that calibrates the interaction between these two extremes.Do not dictate form, dictate the action that produces the form.

THE SYZYGY

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Garrity, A + Lovern, B | UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURE 15

DRIVER 2 | ThE syzygy

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Habbab, K | UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURE 17

D R I V E R 2 | T H E S YZYG Y

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Bell, L | UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURE 19

D R I V E R 2 | T H E S YZYG Y

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Habbab, K | UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURE 21

D R I V E R 2 | T H E S YZYG Y

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A ‘PATACONSTRUCT OF THE DÉTOURNEMENT

GAME | RE-CONTEXTUALIZING THE MANIFESTO

THE DÉTOURNEMENT hi-jacks the normal, altering or re-contextualizing it in order to oppose the original intention.

“Any elements, no matter where they are taken from, can be used to make new combinations. The discoveries of modern poetry regarding the analogical structure of images demonstrate that when two objects are brought together, no matter how far apart their original contexts may be, a relationship is always formed.”

- Guy Debord, Gil J Wolman from “A User’s Guide to Détournement”, 1956

Select a pataconstruct and recontextualize the key concepts of a selected manifesto project. Further develop the physical construct to now reflect the ideas of the manifesto, then produce 1 hybrid drawing/image that tells the narrative of the detoured project. This image/drawing should pay homage to the original project.

THE DÉTOURNEMENT

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MANIFESTOES PROJECTSEl Lissitzky, Horizontal SkyscraperArchigram, Walking City, Plug-in CitySuperstudio, The Continuous MonumentArchizoom, No Stop CityConstant, New BabylonKuyonori Kikutake, Marine CityArata Isozaki, City in the AirKisho Kurokawa, Helicoids ProjectCedric Price, Fun PalaceYona Friedman, Spatial Paris

Paul Scheerbart, “Glass Architecture”, 1914Antonio Sant’ Elia / Filippo Tommaso, “Futurist Architecture”, 1914Le Corbusier, “Towards a New Architecture: Guiding Principles”, 1920Mies van der Rohe, “Industrialized Building”, 1924Walter Gropius / Martin Wagner, “A Programme for City Reconstruction”, 1943

Konrad Wachsmann, “Seven Theses”, 1957GEAM, “Programme for a Mobile Architecture”, 1960Werner Ruhnau / Yves Klein, “Project for an aerial architecture”, 1960Constant, “New Babylon”, 1960Yona Friedman, “The Ten Principles of Space Town Planning”, 1962

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DRIVER 3 | ThE DÉTouRnEmEnT

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THE CLINAMEN finds a way to detour around things in a system that values the fate of contrivance....“all scientific radicalism begins with ‘ap epoche, a placing of reality between parentheses’ so that science might systematically explore an otherwise impossible hypothesis: ‘it is in this area of dialectical surrationalism that the scientific mind dreams.’ Every question about what if leads to a science of as if.”

- Christian Bök, from “Pataphysics: The Poetics of an Imaginary Science”

We will now enter a phase of pataphysics that explores the idea of the clinamen. Clinamen is a term originating from the atomistic doctrine of Epicurus and refers to the unpredictable swerve of atoms. The term has come to “imply that one is inclined or biased towards introducing a plausible but unprovable clinamen when a specific mechanism cannot be found to refute a credible argument against one’s hypothesis or theory”. Epicurus had no evidence or cause for the swerve, it was purely an imaginary solution. The clinamen is an important tool for an unfindable architecture and can be a method for hypothesizing the future of cities, technologies and architecture.

THE CLINAMEN

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DRIVER 4 | ThE ClInAmEn

SETTING | THE LOST TOWNS OF VIRGINIAEach studio participant has choosen a “lost town” of Virginia as the setting for thier imaginary future. Two towns have been identified. The small town is a critical icon for American culture. It has been parodied by television shows like “The Andy Griffith Show” or the more recent “Parks and Recreation”. It has been scrutinized in by literary greats Henry David Thoreau, William Faulkner, Mark Twain and Harper Lee. It has been an incubator for the avant-garde: Donald Judd escaped to Marfa, Texas. John Cage, Buckminster Fuller and others escaped to Black Mountain, North Carolina. Now, this studio will escape to the forgotten speculations of

Mineral City, VaBasic City, Va

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Visit your selected lost town. Does it still exist and to what capacity? Capture the setting using descriptive writing and illustrations. This chapter should reveal the condition of the town today, but also contain a flashback to the town that once was. Does the story begin with a dystopian undertone?

CHAPTER 1 | STORY OF A GHOST

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Garrity, A | UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURE

UNSTABLE GROUND

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D R I V E R 4 | T H E C L I N A M E N

Fast forward to 2050. Describe the existence of a new town/city/ architecture that has emerged due to a radical, new technological or scientific development. This involves identifying the new development and describing how it has informed a new spatial construct. This narrative should provide a way to translate your pataconstruct to the context. You are writing the future for architecture with an absurd logic.The imaginary solution should be formulated as a clinamen, where no mechanism can be found to refute the fantasy.

CHAPTER 2 | AN IMAGINARY SOLUTION

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Bell, L | UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURE

OF THE AIR

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D R I V E R 4 | T H E C L I N A M E N

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D R I V E R 4 | T H E C L I N A M E N

Levine, S | UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURE

PARALLEL WORLDS

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Lovern, B | UNFINDABLE ARCHITECTURE 37

D R I V E R 4 | T H E C L I N A M E N

University of Virginia | Department of Architecture

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