Critical Readings 2017

Marshall McLuhan studies media as a way of understanding why it is that makes us live in the way we do, as a way of understanding society itself. For example, he describes his views on 'printing' as being the act. To print doesn't mean much, but the words which are being printed have a much greater and far more valuable effect and meaning than the printing itself. He discusses the subjective against the objective, the meaning and purpose of the media against the media form itself. He quotes 'reading is a form of 'guessing', as to read you must be able to slightly guess what is coming up, as you don't know what words will follow so you must take a guess at what is upcoming to form the sentence in your head. He was defiantly a thinker! McLuhan states by his own judgment that a good reader is usually a quick decision maker, which stems from his statement about to read is to guess. McLuhan discusses advertising as the folk art of the 20th Century, claiming ad...

Colin Rowe writes about the patterns and sequences found in Le Corbusier & Andrea Palladio, he writes about the scientific investigation to explain geometry and ratio, which enables him to discuss 'the perfect villa'. He discusses the relationship between elevation and plan in terms of ratio and Rowe writes about how architecture is measured. He doesn't come across keen on conceptual architecture, Rowe likes the science that goes into design and the mathematics behind the structure which is a physical form. He compares Palladio and Le Corbusier and discusses how one is very much about the form of the building, whilst one is very attentive to the equilibrium of the building, equal load, equal supporting walls which in turn will create the perfect roof. Rowe liked the mathematics behind the design, he wanted to know that the villas in question were thought about thoroughly and with the equations. This is, and always has been, a major part of architecture, nobody can bui...