289.9 Tech Seminar, M.Arch.

II, UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design Spring 2019

Monday 9:00-12:00, Perloff 1209B
Andrew Kovacs

LOS ANGELES SUPER OBJECT

Collected objects, Bangkok Super Object, Bangkok, Thailand, 2019

289.9_19_SYLLABUS
289.9 Tech Seminar, M.Arch.II, UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design Spring 2019
Monday 9:00-12:00, Perloff 1209B
Andrew Kovacs

INTRODUCTION

Los Angeles is a dynamic city with many different types of landscapes

and distinct neighborhoods. Los Angeles Super Object will aim to
tap into the rich qualities that make up the city of Los Angeles. The
ambition of Los Angeles Super Object is on the one hand to immerse
ourselves in the qualities of the city, while also scouring the city of Los
Angeles for materials that will be useful and aide in the construction of a
large speculative architectural model. This model, will be conceived as a
new form of collective living for the 21st century and will be constructed
jointly by all students in the class. The material to generate this model
will be searched out, gathered, sourced and altered through a number
of trips throughout Los Angeles. We will both document the objects
collected and the locations that each object has been acquired from.
The seminar will employ a methodology of Making Architecture from
Architecture (see Chicago Architecture Biennial Zine, to be handed
out on day of class). If Architecture organizes the world around us,
this method proposes to evaluate and appropriate this material towards
new architectural purposes, in this case the production of a large model
that is a speculation on human inhabitation. The construction of
Los Angeles Super Object will be the result of a collection, alteration Bangkok Super Object, Bangkok, Thailand, 2019
and compaction of various objects acquired throughout Los Angeles.
Throughout the seminar we will aim to document these objects, and
then alter them through a myriad of ways before the are used in
the construction of a new singular object. The course will oscillate
from collecting objects, altering these objects through various model
making techniques and then documenting these objects through both
conventional and novel means.

PEDAGOGICAL OBJECTIVES / COURSE OBJECTIVES

The pedagogical objects will center around the city of Los Angeles.
We will aim to gain a deeper understanding of Los Angeles’ urban
fabric and variety of neighborhoods and terrains. Through a Los
Partial Collection, Objects with Architectural
Angeles found architecture Dérive, we will search for objects and Qualities, 2015
materials that will be necessary in the production of our model as well
as scan the city around us as visual inspiration for urban and civic life.
The objects we acquire in the course of this Dérive will be rigorously
documented before the objects are altered and compacted in the larger
architectural model. The pedagogical objective of this course will
be to gain physical model making skills in altering everyday objects
into conceptual proposals for architecture, along with improving ones
documentation skills, as well as developing ones own design sensibility.
In other words, we are hacking the everyday and altering it into a new
and hopeful architecture that is composed of the everyday. We will
study and document the objects we collect in regards to each objects
composition, form, color, mass, proportion, recognizability, part to
while relationships, etc. We will attempt to select, catalog, study, and
explore the identification of architectural qualities. Acquired from
everyday places throughout Los Angeles, the selection includes souvenirs
of architecture treated in different ways, recognizable architectural
specimens (i.e., a pitched roof), actual building materials, representations
of building materials, and objects too small or large for their intended
Architectural Cliff, New York, New York, 2014
function - what some may simply describe as junk.
289.9_19_SYLLABUS
289.9 Tech Seminar, M.Arch.II, UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design Spring 2019
Monday 9:00-12:00, Perloff 1209B
Andrew Kovacs

PEDAGOGICAL OBJECTIVES / COURSE OBJECTIVES

(Cont’d)

We will aim to produce a book of all objects we gather throughout this

process. The process of the production of Los Angeles Super Object will
be as follows:

1) Searching
2) Collecting
3) Documenting
4) Altering
5) Assembling

Once Los Angeles Super Object is complete we will continue to

document the object as well as stage an exhibition for Rumble. It is a
requirement of this course that all students submit course materials
digitally by the end of quarter. Failure to do so will result in the loss of
one letter grade. Architectural Castle, Los Angeles, California, 2014

ASSIGNMENT OUTLINE / COURSE REQUIREMENTS

The assignment is to go out into the city of Los Angeles, CA and seek,
search, and collect objects that will be useful in the construction of a
large architectural model that will be a speculative proposal for collective
living for the future. You are to collect objects that can be thought of as
both parts and whole. These objects may or may not have sentimental,
emotional value, etc. They may or may not have formal qualities.
Through each object’s alteration and combination with other objects,
keep in mind how each of these objects can aid in forming a new
colossal architectural model. This new large architectural model is to be
composed of altered and manipulated objects that have been collected
throughout Los Angeles. Each object that is collected should be altered
and manipulated into a conceptual model that is representative of an
architectural concept. Additionally, all objects once collected and altered
must be documented. All students must submit required assignments as
compressed PDF files.

INTENDED OUTPUT

The intended output for this workshop is a very large architectural Proposal for Collective Living, Bust of Medusa, Jai
& Jai Gallery, Los Angeles, California, 2015
model composed of found objects that have been collected around
Los Angeles and that have been altered and manipulated to create a
speculative proposal for a new form of collective living. An additional
focus of the intended output of this seminar will be a comprehensive
documentation of all objects used in the construction of Los Angeles
Super Object.

289.9_19_SYLLABUS
289.9 Tech Seminar, M.Arch.II, UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design Spring 2019
Monday 9:00-12:00, Perloff 1209B
Andrew Kovacs

SCHEDULE

Students will be asked to present their findings for each category

when that class meets.

Week 1 Introduction and Film Screening of God’s Architects

Monday April 1st 2019

Week 2 Searching Los Angeles and Collecting Objects

Monday April 8th 2019

Week 3 Searching Los Angeles and Collecting Objects

Monday April 15th 2019

Week 4 Collecting and Documenting Objects Progress Image, Proposal for Collective Living II
Monday April 22nd 2019 (Homage to Sir John Soane), Chicago Architecture
Biennial, Chicago, Illinois, 2017

Week 5 Collecting and Documenting Objects

Monday April 29th 2019

Week 6 Altering and Documenting Objects

Monday May 6th 2019

Week 7 Altering and Documenting Objects

Monday May 13th 2019

Week 8 Altering and Documenting Objects

Monday May 20th 2019

Week 9 Altering, Assembling, and Documenting Objects

Monday May 27th 2019 (Memorial Day)
Rubble Scan, Proposal for Collective Living II
(Homage to Sir John Soane), Chicago Architecture
Week 10 Assembling, and Documenting Objects Biennial, Chicago, Illinois, 2017
Monday June 3rd 2019

Week 11 Assembling, and Documenting Objects

Monday June 10th 2019

Proposal for Collective Living II (Homage to Sir

John Soane), Chicago Architecture Biennial,
Chicago, Illinois, 2017

289.9_19_SYLLABUS