can each of you send me links to your video essays?
Can each of you email me links to your video essays ASAP? It was a pleasure working with you all this semester. Happy holidays, Prof. V.
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we meet at 3pm today
Students, As per the NYIT exam schedule, we will be meeting today at our regular location at 3pm. At this time, your take-home finals and video essays will both be due. Please be prepared to present your video essays in class. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to seeing you. Many thanks. Prof. V.
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discussion re: final take-home
good morning, everyone, Sorry I had to cancel last night's meeting. Hope you got the message from Albert. Can we touch base today sometime? Maybe at 12:30 pm? I'm happy to set up a zoom meeting if that's more convenient. Let me know at nvossoug@... Please come prepared to give me a status report on both your video essay and your take-home finals. Best, Prof. V.
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no class tomorrow
Students, We will not be having class tomorrow, as classes officially ended on Monday. We will, however, Skype this Sunday, December 15, at 7pm to discuss any questions you may have about the take-home exam. Best, Prof. V.
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one more question for final take-home
Students, You can answer the following question in lieu of one of the ones I sent to you in my last email. You may also complete this in addition to the questions I sent earlier and receive extra credit. Best, Prof. v. Question: In an article titled "Parameter Value," architect Phil Bernstein offers an analysis of how automation will transform architecture in the coming decades. Can you provide a summary of his analysis? What is his main argument? How does he support his argument? Do you agree or disagree with his thesis? Why or why not?
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final take-home exam
Hello! Below is your take-home final. Please produce a two or three-page response to each question. Be sure to cite your sources. Your submissions are due a week from Wednesday at 3pm. Best, Prof. V. 1. In what ways did Ernst Neufert octametric system of dimensional coordination serve the social and economic goals of the Nazi Reich? Please specific. 2. In 2014, architect Zaha Hadid was criticized for her remarks about the death of migrant laborers at construction sites in Qatar. "I have nothing to do with the workers," said Hadid. "I think that's an issue the government ¨C if there's a problem ¨C should pick up. Hopefully, these things will be resolved." What arguments could be offered here to defend Hadid¡¯s position? What have her critics said? How do you feel about this debate? Be sure to tie your analysis to the ¡°Working Globally¡± reading. 3. The Americans with Disabilities Act has been described as the most significant piece of civil rights legislation since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In what ways does ADA protect civil rights, according to Wanda Liebermann? What is it of specific relevance to the design of the built environments? What are some of the problems with ADAH, as outlined by Liebermann. Do you find her criticisms to be reasonable? Why or why not? 4. Jessie LeCavalier describes the Walmart shopping store as a major milestone in the history of logistics. What evidence does he provide here? Why, according to him, is logistics so important to architecture?
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announcement from AIAS
FYI- Hello professors, I would like to share an architecture competition opportunity to students (and faculty). New York Tech is invited to participate in Archistorming Architecture competition. Hope you could extend the invitation to your students. This is a great opportunity to showcase New York Tech talent! more information is attached and is linked below: www.archstorming.com/hope Thanks, Paolo Mendoza, Associate AIA, LEED Green Associate Bachelor of Architecture Candidate '20 School of Architecture and Design
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class starts at 1:30 today!
Students, I've heard from two of you - so class WILL START AT 1:30 pm today. I'll be letting you out at 4pm sharp. Thanks! Prof. V.
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could we meet an hour early today?
Students, Can we begin today at 1:30 rather than at 2:20? Unfortunately, I have to leave class today at 4pm. Please let me know at nvossoug@... as soon as you receive this. Thanks. Look forward to seeing you all today. Prof. V.
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midterm exam - one small modification
Students, Please forgive the small revision, but I have decided to add an additional question to your take-home midterm. See below. Answering this question is required. However, you may opt to answer one fewer question from the list that I previously sent to you. You are only required to do 4 of the 5 total. If you answer all five questions, you will receive extra credit. See you tomorrow. Thanks! Prof. V. Here is the question: According to Heino Engel, the traditional Japanese house was highly standardized. What evidence does he provide in making this case? How does he reconcile the Japanese reliance on handicraft, on the one hand, and standardization, on the other? Does standardization necessarily have to be linked to industrial mass production? Why or why not?
