Section 1: Matters of Urbanism

(Click here to download this handout as a PDF)


ARC3016Y Assembling a molecular architecture

Tuesdays 9am – 1pm and 2pm-6pm; Thursdays 2pm-6pm
Adrian Blackwell
Adrian.blackwell@utoronto.ca
Office Hours: By appointment


TERM PROJECT assembling a molecular architecture

SECTION 1 matters of urbanism

Make a map not a tracing… What distinguishes the map from the tracing is that it is entirely oriented toward an experimentation in contact with the real. The map does not reproduce the unconscious closed in upon itself; it constructs the unconscious.
Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari – A Thousand Plateaus

Make a map of the South York / Weston neighbourhood that focuses on one of the following topics:

Eating:

Food
1. food distribution
2. urban agriculture
Environmental Ecology
3. water systems
4. vegetal systems
5. toxicity
Social Ecology
6. community health
7. economic indicators

Performance:

Cultural Production
1. cultural production
2. changing places of work
Cultural Consumption
3. venues and festivals
Social Ecology
4. Employment
5. Cultural Difference
6. Crime


METHODOLOGY

1. Research:
Collect data on your assigned subject. Plot the data on a plan of the site in black and white at a scale of 1:5000 in illustrator. Present this map as a digital PDF only on Thursday the 10th of January.

2. Experiment: plug the tracings back into the map
Use Deleuze and Guattari’s distinction between the map and the tracing as a challenge. What external possibilities and trajectories present themselves to make a map of this tracing?

3. Walk the site with the map: connect the map to the real;
Design a tour of the site that lasts 10 minutes using the map as a reference tool

Digital Aerials can be downloaded from the Map Library Website, although the highest resolution files need to be requested in person, check the website for details. Property Data maps must be requested in person from the map library on the third fourth floor of Robarts Library.


SCHEDULE

Week 1
Tuesday
9:00 – 10:00 – studio introduction and P1 section1
10:00 – 10:30 – Introduction to “A Thousand Plateaus”
10:30 – 4:00 - Reading
4:00 – 6:00 – Reading discussion
Thursday
2:00 – 6:00 - site research discussion / proposal for research

Week 2
Tuesday
9:00 – 12:30 Site research desk reviews
4:00 – 6:00 – reading discussion
Thursday
2 – 6pm Review of Site Research – site walk and tour

SECTION DUE DATE
Black and white digital file in illustrator and final map are both due January 17 - 10% 2:00pm. On site. Location TBA.


SUPPLEMENTARY READING

James Corner: The Agency of Mapping.