The Mathematics of Sensible Things Conference

Talking about Math and Architecture

This coming Friday at the Harvard GSD six panelists will present their views on the relationship between math and architectural practice. See details below, or clic here for more info.

“Architecture and mathematics have constantly balanced between two extremes: an experiential dimension, often imbued with contemplative connotations, and the quest for operative techniques that do not necessarily present a spatial meaning. Hence the ambiguous moment we are going through, faced simultaneously with architecture’s estrangement from mathematics and the spectacular diffusion of computational tools. Six leading scholars and practitioners debate the renewed instrumentality of mathematics from a historical, epistemological, and practical point of view.”

Conference schedule:

1:00pm / Opening remarks by Dean Mostafavi

1:15pm / George L. Legendre, GSD design critic, architect and author, IJP London
Introductory Remarks: “An Ambiguous Moment”

1:30pm / Amy Dahan-Dalmedico, professor and writer, University of Paris and CNRS-EHESS Paris
“Mathematics and the Sensible World: Constructing, Representing, Simulating. A Historical and Philosophical Profile”

2:20pm / Antoine Picon, Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology, Harvard GSD
“Architecture and Mathematics: Between Intuition and the Quest for Operative Techniques”

3:10pm / George L. Legendre, GSD design critic, architect and author, IJP London

4:00pm / Ben Aranda, Aranda/Lash NY
“Destruction and Renewal”

4:50pm / Break

5:00pm / Dennis Shelden, CTO Gehry Technologies LA
“Beyond Descartes: Emerging Ontologies of Space, Form and Design”

5:50pm / Keynote Lecture by Bernard Cache, architect and author, Objectile Paris
“Continuity and Discontinuity in De Architectura”

6:40pm / Roundtable discussion with all speakers

Convened by George L. Legendre

Open to the public

For more information, contact:
Brooke King (bking@gsd.harvard.edu)

Sponsored By:
Department of Architecture

Conference

» 01:00 PM - 08:00 PM 03/05/2010

Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall