Victorian era Wunderkammer

ARC465H1 S3 LEC 0103
Instructor: Jay Pooley

The things we make, make us.
Our world is shaped by the objects around us and in turn, those artifacts help to shape who we become as designers. The selection of materials, the limits, the shaping, marking and connection of resources are significant steps in the creative process. The idea that making something is a direct expression of a developed design language – that making is designing – has not been forgotten. The net result of designing is in fact, building.

This course will interrogate building as a driver in the language of design. By utilizing the construction of artifacts as a method of discovery, students will begin to map out the memory of a life through the construction of a cabinet of curiosities. Derived from an encyclopedic collection of objects, the final assembly will document the exploration of memory through the exercise of making. Students will develop hands-on skillsets in construction across a number of materials and methods of fabrication.

Not limited to either analogue or digital building (hand tools or robots), students are encouraged to experiment with a variety of methods and material. Readings will cover a pathway of architectural and cultural approaches to selections from the history of work, fabrication, construction and craft as they relate to allies in the fine arts, philosophy, theatre and film.