framing architectural exploration
The teaching of the architectural humanities at manchester school of architecture is characterised by a balance of traditional and innovative teaching and assessment methods developed from the research expertise of the staff. Since 2006 the medium of film has been used to broadcast undergraduate students’ experience and interpretation of the architectural and urban environment through the use of buildings as case studies.
Following seminars on the history of recent architectural debates and their representation in different media, critical responses to architecture are developed in the time and space of a 5-minute film. These student contributions are Youtube films of buildings visited on study trips principally in major European cities. The 200 plus films so far submitted in this project are discussed at seminars within the cohort. Beyond this teaching function, though, the films continue to attract international interest so far having achieved well over a quarter of a million hits. These new methods of visualizing and presenting the connections of architecture and urbanism introduce the students to the exploratory culture of the post-graduate degree, a basis which is expanded upon in future research.
The limitations of the brevity of the film format are countered by the combination of media which can be composed in the film. Avoiding the seduction of complex editing for its own sake, combinations of film and still images, computer generated models, text, narration, the architect’s testimony or that of the end user and the careful choice of music together provide an augmented architectural experience. The opportunities presented by this mediated exploration include the foregrounding of the experience of architecture over the traditional hegemony of the scholarly text, the placing of the subject building in its context and, therefore, the overcoming of the isolation of the architectural object.
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Will Alsop: Peckham Library, London
Spanish comment "Great Job!!!! Thank you for video!"
Venezuelan comment "Nice Video! Good done! I like the music, the editing. I like it ALL.(Todo esta muy bien pensado, es entretenido, los gráficos son interesantes y muy agradables) FELICITACIONES!"
Monday, 28 January 2008
Renzo Piano: Auditorium di Roma
Linked from the Italian site http://www.architettiamoci.it
Canadian comment "Wonderful video!! Very well done and a pleasure to watch!! :)"
Linked from the site http://www.skyscrapercity.com
Massimiliano Fuksas: Nuovo Polo Fiera, Milano
French comment "Good work, thank you for video!"
Linked from the Italian site http://www.artemotore.com
Linked from the Polish site http://www.bryla.pl
Italian comment "Fuksas perdente"
Italian video response showing the construction of the 'vela'
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Ingimundur Sveinsson: Perlan, Reykjavik
Polish comment "delightful place i lived 15 min. by walk from perlan at adbrekka. there is no better think like drive a bike over the bike-paths under perlan specially at the night-***** amazing trip"
Linked from the French site http://tout-sur-google-earth.com
Linked from the Dutch sitehttp://www.architectenweb.nl
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Herzog & deMeuron: Laban Dance Centre, London
British comment "Do the Dance!"
Linked from the site http://www.skyscrapercity.com
Swiss comment "Congratulations, this video is excellent! It does the project justice. This kind of presentation of architecture with motion pictures is very convincing."
British comment "Great!"
British comment "So using this video to tell me about the school I go to and where I live. XD"
Linked from the Spanish site http://www.taringa.net
Monday, 21 January 2008
Sunday, 20 January 2008
Sassenroth & Reitermann: Chapel of Reconciliation, Berlin
Linked from the site http://www.eartharchitecture.org
Saturday, 19 January 2008
Mies van der Rohe: New National Gallery, Berlin
Linked from the U.S. site http://www.greatbuildings.com
British comment "awesome man, was there last week! structurally amazing, brilliantly elegant"
British comment "yes very well done. how many of you worked on this project? The animation, cuts, music are spot on. The best I have seen by msa."
Will Alsop: Peckham Library, London
U.S. comment "O dear type my surname in here and i get some one else with my last name now dare u -.- its are family name nabs"U
British comment "fantastique"
Piano & Rogers: Centre Pompidou, Paris
Linked from the U.S. site http://www.greatbuildings.com
British comment: "Very cool video. I'm studying the Pompidou Centre for my Art History study trip next month. It looks amazing, I'm all excited now after seeing this."
Linked from the Spanish site http://www.taringa.net
Linked from the Brazilian site http://bizrevolution.typepad.com/
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Norman Foster: Sage Centre, Gateshead
Linked from the Brazilian site http://www.portaldoarquiteto.com
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Francois Schuiten: Arts et Metiers Metro, Paris
Linked from the Spanish site http://www.entrecomics.com
Enric Miralles: Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh
Linked from the Spanish site http://proyectos1.foroes.net
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Egon Eiermann: Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin
German comment "It would have been better to reconstruct the destroyed building of Franz Schwechten after World War II, and not to build such an ugly thing that does not fit into Berlin."
Monday, 14 January 2008
Santiago Calatrava: Palau de les Arts, Valencia
Mancunian comment "Where's you being hugged by the tramp?"
U.S. comment "thank you for this exquisitely mesmerizing poem to a great designer..."
Further U.S. comment "hypnotic, sliding between minor and major keys, soothing arpeggiation, and profoundly emotional... i absolutely love this video...."
Friday, 11 January 2008
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Massimiliano Fuksas: Nuovo Polo Fiera di Milano
Mancunian comment "I'm studying at the msa as well, with regards to your milan video, how did you create that one animation piece where you had a bright blue sky and the sun...
was it done in sketchup ?"
Linked from the Dutch site http://www.architectenweb.nl