Aesthetics of the Fall & the Concept of Clownish, 2017

This design research project explores relationships between tectonics and figure in architecture and its representations. In response to the ubiquitous interest in technological precision and efficiency this project takes a different approach, engaging a playful use of technology. Through investigating notions of the “weak” and unstable in architecture the project attempts to embrace unexpected aesthetic qualities to discuss two main architectural aspects: character and tectonics.

The idea of alternative aesthetic categories is much used by Sianne Ngai who has focused on, what she calls, marginal or trivial but culturally ubiquitous aesthetic categories . This project suggests that certain qualities of the comic, especially what we refer to as “clownish”, are produced by an instability of character. Could the concept of clownish function as an aesthetic category, and offer a potential play between the funny, the silly and the unreliable? The instability of tectonics is explored through simulations of the fall, where separate parts fall randomly to form a whole.