Potential Performative Effects - Rahim Reading

Reading Notes (during read through):

technique as a driver for the architectural prod uct

mutual effects of technology and culture

"transmissions across lineages is the major source for cultural change"

material attributes of an object are linear and causal

internet as an example of the transformation of an identity once new uses and applications are discovered

contemporary processes allow for exploration of possibilities; processes amplify the distinction between the possible and the real

simulation and the contemporary process make actualization an ongoing process throughout the project

"matrix of possibilities coded into a specific, but flexible organization"

combinations of space use are redefined by a merging of programmatic solutions, which allow new possibilities and assign new meanings to spaces that can be reflected in the physical realities of the space

     The Rahim reading elaborates on two main topics: 1) the conversation between the advent of technology, its effect on culture and the design process, and vice versa, and 2) an analysis of Variations, a residential project in Islamabad, Pakistan, including a breakdown of the spatial organizations of the project. 

     In the first topic, the passage presents the point that the contemporary process has changed the way that we design, because the importance of the design has become the careful consideration of a multitude of options, and the need to explore many options to achieve a strong solution. Since technology has offered the freedom to do so, challenging the threshold between possible and real with regard to structure and building construction has become an increasingly prevalent consideration, and the versatility of space as well as the discrete and complex interactions between spaces and their functions are examined more critically, and with more vigor than ever before. 

     In the second topic, the reading summarizes many of the features of the residence to point out that the immense capabilities of simulation and realistic situational modeling allows an iterative design process to integrate all aspects of a project's design, and even to push further and discover unpredicted or unrealized adjacencies and overlaps in the way that spaces are used by their occupants.