Screening + discussion: “My Architect: A Son’s Journey,” 2003, Dir. Nathaniel Kahn

http://www.myarchitectfilm.com

Questions and Notes for Discussion

Take note of Kahn’s drawings – some of them are very rough, and not all that “draughtsman-like” yet they capture the basic structure of buildings, light and space.

Motif - (pronounced mo-teef) - A French term which refers to: the subject matter or content of a work of art (e.g., a landscape motif); also refers to a visual element used in a work of art, as in a recurring motif (i.e., Warhol used the motif of soup cans in his early works; or Mondrian used rectangles as a visual motif). Much of Kahn’s architecture uses recurring motifs of simple geometric shapes: circles, squares, and triangles. Why do you think this is?

Kahn believed in “the truth of materials.” There is a passage in the film where he describes the beginnings of his working process by talking to a brick, and asking the brick what it wants to be. What do you think this means, and how does it help us understand his thought process?

Louis Kahn built very few buildings in his career, yet he was considered a great architect and a true artist. I. M. Pei, another great architect who was commercial success, felt that he was not an artistic success. What is artistic success, and are these 2 kinds of success incompatible?

Artists are often stereotyped as temperamental, difficult to work with, and (if they are male) womanizers. This seems to have been the case with Kahn, as well as artists like Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and even Michelangelo. Does an artist’s social behavior affect the way you view their work? Is biography important?

Guerilla Art/Design Projects

Mobility Mapping
Tripwire
Adart
Shiv Card
The Surveillance Camera Players
Guerilla Programming of Video Surveillance Equipment Manifesto
New York Civil Liberties Union

Schedule for Final Projects

Tues. July 31
-*Present Research for Final Project*
-brainstorming / problem solving exercises
-in-class work time
-individual meetings with teams to review progress

Thurs. Aug. 2
-*Present Visuals for Final Project*
-review team blogs
-in-class work time
-individual meetings with teams to review progress

Tues. Aug. 7
-*Final Presentations, with guest critic Ed Bringas*
-final preparations for public presentation

Thurs. Aug. 9
-Final Presentations for SOPIS community, Wollman Hall

Problem Solving Exercises

Problem Solving Activity 1 – Night and Day

Busy people need routines and shortcuts to make it through the day. If we had to consciously think about the steps involved in making a cup of tea, we’d have exhausting our thinking energy before we’d even left the house in the morning. Routine thinking may save time and energy, but seriously hampers creative brainstorming, so use this exercise to challenge traditional thoughts and encourage creativity.

Get your team to list the first opposite meaning of the words listed below that springs to mind e.g. day, stupid. This will flush out the obvious, routine words. Challenge your team to come up with at least 3 further opposite words for each word.

Example:
Night = day,sun,white,awake, …
Smart = stupid, scruffy, shabby, in-elegant, clumsy, gawky

1. Good

2. Dangerous

3. Clear

4. Feasible

5. Design

6. Bad

7. Safe


You’ll find some similar meaning words creep into your list – that’s fine as these can spark further opposite meaning words. Remember ideas breed ideas and to keep critical, analytical thinking in check. Limit the time spent on this activity to 10-15 minutes, to keep it fresh and focused.


Problem Solving Activity 2 – What Can You See?

Sometimes you’re so close to a problem you can’t see how it will ever be solved. This situation is so common, it even has it’s own cliché – “you can’t see the wood for the trees”. Here’s a brainstorming game to help you see things differently, and aid the problem solving process.



Each team member should individually write down what they can see.

1. Shape 1:

2. Shape 2:

3. Shape 3:

Compare your answers. You may find descriptions such as; three colored shapes, or a green circle with a diagonal line, a red hexagon and a yellow thought bubble etc. Some may have made a small creative leap and seen the top left figure as a green “forbidden” road sign. Others may have taken bigger creative leaps and see a winking, bearded face or an imminent solar eclipse on a cloudy day. It doesn’t matter if you can or can’t see these more outlandish images – there’s no right or wrong answer.

Looking at things in a fresh, new way can trigger a whole train-load of thoughts, and that’s the essence of effective brainstorming.


Problem Solving Activity 3 – Improvisation

“Normal” behavior is encouraged at school and work, as this is the easiest, most efficient way to get things done. As a result, our creative self often is hidden away, getting flabby from under-use. Then along comes a teacher or manager demanding we do some brainstorming to come up with an innovative solution. Like un-used muscles, creativity improves with exercise, so here’s a brainstorming exercise to warm-up those under-used creative muscles.

Come up with different uses for the household props in the middle of the room, e.g. the belt could become a Japanese warrior’s head-band.
Give this exercise a time limit of 10-15 minutes and encourage all team members to take part.

1. belt

2. eye cover

3. barettes

4. paper clips

5. post-it notes

6. T-pins


Problem Solving Activity 4 – Taking a Fresh Look at the Final Proposal

Now, take your existing design proposal and see how you could use it or look at it in a different way. The wackier the better at this stage – remember you’re aiming for quantity not quality – and take note of the ideas generated. It’s only later that we put our critical hats back on, and rate the ideas and assess their suitability.

-activities from http://www.mftrou.com/creative-brainstorming-activities.html

Final Projects: Research + Visuals

In-class: Review sketches and team blogs with project statements. Refine statements and review plans for collecting data and visuals.

Homework: Finish collecting research and interviews for your final project. Start collecting actual photos and other visuals for your final presentation. Be prepared to present your research, interviews, and photos or sketches in class. This should include statistics, maps, etc. as well as photos of locations and sketches of your ideas.

Final Projects: Identifying the Design Problem

In-class assignment:

1. Define the problem in one sentence.

2. Explain your solution in one sentence.

3. Create a plan of action for identifying and solving the problem (or identify what work you have already done), based on the steps you have learned earlier in this course: observation, research, etc.

4. Create a plan for how you will present your solution (video, powerpoint, models, or some combination of the above).

5. Assign specific tasks to team members to complete your project.


Homework:

1. Finish writing out your project plans.

2. Type out the final text and post it to your team's blog.

3. Make 3 sketches of your design proposal (these can be very rough).

4. Do one post in your personal blog.

Homework due 7/24

1. Video Self-Portraits project (as a Quicktime file)
2. Third draft of final project statement