springing
March 19, 2009
Photos / audio added to the archive with anticipation of spring /new discussions on all aspects of architecture.
After a cold winter, PIFAS is again warm enough to kindle our discussions. If you have a topic or event you’d like to propose please get in touch.
WEEKLY
December 11, 2008
I. tonite is the aerospace talk. hope you all can make it.
II. LIST:: As some of you are not on the PIFAS listserv, & therefore have no way to know about future events, I will now be starting a separate list. Emails through PIFAS will still be sent out for the events held there, but there is also the chance for things in the future outside of PIFAS, such as the field-trip to local architectural wonders with James or workshops on location which may not make it to that list. please send an email to architecturewithoutarchitects@gmail.com with the subject LIST. notice will only be sent out for events- we got nothing to sell but ideas which are always free here.
III. as always, please contact with proposals or ideas for talks.
IV. we were written about on the artblog.
V.
AEROSPACE
December 3, 2008
Please come to this Thursday’s talk on nature (December 4th) as the important questions of today’s human will be answered completely. The following weeks lecture on Aerospace is also not to be missed as it will be the only lecture given inside of a balloon…
From blow-up space stations to radical politics, inflatable habitats
and vehicles on land, sea, and air are part of the dream and promise
of the Space Age. In this talk Mathew Lippincott will sketch the
recent past and exciting present of do-it-yourself inflatable
technology. Experience temporary structures, low-cost flight,
inexpensive construction techniques, and the advances in common
materials that are opening aerospace up to artists.
dec 11th. 8pm. PIFAS
nature/natural/architectur/(al)
November 8, 2008
With pre-GRE period, graduation horizons, looming move/loss of home and enthusiastic yet procrastination-riddled speakers:: lectures may have some think-time between them. Please contact me if you would like to schedule your talks, people. As for now, I am posting the next confirmed event:
Thomas Storck will discuss the lexical and common modern uses of nature and natural, exploring how the philosophy and forms of architecture, primarily landscape architecture, places humans and human products within or beyond these.
Stephanie Chiorean, Philadelphia Watershed Planner and Philadelphia Orchards Project board-member, will further explore the subject beginning with:
Does “nature” still exist?
Are humans “natural” and therefore, is all we create nature?
Open discussion will follow….
How does architecture address this issue? Technology? Emulation? Instinctively?
December 4th. 8pm. PIFAS. 1712 N 2nd St. Philadelphia, PA.
algorithmic architecture
October 23, 2008
Thursday. 10/30. 8pm. PIFAS
For the second installment Melissa Frost will be delivering a short introduction philosophically questioning computer as creator followed by Kristen Smith (of PennDesign) presenting her well informed take on algorithmic design:
“More commonly associated with problem solving strategies in mathematics and computing, algorithms have now taken on a central role in contemporary design theory and material fabrication. This new strategy for design follows in the tradition of process and rule based artisans like Jackson Pollack and Sol Lewitt that engage in a system whereby the executor follows the instructions while the outcome is not foreseen. By rejecting traditional canons and compositional methods, algorithms along with advanced computation allow for a rigorous method of achieving complexity, intricacy and formal variation. This talk will focus on the transformational role that algorithms play on the historical, philosophical and aesthetic implications to the discipline of architecture.“
Skateboarding, Action, and Architecture.
October 18, 2008
Brandon Joyce of PIFAS shares his inexpert opinions on how it is action that anoints architecture with meaning. Calling on street-skating as a high model, he’ll speak about how use, misuse, and transformation can override— or even negate— intent and expression in architectural design.
Followed by q&a/discussion. skate vids.
October 23rd. 8pm @ PIFAS. 1712 N 2nd St. Philadelphia, PA.
precursory
October 12, 2008
architecture with/out architects will be an on going series of educational and exploratory dialogs as a query into the concepts of space beyond the customs and cliques of architecture.
that is to say, this is for you, whoever you are.
As an attempt to seek architectural thought in its full scope, topics traverse urbanism, sociology, subculture, financial astrology, psychology, psychogeography, revolutionary politics, computer programming, history, philosophy, ….
currently proposed subjects: algorithmic architecture, skateboarding as architectural experience, heidegger and space…
The format is immediate and necessary. Participatory and communal. Thought provoking for the dead inside and direct for the A.D.D. riddled modern.
This is an open call for topic propositions. What do you know about? What would you like to learn about?
A calendar will be maintained here, continuously updated, and summarizing past events.
Meetings will be informative introductions of subject, followed by discussion, remaining always open to impromptu speakers, field trips, proposals, projects.
The Department of Architectural Studies at the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Studies will host these events regularly through Decemeber.
