Architecture is intrinsically linked to objects and images. Since the earliest days of prehistoric monuments and painted caves, architecture has developed an inherently iconographic function. This function can be described as follows: Immaterial ideas about the world are physically embodied through material practices such as drawing, painting, and form-making. Or in other words, architecture is a means of expressing cultural predilections, interests, and desires. This representational quality was traditionally aided by integrating painting and sculpting directly into architecture. The confluence of these different mediums and their specific techniques and technologies was viewed as a critical component of manifesting ideas in matter. In modern times however the iconographic function of architecture shifted toward abstraction and an emphasis was placed on separating mediums dealing with image, object, and architecture rather than further integrating them. The seminar will re-examine the combinatorial alliance of image, object, and architecture in the context of contemporary cultural ideas and technologies by designing artifacts that produce novel architectural effects and iconographies.
Refer to Penn Course Search for the official roster and details of courses offered in a particular term.