Performative Architecture: Outcome of Assumptions

In the book American Building 2, James Marston Fitch recognizes architecture as an instrument capable of modulating energy flows responsible for the meso-environment atmosphere and subsequently requested the discipline of architecture judge buildings through their performance. These assertions published by Fitch in 1947 were not aimed at climate change or energy demands, but instead were concentrated on architectural accountability. The core lecture course Environment | Building | Systems [EBS] acknowledges Fitch’s request and posits the methods and techniques used to shape interior environmental conditions cannot be conceived in isolation, but, instead as a collective of interconnected decisions– a system thinking approach. Through a union of lectures, workshops, hands-on exercises and physical testing, the EBS course introduces students to the looming energy and environmental issues facing the discipline of architecture. Course content is delivered explicitly through the lens of energy, reframing investigations in architectural precedents, proposals and analysis not led by formal interests but through performative measures. Operating as a supporting course to the technical and integrated studios, design ideas are tested, interrogated, and analyzed as students are exposed to the successes and failures of their architectural strategies. The paper Performative Architecture: Outcome of Assumptions, will focus on the evolving curriculum within the EBS course; specifically two exercises employing physical testing and environmental metering– a Climate Walk and a Foam-Box-Model– linking atmospheric conditions with design decisions through quantifiable data of thermal modulation. Through a series of systematic iterations investigating color, shading elements, thermal mass and phase change materials students learn how to manipulate the temperature profile of the meso-environment through form and material. The physical testing provides quantifiable empirical data to otherwise assumed outcomes of design decisions. The primary course objective is to provide emerging students methods and techniques to address the imminent pressures of climate change through performative architecture.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.Teach.2021.16

Volume Editors
Jonathan A. Scelsa & Jørgen Johan Tandberg

ISBN
978-1-944214-38-8