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extra credit for attendance of lecture this evening
Students, I'm offering extra credit to anyone who attends this lecture this evening. It takes place where we normally have seminar. Begins at 6pm. Please RSVP with me. Thanks. Shannon Mattern, the speaker, is an eminent media theorist and historian who works at the intersection between technology and architecture. Best, Prof. V. Encrypted Repositories: Techniques of Secret Storage from Desks to Databases Ours is an age of leaks and hacks, of doxing and public shaming. Yet we are not alone in our fascination with security and secrecy (or the lack thereof). Many historians have described the 18th century as an age of secrets ¨C of espionage and secret societies, of new forms of private writing and sartorial features allowing for the confidential carriage of objects. This desire for discretion also informed, and was informed by, new modes of organizing space. In this paper I¡¯ll examine how 18th-century techniques in cabinetry and lock-making generated furnishings that served as encryption devices requiring specialized knowledge for their operation, and cultivating new techniques of secrecy among their users. Covert compartments and false bottoms ¨C taken to their extreme in the nested designs of German furnituremakers Abraham and David Roentgen ¨C facilitated the clandestine storage of private documents, personal letters, and treasured objects. These furtive furnishings then evolved into the intricately pigeonholed and slotted equipment of the 19th-century office, like the Wooton Desk and the filing cabinet, both securing informational architectures and bureaucratic logics behind lock and key. Our eventual transition to digital desktops then necessitated new forms of security and secrecy ¨C lockboxes, keys, and encryption techniques ¨C that take cues from their forebears in analog security. And today, as we move beyond the graphical user interface, past skeuomorphic representations of sturdy cabinets and locked files, we¡¯re developing new techniques of secrecy ¨C some harkening back to the days of paperwork-based paranoia and oral espionage. This paper maps out these interlocking histories of technique: techniques of secrecy, information management, furniture making, security engineering, and encryption.
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take-home exam
Good morning, students, Below are the questions for your midterm take-home exam. The exam will need to be uploaded two weeks from today. I will circulate a google link for this shortly. Each response needs to be roughly two double-spaced pages in length. Be sure to include footnotes. Some of the material has already been covered, some has not. Please note that you will need to visit the newly renovated Museum of Modern Art to complete this assignment. I recommend you visit as soon as possible. Let me know if you have questions. Best, Prof. V. 1. Walter Gropius¡¯ Bauhaus building in Dessau, Germany can be interpreted as ¡°built manifesto.¡± Indeed, it shares much in common with the school¡¯s pedagogy. What was the Bauhaus¡¯ mission, and how does the Bauhaus building embody it? What does it reveal about the school¡¯s attitudes toward technology and modernity? 2. Find El Lissitzky¡¯s painting ¡°The New Man¡± (1920-1921) in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art and compare it to Le Corbusier¡¯s Modulor Man, which we will be discussing this week. What basic assumptions about the body does each artist bring to bear on their subject? How does each frame the relationship between humans and machines? 3. Locate the Frankfurt Kitchen installation in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. With your phone, I want you to produce a photocollage that explains the programmatic strategies thay informs the design of this artifact. I also want you to summarize at least one feminist critique that has been leveled against this design. How would Sch¨¹tte-Lihotzky, the architect of this design, respond to her critics? 4. The Museum of Modern Art currently houses a fragment of the curtain wall from Wallace Harrison, et. al.¡¯s UN building in New York. In what ways does this artifact reflect the modular character of the postwar American skyscraper? How does it differ, in terms of both its design and performance, from the cladding systems that were used for the construction of Rockefeller Center, across the street
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the new world hannes meyer
Students, you can find a copy of the new world here..... unfortunately, i dont have a version to upload. all the other readings are contained in the bauhaus publication that's on the drive..... https://modernistarchitecture.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/hannes-meyer%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cthe-new-world%E2%80%9D-1926/ best, prof. v.
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please upload essay # 1 in Google doc format here ASAP
Students, Kindly upload copies of your first essay in Google doc format here, even if you have already sent it to me via email. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1q-F2M_N2wSpwtIyA5D7fGjgvusgU64vS?usp=sharing Best, Prof. V.
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make up of missed class
Students, As make-up for our missed meeting, I kindly ask that you attend the presentation with Esra Akcan tomorrow at 7pm and with Shannon Mattern later in the month. The presentation with Professor Akcan will take place roughly two hours after our class ends. I hope you can make it. See you tomorrow afternoon. Best, Prof. V.
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class cancelled today
Students, I believe you are already aware of this, but class today will be cancelled. I know you have a lot on your plates, and we can surely make up our missed time together later in the semester. All the best, Prof. V.
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kindly email me your responses to questions
Students, If you have not already done so, kindly email me your responses to the questions for each week. I will review them, comment on them, and have them entered into the binder for the NAAB visit. Best, Prof. V.
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paper#1 due one week from today
Students, I've decided that your first essay will be due a week from today. I kindly ask that you submit it online as a Google document. (Details to follow.) It should be roughly 4 pages in length, double-spaced. Here's the assignment: Please summarize the debate between Henri van de Velde and Hermann Muthesius that Joan Campbell details in her book on the German Werkbund. What is disagreement that transpires between them? Why dd Van de Velde oppose what Muthesius termed "Typisierung" or "typification." Why was Muthesius in favor of typification, and what did he mean by this term? Can you explain how we might explain typification in relation to the prefabrication efforts of Christoph & Unmack, and the history of German colonialism more generally? Finally, can you offer us an opinion of how you think Foucault would assess the debate at hand. Would he view typification as an extension or byproduct of the disciplinary society? If so, how? Please let me know if you have questions. Sincerely, Prof. Vossoughian
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reading from colonialism and modern architecture in germany has been uploaded.
Have a look at the Google drive where the readings are posted. I've uploaded it there. Thanks for the reminder, Prof. V.
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handouts and readings for class
2
You will find handouts and readings for class here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PdshxKb7LtCNqemD1lBnQQyy1wWem2XE I'm excited to be working with you. Prof. V.
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