ARC465H1S S2 
Instructor: Zachary Mollica
Meeting Section: L0103
DA215, Weds 12PM-3PM

WHAT
A hands-on intensive course introducing measuring tools (from tape measures to photogrammetry) to build students’ skills of observation.

WHY
Facilitated by continuing growth in industrial productivity, architects and designers have become entirely accustomed to specifying generic materials and predesigned assemblies. Similarly, to prefer new build projects on flat sites to working with the stock of buildings in front of us as they are. In this, it can be easy to lose sight of where materials originate, how far they travel, and the many processing steps they may undergo before arriving at a building site.

Missing out on opportunities of context, work of this kind is both less interesting and carries substantial negative impacts on both ecology and community. New digital tools, which might provide solutions and alternative approaches, have most often been applied in ways that exacerbate the same problems.

To work with the materials and buildings we already have nearby, we need to know far more about each than is usual, and no single toolset can provide this information. This seminar is aimed at developing students’ skills in deploying what it refers to as ‘Tools for Close Observation’ to enable a more resourceful approach to design. These toolsets range from a humble ruler to advanced 3D scanning procedures. Through lectures and project work, students joining will be introduced to a wide range of measuring processes, instructed in their use, and assigned projects that deploy them hands on. By the end, they will be comfortable moving nimbly between analog and digital processes of observation.

SUBJECT
The seminar group will together study the Daniels Building (1 Spadina Crescent) in near absurd detail. Students will be split into groups, and each will be assigned a space or series of spaces in the building for study. By the end of the term, the class will have together produced an exhaustive documentation of the current state of the building right up to the outer edge of our circle. We will end the term presenting a series of observations made about the building from the information gathered.

STRUCTURE
Projects in this seminar will be undertaken in groups of two or three. Each of the three projects will introduce new toolsets and will be developed over a series of weeks. Most classes will follow a structure of a short lecture, a demonstration/lesson on the use of new tools and processes, and a period of open time for students to work on the seminar’s projects and to receive the instructor’s help. Towards the end of term, project tutorials will take over more of the time. Students are encouraged to arrive each week with problems to solve and unusual things found in their looking around. Successful completion of this course will require students to be on site and present for class.

Sketch image at top: Natalia Chan, Kylie Nivins 
Scan image at bottom: Adrian Yu, Maria Chen Liang, Veronica Chankov