Reconstructions, Remakes and Sequels: Architecture and Motion Pictures (1996)
article⁄Reconstructions, Remakes and Sequels: Architecture and Motion Pictures (1996)
abstract⁄Motion pictures can illustrate worlds that have never been. They may show fantastic depictions of the future or an interpretation of the past. In either case, they have the power to reach millions of people across cultures, generations, and educational backgrounds with visions of our environment that do not exist in our everyday world.The study of imaginary worlds in this design studio case study is limited to motion pictures that postulate unique, or new environments rather than those films that faithfully attempt to document or reconstruct reality. In this sense, the movies used for study have a lineage traceable to Georges Melies ‘who came to film from illusionism and the ‘heater,’ rather than to the reality of the Lumiere brothers who came from photography which ultimately would lead to ‘cinemaverite.‘Discussions, assignments and presentations in the studio are organized to provide students with an opportunity to gain a different awareness of architecture and use varying stimuli as source material for design. The study of architectural history, art, formal principles of design, visual perception, and media are required in order to complete the reconstructions and creations of proposed environments.All student work throughout the entire semester is created with electronic media and the computer is used as an integral component of the studio enabling analysis and study, design, model creation, and animation. The available capabilities of computer graphics in the studio enables students to explore analytic and synthetic issues of design in motion pictures in a manner not readily available when restricted to traditional media. Through the use of digital media we have an opportunity to better understand the imaginary worlds for what they communicate and the ideas they contain, and therefore create an opportunity to modify our own concept of architecture.
