THE ECSTACY OF PIRANESI:

DRAWING AS THESIS

THE LIBRARY OF BABEL

New paradigms of digital representation are developing very quickly — perhaps more quickly than our minds and bodies can adapt to. It remains to be seen if new forms of second nature ideation will evolve with these tools, but it is clear that, in many ways, the idea of drawing itself is being challenged. The movement from bits to atoms would have us skip over drawing altogether — algorithms and scripts are the new notation, and 3D printing leading to self-construction might minimize or even eliminate our ability or even our desire to interact with the creative process altogether.

This studio examined drawing as an end in itself and worked to (re)establish drawing as a primary artefact in architectural discourse. The objective of the studio was to expand the collapse of the critical space wherein certain trajectories in design and production leave us with a fait-de-complet. Students explored the potential of a critical imagination that exists in the gap between iterations of representation as well as the different modes of representation that might be possible.