Monday, November 2, 2015

Texas A&M Architecture Lecture Series: Todd Gannon

Background takeaway, studied in Ohio, currently works in LA, California. He writes articles. (x5minutes)

Tabloid Transparency
Or, Looking through Legibility, Abstraction, and the Discipline of Architecture

^Essay title

Disclaimer* 
If you disagree with anything, that was the stuff Andrew did. and if you ask Andrew, it was the stuff Todd did.

Architecture can only be political, that is, contribute to the production of another world, bu being relentlessly attentive to its own discipline. -R.E. Somol

Autonomy crowd v Engagement crowds of architecture

Discourse Communities-
Learning how to speak in a particular way, you identify with a community 
-Wine enthusiasts to describe subtle variations of wine
-Architects

Colin Rowe -"Transparency" Begins with the definition

Making a judgement on transparency-
Walter Gropius-literal transparency
Le Corbusier-phenomenal transparency
Making a judgement on which 
(this is how discourse communities begin, according to Todd)

Profession, Discipline, and Field
Profession concerns itself with the advancement of the field as a reliable, affordable, and sustainable commodity, the discipline with its advancement as an art form.

Clients v Users
even more broader constituencies 

Legibility and Abstraction
The people's building by (some architect I didn't catch the name of) (but I have watched a Ted talk on these architects, and their work is inspiring)
Expressionist abstraction like Zaha Hadid

Windows on windows in Chicago
pushing an idea of legibility

Radical Post-Modernism- ..cues, cones, spheres, cylinders, and pyramids -Le Corb

According to FAT described by Todd, Abstraction is another form of legibility- deluding the fight to nothing at all. Dwindling the argument in the field between sustainabile's and the maya's down to meaning.

If legibility can not be avoided, then embrace it.

Light Construction-show? 

Sensation- impact of architecture on the body

According to Bacon,
Abstraction>Figureation>"The Figure"

Metaphors are vulnerable to falsification.
Representational of paintings v sexy pictures of fish net stockings.

Tabloid Transparency
Probably Jeff's term.
Comes from tabloids.
Deeply stupid.

"Where Deleuze aimed to bypass both abstraction and diguration via the Figure" -Todd's essay

Picture of Simpson's represented as legos

His idea is to have meaning at first and then "overcome the meaning" by making it dumb. 

Binocular entrance to a building, is "dumb". 

--End of lecture take away, a lot of pretty pictures, a lot architectural theoretical jargon, and I am definitely leaving the lecture more confused on what architecture is. 

Hope you didn't read the hole thing. 


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