Advanced Studio, Fall 2009
AGENCY SURVEILLANCE
Heather Woofter, Assistant Professor
"More times than we can count, we've made history, without history even knowing we were there." National Security Agency
The tracing of daily lives through surveillance is a ubiquitous condition in contemporary life. Surveillance, biometrics, and global positions impact social, political, military, and environmental systems. Through computational processing of human movement, data collection systems automate information databases and predict patterns of communication.
In this studio, students explore the conceptual implications of surveillance systems and develop design strategies influenced by these technologies. They also investigate representation strategies to explore the spatial implications of dynamic systems in relationship to site issues. Environmental factors contribute to the larger framework of interconnected systems to reveal a generative design process.
The building program embraces the reality of designing for secret service institutions. Proposals must address the duality of the hidden and the need for greater transparency by primarily focusing on the exterior spaces, internal public spaces, and means of circulation. Because the skin of the building protects what is hidden beyond, the building envelope is also explored in detail, through two-dimensional surface drawings and three-dimensional spatial studies.