Drawing the Map: Siting Architecture

Architects increasingly favour mapping as a means of documentation. Through maps, they question and define the boundaries of their architectural intervention, the premise being that if they can adequately delaminate and map the site's found conditions, they may achieve a more complex understand...

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Main Authors: Anne Bordeleau, Liana Bresler
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TU Delft OPEN Publishing 2010-06-01
Series:Footprint
Online Access:https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/725
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author Anne Bordeleau
Liana Bresler
author_facet Anne Bordeleau
Liana Bresler
author_sort Anne Bordeleau
collection DOAJ
description Architects increasingly favour mapping as a means of documentation. Through maps, they question and define the boundaries of their architectural intervention, the premise being that if they can adequately delaminate and map the site's found conditions, they may achieve a more complex understanding of the said site. If maps can successfully represent sets of complex interactions in an effective manner, they also have an objectifying tendency and are often criticized for being tools of domination as well for their propensity to stabilize space-time. Further, architectural mapping is often associated with the possibility to index the 'designer's syntactical code', a possibility coupled with the idea that 'none of the notations take precedence over any other', so as to encourage 'more plural, open-ended "performances" of the project-in-time'. These positions involve if not a pure scientific objectivity, at least the assumption that one may somehow sidestep the projection of the author's intentionality. Bringing these issues to light, the paper explores whether mapping could address temporality with an assumed depth that would re-responsibilize the architect mapmaker while still remaining open to the users' multiple readings in time. Our contention is that rather than relying on rules, syntax and sequences of transformations, architects may approach mapping as a creative act that is open to different temporalities, involving both a willingness to listen and a readiness to act, allowing stories to emerge all the while stepping up as the narrator. Focusing on the phenomenological dimension of drawing and the epistemological bearings of mapping, the paper reveals some of the ways in which architects can question the relation between architecture and time through their graphic representation.
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spelling doaj-art-6e6decf5a8394b9aa286e016a2c24f6c2025-02-03T01:05:03ZengTU Delft OPEN PublishingFootprint1875-15041875-14902010-06-014210.7480/footprint.4.2.725751Drawing the Map: Siting ArchitectureAnne BordeleauLiana BreslerArchitects increasingly favour mapping as a means of documentation. Through maps, they question and define the boundaries of their architectural intervention, the premise being that if they can adequately delaminate and map the site's found conditions, they may achieve a more complex understanding of the said site. If maps can successfully represent sets of complex interactions in an effective manner, they also have an objectifying tendency and are often criticized for being tools of domination as well for their propensity to stabilize space-time. Further, architectural mapping is often associated with the possibility to index the 'designer's syntactical code', a possibility coupled with the idea that 'none of the notations take precedence over any other', so as to encourage 'more plural, open-ended "performances" of the project-in-time'. These positions involve if not a pure scientific objectivity, at least the assumption that one may somehow sidestep the projection of the author's intentionality. Bringing these issues to light, the paper explores whether mapping could address temporality with an assumed depth that would re-responsibilize the architect mapmaker while still remaining open to the users' multiple readings in time. Our contention is that rather than relying on rules, syntax and sequences of transformations, architects may approach mapping as a creative act that is open to different temporalities, involving both a willingness to listen and a readiness to act, allowing stories to emerge all the while stepping up as the narrator. Focusing on the phenomenological dimension of drawing and the epistemological bearings of mapping, the paper reveals some of the ways in which architects can question the relation between architecture and time through their graphic representation.https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/725
spellingShingle Anne Bordeleau
Liana Bresler
Drawing the Map: Siting Architecture
Footprint
title Drawing the Map: Siting Architecture
title_full Drawing the Map: Siting Architecture
title_fullStr Drawing the Map: Siting Architecture
title_full_unstemmed Drawing the Map: Siting Architecture
title_short Drawing the Map: Siting Architecture
title_sort drawing the map siting architecture
url https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/725
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