Recontextualising the Practices of Action, Wisdom and Devotion in Relation to Dialogue in Design

This paper regarding ‘Maestro’ and especially discussions on teaching which ‘operates outside of schools and conventional teaching institutions’ is approached through the notion of dialogue in design and arguments raised in the Bhagavad Gita. The latter is known for its faculty for interpretation, and ‘an apparently limitless capacity to inspire new and necessarily valid meanings’. The idea of architectural design teaching as an ongoing dialogue is fundamental and explored through narratives woven around individual interests and research. This working process is approached by means of the architectural narrative and the creation of new meanings and different readings of the work is furthered through the provision of innovation ways to encourage an ongoing dialogue with the user. The Gita is part of ‘an orally transmitted and flexible narrative tradition’, further drawn on ‘as an adjunct to various rituals, and as material for recitation in a devotional context’. More importantly, this oral tradition is not only apparent in the manners in which this text is still transmitted and used at present, but in this instance, the idea of dialogue is highly significant to the way in which the lessons in the text are conveyed. Hence the discussion concerning mentoring and working processes revolve around teachings from the Gita, particularly about 'finding something that you are good at', and how this informs a personal methodology of teaching architectural design, namely through dialogue

Localized mirror functor for Lagrangian immersions, and homological mirror symmetry for P 1 a,b,c

This paper gives a new way of constructing Landau–Ginzburg mirrors usingdeformation theory of Lagrangian immersions motivated by the works of Seidel,Strominger –Yau–Zaslow and Fukaya–Oh–Ohta–Ono. Moreover, we construct acanonical functor from the Fukaya category to the mirror category of matrixfactorizations. This functor derives homological mirror symmetry under someexplicit assumptions.As an application, the construction is applied to spheres with three orbifoldpoints to produce their quantum-corrected mirrors and derive homological mirrorsymmetry. Furthermore, we discover an enumerative meaning of the (inverse)mirror map for elliptic curve quotients

Site and Science-Fiction

The idea that nature has always been geographically and seasonally specific is put paid by Kew Garden’s nineteenth-century Palm and Temperate Houses. Two centuries later, this notion of displacement and the exchange of knowledge and products take on a different scale in the Gardens by the Bay project. In Westminster’s original presentation in 2013, the notion of ‘exchange’ between two sites of interest, Kew Gardens in London and Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, was key to the six design proposals presented. Five years on, the notion of the ‘exchange’ is revisited through issues of site in Singapore, and especially the anthropocenic quality of Gardens by the Bay. It is important to note that the two students presenting have had a chance to visit this site since 2013, and their personal experiences will form part of the discussion in addition to their initial proposals. The relevance of sustainability and land reclamation is explored in ‘The Floating Archive’ by Larisa Bulibasa. This proposal is read against the idea of land reclamation, a process which has increased Singapore's land area by 23% in just over half a century. Incidentally, Gardens by the Bay is built on reclaimed land. Continuing from the exchange of knowledge and products, the exchange of culture will be discussed by Iga Martynow in speculative proposals for the future of this Bay site. Through the ideas of adaptation, integration and the juxtaposition of local identity against international icons the arguments concerning ‘boundaries’ and displacement are exaggerated

The Reading of Landscape Narratives by means of Allegory and Elizabethan Vision

The notion of ‘lost sense of sight’ or Elizabethan vision refers to a skill that sixteenth century viewers were trained in, and applied to reading the composition and meaning of certain elements in works of art. Elizabethan vision was manifested through issues of conveyance and included the construction of visual symbols embedded with allegorical references. Allegory was employed to allude to certain points of view and enhance the potency of particular narratives that were apparent in the work. Hence Elizabethan vision refers to the manner of reading the work and operated simultaneously with the use of allegory as described. More importantly the use of this knowledge resulted in the ability to comprehend the work and appreciate the intention that there are several layers of meaning apparent, as opposed to a single dominating interpretation. Elizabethan vision is currently referred to as a ‘lost sense of sight’ because the ability to see and understand works of art presented in this manner no longer exists. A sixteenth century portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, also known as the Ditchley portrait is used as the source from which this exploration regarding the concept of ‘lost sense of sight’ and the reading of narratives in landscape is derived from and refers back to. It is of importance to note that the application of Elizabethan vision and use of allegory to exaggerate particular narratives and reinforce certain points of view is intrinsic to the reading of this portrait. The history of the portrait however is also inherently linked to the sites of Ditchley and Woodstock in Oxfordshire. More interestingly, the physical limits of these sites and the boundaries associated with the historical narratives are different. The term ‘layering of meaning’ is most appropriate in this instance as the numerous historical narratives are survived by a small number of physical features on site that in turn allude further to other elements and stories. Current discussions concerning the historical narratives treat the study of these sites as mere background information that support existing readings of the Ditchley portrait. This paper takes an interest in how the meaning of the phrase ‘lost sense of sight’ can be applied to the reading of the landscape inherent in the story of the Ditchley portrait. In this instance, the study of the physical features in the landscape will be considered in a manner similar to that of allegorical symbols. This enables a simultaneous reading of their immediate role as visual elements within the landscape, and the conscious allusion to further readings and narratives. The weaving of historical narratives in relation to the current state of the landscape creates a complex template from which multiple readings and meanings can be derived simultaneously. Hence the idea of ‘lost sense of sight’ in this analysis refers to the ability to interpret, apply and infer from the consequences of this working method that encompasses narratives that are current, historical as well as alluded to within the landscape. The study also aims to develop a method for interpreting and reading the site associated narratives in order to establish that there are multiple ways to read the landscape in the story of the portrait. More importantly these readings are able to inform and influence the way in which the Ditchley portrait is understood, appreciated and engaged with

