THRESHOLD OF FORM COMPREHENSION

Is there a threshold for form knowledge?  That is to ask, can we draw so that we are at the threshold of form comprehension?  Is there a form threshold?  This question was asked a few days ago on the page Ignorance of Architecture.  The question, as formulated then, was:

What is the background noise threshold of drawing?  Another way;  what is the minimal knowledge that needs to be put on the paper to communicate design knowledge?  Another way;  what are the threshold limits of our ability to understand design knowledge?

One of the mantras of these pages is that we draw complete, rationalized, knowledgable holistic forms as we produce design solutions.  Up to this point, it was unthinkable to draw so that the form is not fully explained.  The whole point has been to knowledge a complete design solution on the paper.  But what about pulling back from completeness?  Can we learn anything by drawing at the threshold of form comprehension?

The drawing above is one of my first attempts to draw at this boundary of knowledge.  It was generated by looking at images of algorithmic swarm and circulation studies.  And thru the application of line as tone and tone as line, this gets as close as I have been able to get so far to this knowledge threshold.

I don’t know what you see when you look at the drawing above.  What I see are forms which start to suggest completeness, yet they are not fully complete.  Or, my eye wants to find a completeness to the lines and tones, yet it does not get there.  Or as it starts to get there, things shift away from complete knowledge.  Possibly this is due to there not being broad tones which to date have suggested the perimeter of the enclosure.

What’s the point of this?  Well, it is another way to think about drawing knowledge.  Some of us may find that extra smidgeon of inspiration by doing some drawings that are not fully rationalized.  Some of us might see a suggested arrangement of forms, and the proceed to do a Drawing From Drawing that moves toward an enclosure that you would have not been able to generate otherwise.  Or some of us might simply find it fun to simply put lines and tones on the paper that move toward a three dimensional geometry without worrying too much about completeness.

Of course, this could be looked at scientifically.  It would be interesting to have a fuller understanding of when the information on the paper combines so as to knowledge a rationalized three dimensional form.  From this data, we might then have metrics which informs where we put lines and tones on our paper.  From this data, we would learn the variability in each human’s ability to knowledge holistic, three dimensional shapes.   From this data, a fresh understanding of the entire mieleu of form generation and comprehension could be derived.  We could draw across various cultural assumptions so as to understand the role that cultural context plays in our knowledge of holistic forms.

Bottom line, this is simply another way in which we can understand our form generation proclivities.  By drawing at the threshold, we set up another challenge for us.  And possibly a new mode of form generation will be open to you.