Generative Excavations – Architectural Analysis as an Act of Projecting a Contemporary Gaze in a Travel Abroad Studio

School of Architecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA

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Abstract

Inspired by Freud’s reading of Rome as layered entity, we developed an analytical and experimental pedagogy for a travel abroad studio that excavates stories embedded within buildings and projects them as a contemporary reading. Each student team was given a square fragment of the Nolli Map of Rome with an embedded architectural “gem”. Through deep observation, dissection and analysis in multiple scales, the students proposed a thesis revealing the logic embedded in the artifact and its zeitgeist; uncovering the spirit of the time it was written through the spirit of our time, when it is read. We used devices of our time - scripting, environmental analysis, 3D computer modelling and 3D printing to make the ephemeral physical and precisely project our poetic imagination. The ambition of this project is to turn the reading of an architectural gem into writing, taking the analysis to its next generative step. This pedagogy focuses on articulating intangible aspects of architecture physically, using the act of architectural reading as a key to unlock a new beginning.