Abstract

This paper aims at a topological contextualization of architectural ornament and its substrate membrane. A membrane acts as the interface to a building as a technical object (Simondon), yet ornamentation is its aesthetic (Simondon) projection. This synthetic deformation of a building’s limits punctuates a large tableau of simultaneous multiplicities including physical systems as well as the social, cultural and symbolic (Banham, Maturana and Varela, Simondon). The potential enunciation of an “ornamented” membrane and the translation of building systems into potential opportunities for public engagement will consider how passive (and active) systems can provoke action through material and immaterial phenomenological interfaces.

• Patrick Harrop (CA) is an associate professor of architecture at the University of Manitoba, CMRI research chair, as well as a Ph.D. candidate at Concordia University. His research/ creation is in the philosophy of technology and architecture, digital fabrication, responsive environments and materials.

Full text (PDF) p.  38-39