Spatial Tectonics · In development
How does an abstract concept survive its transformation into physical form?
Take a concept beyond the diagram. Work with spatial tectonics, relationships, friction, form, and the space between things.
The problem
A concept can sound convincing in a presentation and then disappear as the project moves into plan, section, structure, material and detail.
Observe
Follow one idea through the decisions it appears to influence. Notice where a drawing or detail expresses the concept — and where it could have been made for an unrelated project.
Abstract
Tectonics can be read as a chain of translations: idea to geometry, geometry to structure, structure to material, and material to experience.
Proposition
A concept is generative when it keeps changing what the designer notices and what the project can become.
Explore
Choose one concept and trace it through a model, a section and a joint. At each step, ask what the idea makes possible and what it rules out.
Translate
Use the framework to test whether the project's details carry the same reasoning as its initial observation.
Status
Part of the Architecture School Bootcamp.
Spatial Tectonics is the first module of the Architecture School Bootcamp. Lessons, format and price have not been set.
Work on it now
Bring a concept that isn't surviving into form.
Mini Studio and Student Coaching work on exactly this, using your own project.