Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Tiffany Lin
The computer has become a dominant mode of inquiry in contemporary architectural education. This encourages students to imagine complex forms without having to consider material resistance or issues of gravity at the onset of a design project. The following case-studies present examples of design/build efforts that were guided by a craftsman when design proposals met actual problems of construction. The craft of making has a long history that has evolved almost entirely without influences of the digital realm. Fundamental lessons of geometry, leveling and plumb-ing at full scale are essential in the education of a designer, especially when the computer enables lines and planes to be effortlessly snapped into place on the screen. Far too often, students default to the use of oversized templates plotted from the computer as a means of translating imagined geometry to full-scale construction. In the mind of an unwitting designer whose primary facility is digital, the hurdle between representation and reality is simply resolved by printing shapes at a larger scale. The dialogue between artisan and object is lost in these cases, along with important lessons of tactility, material negotiation and gravity. Design/build exercises provide students with necessary exposure to the satisfaction of solving real-world problems in the course of becoming well-rounded Architects. The following examples will describe specific solutions to obstacles of construction when computer-generated templates were not a viable solution.
Volume Editors
Sergio Palleroni, Ted Cavanagh & Ursula Hartig
ISBN
978-0-935502-94-7
