INTERNAL CONSISTENCIES: REGARDING WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
- Publication Type:
- Article
- Issue Date:
- 2007-10-05T02:10:37Z
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Rather than seeing a distinction between theoretical discourse and the science of building Vitruvius, a
Roman architect and engineer active in the 1st century BC, argued convincingly for the breadth of
knowledge necessary to practice architecture with authority, that "knowledge is the child of practice and
theory". The crux of his argument is that a sufficient breadth of training, to appreciate both the
theoretical and practical sciences, is necessary to lend authority to creative vision.
In like spirit, a series of workshops in UCD Architecture has sought to challenge the contemporary lack
of sympathy between theoretical discourse and the science of building which disables the authority with
which both students and practitioners practice. Embedded within each workshop are variations
regarding intent, from the cultural discourse of the international collaboration of the North Atlantic Rim
project, to the theoretical concerns of the Ateliers Series and environmental bias of the Irish Timber
course, each drawing upon discourses external to architecture and leavening them against the inherent
logic of material and structural imperatives. The resulting evolution in design process, linking both
technological imperatives and conceptual intentions to the creative act, shatters the prevailing
disjunction between theoretical concerns and technological explorations in the discipline of architecture.
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