Extension - Evolution

pointless ramblings -

Hopefully the title serves as a basic disclaimer for the rest of this post, if it doesn't, I'll reiterate with an explanation. I have not written or blogged or really thought in words about my thesis for some time, this here post is an attempt to get back into the habit of writing. Just a little, but often. So without any further delay I'll get right to some of what I have been thinking about these last couple of months.

Firstly, I have been reading. I currently have 6 books on the go, I'm reading Richard Sennets The Craftsman. Timothy Taylors The Artificial Ape William J. Michell's Me++: the cyborg self and the networked city. I'm also working on Frank R. Wilson's The Hand and Leo Marx's The machine in the garden. Those are the main research oriented books but for interest and inspiration I am also reading Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Burning Chrome by William Gibson. Frankestien by Mary Shelly and Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Not to mention any of the other articles, blogs, and other thesis that I peruse on a regular basis. But that’s the current reading list so far and I will admit that I have slowed down considerably in the last few weeks, the hot weather has made sitting still at home difficult. Regardless most of these books talk to each other quite nicely some as more of a contrast to others, but I feel like its giving my brain a nice cross-section of the topics I'm interested in.

Currently I have a few too many ideas of what I could do, and less than a clue of how to go about pursuing them. Its hard to reduce these to a single theme that could sum it all up, that is to say I have no idea about the theory of my thesis at this point.  Instead it seems to me that each idea has its own thesis that kind of falls out of it. This being said I think one theme still sits slightly higher than others. Months ago I began to think about the basic theme of architecture as an extension of the human body, It was easy then for me to equate architecture to a tool, because I still feel that way I came up with a title for the thesis, "Extension". Extension is my starting point, my first idea from which I hope to build my thesis around. The pen that I draw with I consider as an extension of myself, it is my primary tool for communication and actually without it I have a very hard time explaining myself.

I find the word Extension very useful to me, it triggers a number of connotations that I will try to explain. Firstly, Extension means to lengthen or extend. I like the image of the axe as an extension of the arm, even as an extended limb, its curvature is even bone like in shape flaring at the ends to allow for stronger points of contact and stress dispersion. (I'm currently carving myself an Axe handle out of ash, I have to still clean the axe head and acquire an oak wedge and a brass pin to finish it, but its mostly there) The word Extension for me applies to a number of basic hand tools we use and have used for a long time. Then by looking at tools as extensions I get to talk about some of interesting evolutionary theories that have emerged in the last couple of years. Taylor writes about how humans evolved because we used tools, and that the use of tools (technology) allowed us to become upright standing, bi-peds with really large brains, not the other way around. This theory of evolution gives me a starting point for my thesis, it gives me first a little bit of scientific background for me to operate within, hopefully it will also give some of my ideas a little bit of early weight. With this I can also start very small. Looking at simple hand tools and basic human needs for survival, tools like axes, knives, slings, rucksacks as a starting point for the current, highly entailed lives we as modern humans live.

Extension as a word is also about addition, increasing the size and capacity of something. As an architect My mind immediately goes to renovations and alterations. This works well for me as I greatly enjoy renovations, conversions. It also plays in nicely to some of the work I did last year pertaining to the re-use of an existing industrial building in Hamilton. I particularly find the idea potent when the thing being converted is a tool, or a machine, Heavy industrial buildings are great for this, but so are simpler things, like hydro mills, barns, sheds, warehouses, and factories.

Extension also has temporal meaning, referring to the extension of a deadline or due date. This meaning is particularly potent considering the reality of global warming, over population, pollution, and rising ocean levels. All of these issues come with a deadline, or timeline. The idea of technology, of a tool, invention or implement that allow us a Extension on this deadline is for me and interesting arena for which to stage a thesis. It does however put a huge stress on the design and designer claiming some kind of miracle idea providing an extension, but really I'm not that crazy, Instead I think it would take a different, alternative look, maybe an outsiders perspective with a critical viewpoint, or even an ironic, tragic, or even satirical perspective. I could use the stage of a "miracle technology" to write a critique about our modern day blind faith in the endless march of technological progress faster computers, smaller phones, etc.. but I guess this idea would be better as a narrative, that comments on the current beliefs that technology is god.

Ok well, I think I'm pretty much outa steam on this post, re-reading I think I might attempt to go back and pull these last paragraphs out into their own post in order elaborate more.