we can't do your homework for you.

Did Marcelo tell u to look at these projects?

Haha... no. I don't even know Marcelo. I mean, I know of him, have seen him in crits, but this semester is Hernan & Elena. The semester project is beginning to take shape, and so far, my interests are coinciding with the "line + curve" trajectory. I'm at home today doing "google research" (which I know is just cursory) and am getting prepared to ask our librarian for further direction. I know there are some very intelligent and well spoken members of archinect who, at one time or another, considered this topic interesting. The only project we were "assigned" was the Water Garden; generally, I like to dig a few layers deeper to understand the broader arguement... archinect being one source for inspiration (akin to asking a studio mate who is well versed in precedents).

steve -

can you be more specific about what you think is interesting along that 'trajectory' - i always thought a curve was description of the trajectory of a line, plane, etc., not the element itself. or is this just a more basic dialectic comparison between something straight and not straight.

g: That's the point, I want to understand the entire "line + curve" trajectory as it relates to architecture. For instance, when you look at RUR's work, especially the Sagaponac House, you can clearly see the interplay of line + curve, specifically http://www.reiser-umemoto.com/projects/sagaponac/07.jpg

Maybe the topic is so large that I need to get more specific about what I want to engage. In response, I have a passionate obsession with water and surfing -- liquid movement -- surfboard design (straight stringer and curved template). In conjunction, there is an equal part of me that is analytical and orderly (snap, grid, and lining things up). Balancing this dialectic relationship truly interests me both personally and architecturally. Hence, I have a deep need to explore the topic further and that's the reason behind my post.

its interesting to note that the water garden scheme that won the p/a award was considered fundamentally and theoretically flawed by jeff kipnis. he cut off his collaboration w/ rur and built a completely redesigned version.

stan allen - points + lines.

LAB - architecture after gometry. there's another stan allen article in there that's good. most of LAB's work is derived from 'graphic space' ie lotsa lines...

on liquid:

ignasi de sola-morales - liquid architecture in anyhow.

lars spuybroek - description of freshwater pavilion in A+U 99:10.

steve - ok, so we've established you're most interested in the formalism. i'm still not quite clear on what's driving the car here, but to try and give you some additional examples (the stan allen book is quite good):

zaha hadid produced a book called "lines" that is an interesting little treatise about the relationshipe of lines, landscape, and the kind of fluidity you're describing. it's long out of print and our local library doesn't have a copy. i think most of the essays in it were published through various journals. you could also look at her LFone project, for which a more recent book was released.

enric miralles has, on several occasions, done work that involves a very fluid approach to inscribing lines in space, especially some japanese follies. look in elcroquis issues for those.

the campana brothers have a really wicked looking chair (think 3d squiggles in space) that is brand spanking new; something along the lines of your thought (all puns intended) may be some early marc newson (a fellow surfer by the way) - check out his wood chair from 1988.

of course, you can always start with the basics and really digest mondrian and what he was trying to achieve (beyond the really bastardized notions of some graphic sensibility). he was utterly fascinated with the landscape of holland and worked through notions of naturalistic sight to achieve his later work. also, bryce marsden is a more contemporary painter using line to great effect (hell, so is richard serra for that matter).

Fuchs, Dagmar Richter has a book of her work called "XYZ" she's got some rad competition entries for the redevelopment of the area surrounding the Reichstag in Berlin. (hella better than the post modern shit that is there now.) She uses layers of maps of the area to drive her "re-skinning" effort of the city. I think you'd defiantly find the point and line formalism that you’re looking for in her book.

I echo the suggestion of Enric Miralles in Elcroquis. I currently have that issue checked out of our library here.

I wish I could remember the text that we had to read in my design fundamentals class as a freshman. It was a fictional story about a world containing only points and lines and eventually the points and lines dream up the 3rd dimension. It was really wack.

I need sleep.