#7 THE REFLECTION

TAKING A LOOK BACK ON MODULE ONE OF METHODS OF DESIGN INQUIRY

How we have come to be a third of the way through Methods of Design Inquiry is beyond me. The past five weeks have been a fascinating time to dive deep into what exactly I wish to understand better over the next year.

After week one, I was apprehensive about where I would even begin. I knew that going into this class, I should not know where I was moving towards. After week two, I began to enjoy searching thoroughly. My interests were becoming more apparent. Even after just a few reads on topics of my interest, I saw things differently in the design world. I was thinking in ways I had not yet done. It kept me excited for what was and was to come next. After each class, I had new feedback that motivated me to do more. My peers and professors' comments provided pathways to further questions and ways of thinking to find more articles and journals to read on.

This blog space has been a place where I am excited to visit because it means I have learned something new. No activity was too cumbersome to be worried about. All I could do was think and research; all I was focused on. I think I knew from the beginning which direction I would decide to take. It only makes sense to move forward in the direction of dance architecture. I have considered the connections of a dancer and architect duo, how the body moves in space, how different dance styles influence architecture, and many more topics have run through my head. I think the most challenging part will be to choose one finally. My process has been to find information on particular dance topics to see which one would be the best in the long run.

Moving forward, I plan to select one topic of dance architecture that benefits the design and dance world. Though it will be hard, my focus is to essentially help the body's movement in space to the best of our design abilities. It will take some more deep stress to see which dance topic route will benefit my research methods. The most important part of my eyes is that I have not discouraged my choices to move forward with dance. It makes me excited to keep moving to learn more about how my two passions can benefit the world.

So I leave module one with this question as I move forward:

How can aspects of dance be useful to design architecture to create a space that speaks to the user?

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As we end module one, I wish to place an updated annotated bibliography in order one day refer back to this page to see where my research activities began.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 02.20.2022

Copeland, Roger. "Postmodern Dance Postmodern Architecture Postmodernism." Performing Arts Journal, vol. 7, no. 1, Performing Arts Journal, Inc., 1983, pp. 27–43.

Through this journal, a discussion of postmodernism leads to an understanding of how dance and architecture are most associated with the term. They alone are not the only topics associated with postmodernism, but they grasped the idea of it long before others. They contrasted and compared throughout. A conversation of well-renown architects and choreographers and their processes is described.

Gavrilou, Evelyn. "Inscribing structures of dance into architecture." Proceedings: 4th International Space Syntax Symposium. 2003.

The author utilizes the comparison of two choreographers famous for their differences. Balanchine's work looks towards creating pictures, and Cunningham's dancers work alongside space and time. After an understanding of the types of choreography is established, comparing and contrasting these two with architecture and design occurs. The readers can understand how learning two disciplines and mixing them can effectively help the design process.

Gray, Wayne D. "Cognitive Architectures: Choreographing the Dance of Mental Operations With the Task Environment." Human Factors, vol. 50, no. 3, June 2008, pp. 497–505.

This article discusses cognitive science and how its relations to humans can assist architecture. Later on, it states that cognitive architecture is just that. To grasp this idea, it goes step by step through how a dancer perceives a stage before use and how the space and the brain work together to understand the environment. The article places heavy emphasis on human factors in the built world and how you must utilize different disciplines to succeed in design.

Lim, Wesley. "The Specter of Pina Bausch: Enhancing the Possibilities of Tanztheater through Film in Wim Wenders's Pina (2011)." Studies in European Cinema, vol. 17, no. 1, 2018, pp. 4–19.

This article works towards explaining how the choreography of Pina Bausch can be continued and celebrated through an act of breaking the barrier between the film screen and the viewer. Bausch's dance life was described allowing one to see connections to other well-known choreographers as well as set designers. This article shows how though architecture and the dance connection are not outright spoken of, different view points can be used to ask new questions.

Merriman, Peter. "Architecture/dance: Choreographing and Inhabiting Spaces with Anna and Lawrence Halprin." Cultural Geographies, vol. 17, no. 4, 2010, pp. 427-449. ProQuest.

Through the eyes of a geographer, this article introduces us to how the body can be influenced by the way it perceives space. A discussion of understanding how avant-garde architects and dancers aided one another in fields and helped create a positive influence on the body. With this in mind, Anna and Lawrence Haplin's studies of using the body to understand space in the landscape and dance world were explained.

"Noguchi and Graham: Selected Works for Dance." The Noguchi Museum, 6 Apr. 2020, pp 39-48.

The first essay in this book discusses how Isamu Noguchi grew in his practice by creating design sets and sculptures for Martha Graham's dancers. Ideas stemming from the challenging aspects of stage design-led Noguchi to be interested in easy assembly methods in art and furniture, as discussed in the last part of the essay.

Parcells, Claudia at el Manfred Stommel, Robert P Hubbard. "Mismatch of classroom furniture and student body dimensions: Empirical findings and health implications." Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 24, Issue 4, 1999, Pages 265-273.

This journal discusses the negative impacts of manufactured school furnishings. A study is conducted on students to see how their bodies worked and did not work with their daily seating options. The journal also looks closely at how the exterior parts of the human anatomy work in a well-designed chair, which aids in the study discussed.

Winters, Edward. "A Dance to the Music of Architecture." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Volume 69, no. 1, [Wiley, American Society for Aesthetics], 2011, pp. 61–67.

A significant factor of this journal is the topic of paper architecture. It leads to points such as, is paper architecture authentic architecture, are sculptures architecture or art? An in-depth comparison to a photo, as presented by an architecture instructor, is described in length to help better understand the questions addressed.

Yelavich, Susan. "Beings: Unruly Things, Golems, Cyborgs." Thinking Design Through Literature, 2019, pp. 108–143.

Seen from the view point of cybernetics, one begins to see how human connection to a physical thing can be important. Isamu Noguchi's set designs were the topic of discussion to see how Noguchi worked to create sculptures for the Martha Graham performances. Conversation of examples of how these sculptures were utilized was discussed.