three excerpts

Michael mentioned in one of his comments that he is writing a piece for publication in Verb. He agreed to lend me his paper because its argument is applicable to my project.

The following excerpts are taken from Michael's submission.

"...the quote un-quote parametric work being produced today fits within an evolution of so-called postmodernism, concerning the image and referent although the parametric is the tautological modulated image of quantity; the indexical referent is itself and analogous systems. To the extent the profession has utilized parametrics today, there is very little instigating complexity other than a mind-numbing image of complexity, falling far short of its rich potential to correlate multivalent processes or typological transformations, parallel meanings, complex functional requirements, site-specific problems or collaborative networks."

"...but no matter how patterned, totalizing and parametric it is, architecture is inevitably a fragment, a disfigured orphaned object, even if it is a field or in a field. It requires differentiation for it to become Architectural, and it is the socio-political that allows it to escape the emptiness of objects. Architecture requires social engagement; it requires cultural/social relevance."

"...we're guilty as charged - formalists, specifically interested in fields of formal relationships. For us, the persistent architectural narrative of formalism has evolved so that the specificity of use is more important than the instantiation of form for its own sake. However, the instantiation of "use" should not be misconstrued as a simply pragmatic or functionalist narrative, but rather as against the simplistic and totalizing solipsistic internalization of architectural production. Use is about the performance of architecture: the double entendre of performance, both of utility and theatrical value/relevance."