Architecture Professor Originates Student Exhibit In Washington, D.C.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—Tim de Noble, assistant professor of architecture at the University of Arkansas School of Architecture, will present an exhibit of his students' work at the Octagon in Washington, D.C., on March 8-April 26 entitled "Great Spaces, Great Faces: Sections and Elevation Models of Historic Architecture."
The exhibit will highlight over 30 models created by second-year students in design studios over the past 3 years, during which de Noble coordinated second-year design studio.
Unlike some educators who de-emphasize history and instead attempt to teach innovation only in contemporary design, de Noble has learned that sometimes creativity comes to those of us who appreciate what's been built before us.
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"To somehow sever historical ties, to not give students the knowledge that we and our educators worked with, would be a disservice to them," he said.
But how will students put into context the knowledge that the Ca' d'Oro was built in Venice with intricate detailing and extravagant materials of the 15th century like gold leaf, vermilion, and ultramarine?
de Noble developed a pedagogy to address that dilemma by merging history and design. Students in their second year, with at least one architectural lecture course already under their belts, study "great spaces" like Michelangelo's Sforza Chapel in the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Through investigation and research, the students are often able to discern between what the authors' intentions for a space or façade were, and what may have been a later insensitive alteration. When creating the underlays, students generally represent the space's ideal condition.
The results were 1/8-3/16 inch scale models so exquisite and meticulously crafted, and a pedagogy so unique, that de Noble's exhibit was chosen for the exhibit.
Besides learning the history of the space, de Noble said students discover some "overlying ordering principles" of architecture like symmetry, balance, and repetition, and they glean practical skills such as turning two-dimensions into three or working in groups.
Cook compared the process with the detail-work of professionals.
"Because we actually had to build pieces as we went, we created details as if we were contractors," he said.
Nevertheless, de Noble said that what is most surprising about the project is the inventiveness it sponsors.
"Students literally invent tools and create methods for representing classical features accurately at a small scale," he said.
One example de Noble speaks of is a façade of the Ca' d'Oro in Venice built by second-year students Eric Pace of West Plaines, Mo., Kyle Cook of Jonesboro, and Jennifer Caperton of Ft. Smith. Caperton and Pace are currently studying at the Rome Study Center, a division of the School of Architecture study-abroad program.
"The façade is articulated by incredibly ornate limestone tracery," de Noble said.
He also points out how students create new ways of using ordinary tools as well. Rather than sand columns by hand with sand paper, for example, last semester students connected a dowel to a drill bit and actually rotated the dowel against the sandpaper to achieve entasis, the slight curvature or bowing found typically in Classical columns.
"When I designed the problem, I had not foreseen this level of invention but considering it is one of the most important aspects of architecture, it proved to be a wonderful by-product of the exercise," he said.
Jeff Shannon, interim dean of the School of Architecture, describes this project as a "particularly effective way to communicate to beginning students that great building ideas don't come from nothing, from a vacuum." Instead, Shannon said, "Memory and knowledge, both of architecture, and the world are critical to inventive design."
de Noble came to the university in 1997 from Syracuse University School of Architecture. He is on the board for Habitat for Humanity in Fayetteville, co-chairman of the Youth Exchange Committee of the Rotary Club of Fayetteville, and design committee member for the Downtown Dickson Enhancement Project.
Recently he presented papers at the 16th National Beginning Design Student Conference in Las Vegas and the 21st International Conference on Making Cities Livable, in Carmel, Calif. He has participated in exhibits of students’ work at the American Institute of Architects National Headquarters Gallery, in Washington, D.C., and the Amici dei Musei in Florence, Italy. He is traveling to Nova Scotia this month in conjunction with the John G. Williams Visiting Professor Studio.
The Octagon, the oldest museum in the United States devoted to architecture and design, will showcase de Nobles' students' projects in a celebration of its 200th anniversary of the Tayloe family moving in to the Octagon and the 60th anniversary of the American Architectural Foundation's establishment. The exhibit, highlighted on the Octagon's web page at <http://www.archfoundation.org/octagon/index.htm>, will be on display in the American Institute of Architects Headquarters Gallery this spring.
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