Picosecond Mode-Locking And X-Band Modulation Of Semiconductor Lasers

Recent developments in two areas of high speed semiconductor lasers will be addressed: (1) passive mode-locking of a segmented-contact semiconductor laser with a reliable, controllable saturable absorber which produces stable picosecond optical pulses, and (2) realization of very high frequency (X-band) direct analog modulation of a semiconductor laser diode

Binding of Oppositely Charged Membranes and Membrane Reorganization

We consider the electrostatic interaction between two rigid membranes, with different surface charge densities of opposite sign, across an aqueous solution without added salt. Exact solutions to the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation are obtained and their physical meaning discussed. We also calculate the electrostatic contribution to the free energy and discuss the renormalization of the area per head group of the charged lipids arising from the Coulomb interaction.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, to be published in EJP

Learning from World Architecture Festival 2015: Transitional opportunities and teaching in the new normal

This paper explores the potential concealed in the gaps of the current architectural education structure through participation in the 2015 World Architecture Festival Student Charrettes. Central to the discussion and integral to the working process is the role of dialogue that emphasises individual learning, and the cultivation of an open system that encourages students to assume authorship, question and shape the outcomes of design teaching. Consequently, this non-linear and nonhierarchical rhizomic approach to communicating and learning is discussed alongside attitudes to alternative design education and advocates the transformation of latent transitional moments into notable opportunities in the new normal

Architecture and Allegory, A Tale of Three Sites

Architectural narratives in this paper are used as means to interpret buildings and spatially reinterpret research material. History and/or historical events are not regarded as passive sources of information but are actively prescribed within current architectural sites and reworked as design proposals. Hence, events that would otherwise be consigned to memory or totally forgotten are retold and given new readings and meanings. These discussions concern the Ditchley Portrait, c.1592, and the National Portrait Gallery, London where this portrait of Queen Elizabeth I is exhibited. The three sites of interest are Ditchley Manor and Woodstock Palace , the original Gallery designed by Ewan Christian in 1896 and the outcomes of the major overhaul by Dixon Jones Architects in 2000. The narrative and analysis of the first site starts with the stories of and in the Portrait, a painting that is embedded with symbols, adhere to Elizabethan ideas of allegory and the notion of ‘lost sense of sight’. These compositional techniques also allude to the Accession Day Tilts, a major sixteenth-century event that is tightly intertwined with the elaborate festivities concerning the inception of the Portrait. This study is essential for the reconstruction of the Manor and Palace as neither building survives, and the historical site confines are not definite. In this instance, the notion of history as manifested by means of associated memories and intangible allegorical narratives, are critical to the construction of the architectural narrative. The next site regards Christian’s 1896 design that enabled the east wing of the Gallery to appear as integral with the National Gallery’s short façade. Visual deception was adopted as a design strategy to address the stipulated requirements through continuing the language of the first three corner windows of the National Gallery at the junction of Trafalgar Square and St Martin’s Place. A century later, similar negotiations with the National Gallery resulted in another design solution that also concerned windows, this time to accommodate the ‘right of light’ easement. The ensuing NPG 2000 project was essentially a triple volume block that was inserted into the shared courtyard between both Galleries in exchange for the aforementioned east wing, and necessitated the bricking up of the original courtyard windows for protection due to conservation and planning laws. Hence this material feature of history is completely hidden from the views and knowledge of the current visitors. Consequently, the Ditchley Portrait is exhibited in the new NPG 2000 Tudor Gallery. These design strategies and the notion of sites within sites demonstrate that the intertwined architectural narratives can be further devised as dialogues with the users to enhance the reading and experiential qualities of the works. Hence the idea of allegory and term ‘lost sense of sight’ can be simultaneously applied to the analysis and reading of all these sites and suitably demonstrate the term ‘layers of meaning’. The narratives serve to confront, place and integrate chronological shifts to initiate the notion of multiple interpretations in the meaning, reading and experience of these sites. The different aspects in terms of historical events, site features, and the allusion of these events and features to other narratives in relation to the contexts provide a landscape of different readings that not only contribute to their presence and historical significance, but further reveal different manners of envisioning architectural narratives