Week 3

Esquisse - the sketch

Prosthetics and the Body

Prosthetic Function

Prosthetics can be restorative (replacing lost functions), over normalizing (imposing new social or aesthetic norms) reconfiguring (changing the contextual relations) and enhancing (increasing functions or properties) aspects. 

All prostheses  do more than simply extend the body. Rather, they are introduced because the body is in some way "deficient" or "defective," in Freud's terms, or "insufficient," in Le Corbusier's terms. 

A prothesis is architectural - the supplement of a structure that can't just be removed because it reconstructs a body that is unable to stand up on its own, "propping up and extending its host" (Wigley).

Viollet-le-Duc’s Iron Structure

Viollet-le-Duc’s comparison between the human body and the cathedral was the basic foundation of his architectural conception. “of all organized beings, man is the most complete, and this relative perfection is so visible and real, that he has become master of all living beings.  He is the myth of the structure; so, if one wants to build, he must be used as model.

A living body would not survive the removal of one of its organs, but Viollet-le-duc proposed cutting off one of the cathedral’s organs (the buttresses) and replacing it with an artificial limb (thin supports of cast iron), a prosthetic 'crutch' (Bressani).

Prosthetic Fantasies

Prosthetics and War

Viollet-le-Duc describes a new type of soldier who ‘is nothing but a force transmitted to a weapon; the more that weapon will be perfected… the more man will be reduced to the state of a trigger mechanism…a technologically assisted warrior. In Viollet-le-Duc's fantasy vision, the Middle Ages set the standard for France's future.  Medieval knights -'these men covered in iron - were models for the 'hardened' soldiers of the future (Bressani).  

Paradoxically, war was the reason behind the development of prosthetics in the 19th century - to replace the limbs of soldiers lost in war.

3D Prosthetics - now and future

3D printing is being used to produce lightweight and more maneuverable prosthetics.

The US military has contracted the special effects team from Iron Man to design a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS).  Using 3D printing will give more time for iterative improvement and allow for more realistic prototyping.  it could be the first step to an entirely different way of thinking about what gear is necessary for battle (Mendoza). 

Building as Prosthetic

Modern Architecture

“…was not modern architecture simply the thought of architecture as prosthesis? Displaced from artifice into the artificial, architecture became a technological extension of the body that is neither natural nor cultural."

"The classical relationship between structure and ornament, always understood as that between a body and its clothes, has been displaced onto that between body and building. Traditional ornamentation appears to be removed from the building at the very moment when the building itself becomes a kind of ornament worn by its occupant. But this mechanized ornament is structural. Indeed, it restructures the body that wears it” (Wigley).

As stated earlier, a prothesis is architectural - the supplement of a structure that can't just be removed because it reconstructs a body that is unable to stand up on its own, "propping up and extending its host" (Wigley).

How to Wear a Building

Prosthetic Surface

While most prosthesis are devices (objects), research offers the potential of prosthetic surfaces that register change conditions and react as a dynamic system. The similarity of methods, techniques and effects in fashion and architecture surfaces is used to identify concepts for organization, structure and detailing of form modifications in a responsive, performative, interactive system. These concepts are then applied to the architectural design process (Reinhardt).

Engineering and Technology

Prosthetic arm with gears operated by muscle movement.
Robotic arm operated by hydraulic system.

Inspiring idea - When you tug on something you find it is connected to everything. (Islandwood)

Response:  An additional part of the presentation (Architecture Forms That Teach and ) is not included here because it deviated from the focus of the rest of the presentation.  What direction to go from here?  Two suggestions were made - prosthetics as enhancers (referencing the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit) and enclosure interface (referencing the prosthetic surfaces) - but neither direction feels like a good fit for me.  I will do more reading about the relationship between the body and architecture and see if anything turns up that I can get excited about.

Citations

Bressani, Martin. "Prosthetic Fantasies In The First Machine Age: Viollet-Le-Duc's Iron Architecture." AA Files 68 (2014): 43-49. Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. Web. 11 Sept. 2015.

Mendoza, Hannah R.  3D Printing to be Used to Bring Iron Man to US Military. 3D Print. 8 July 2014. Web. 11 Sept 2015.

Reinhardt, Dagmar. Prosthetic Surface - Design models for a Dynamic Architecture. Web. 11 Sept 2015.

Wigley, Mark. "Prosthetic Theory: The Disciplining Of Architecture." Assemblage 15 (1991): 6-29. Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. Web. 11 Sept. 2015.