1.0 Requirements

In this course we will work exclusively in 3D Studio Max and Adobe Premiere. Additional software used will be AfterEffects, Combustion, FormZ, AutCAD, Encore, Flash, and Director. Welcomed, but not required, are some computer modeling skills, love for films, willingness to commit long hours for animation, video compositing and editing.

2.0 Agenda:

'Real without being actual, ideal without being abstract.'

Such a formulation of the virtual that Deleuze gives us in Bergsonism, forms an understanding of the virtual insistent upon its operative nature; moreover, the operative nature of something that is not, most likely, tangible (Edward Keller, Instrumentality, Time & Memory in the Virtual, 1995).

The virtual is of greater importance to architects who concern themselves with the factual realities of practicing building than they tend to assume. Besides lacking molecular structure, the virtual realm has much in common with "reality"; in fact, the virtual is a component of the physical world of speed and time.

Our bias is that the perception of movement and duration are special effects performing at the limit of our retinal capacity.

For instance, the perception of movement identifiable on the silver screen is nothing but a forced sequencing of still images. Movement, speed and duration become virtual constructions of both the mind (the mental real) and the machinic body of the moving image (the virtual physical) - the varying speed and slowness present around the cinematic threshold* (the slow-mo, the close-up, and so on) extend the retinal limit in a way that would be previously outside of thought.

Understanding and utilizing the virtual medium of both representation and perception is of critical benefit to the architect who aspires to embody the inert material of buildings with techniques manipulating space and narrative.

3.0 Coursework:

We will work entirely in the realm of the virtual. We will learn and utilize advanced 3d modeling, animation and video editing techniques to represent the before mentioned "operative nature" of the virtual, i.e. constructing the function of time, duration and speed in the absence of actors.

The course work will be carried out in three stages:

1. Research - Although we will immerse ourselves in critical issues of Architecture, narrative and the moving image, our class will operate like a studio. A quick but thorough design project will be given to create the place of action based on a dramaturgical text. The assigned narrative will provide an instruction set to inform the design. Deliberate and timely attention will be given on the research of the sets and architectures of a selection of films. Films watched and analyzed may include Zabriskie Point, Rear Window, Psycho, X-Men, Alien 3, Coffee and Cigarettes, L'Avventura, Blade Runner, Contempt, and others.
2. Build/Model - At a second stage, the students will "build" their design sets in model form. Computer 3d models and hybrid physical models will be our working objective. Comprehensive modelling skills would be an asset, but ample time will be spent for the acquisition and perfection of such skills through individual projects of graduated complexity. This mode of work will be heavily supported by regularly scheduled software tutorials (of both the basics and hands-on shortcuts and "cheats").
3. Animate/Film - Lastly, we will film the architecture of our models. We will rely heavily on the use of animation software (3DStudio MAX, FormZ, AutoCAD), digital A/V recording equipment (video or still cameras) and video-editing and compositing techniques (Adobe Premiere, AfterEffects). These films will be our architectural moving bodies, projected out into the world, for others to live and inhabit. A culminating screening event will show the films free and open to the public.