Arts & Architecture

The doctoral practice-based research project in the arts 'The Metamorphic Ornament: Re_Thinking Granulation' questions granulation, considered one of the most magical ornamental techniques in the history of goldsmithing, from an artistic point of view. Rather than the actual technique of granulation itself, which is the starting point and source of inspiration, the main content of research is the process of transformation, whereby techniques and concepts from one discipline, the art of goldsmithing are implemented in another discipline, sculptural silversmithing.

Since the moment of its conception granulation has been found in jewelry as a surface application and has rarely been used for structural purposes. From this knowledge the first point of departure emerged, which explores the possibilities of structural granulation in sculptural silverwork. From this perspective the granule - the original ornament - loses its primary, decorative function of pure visual pleasure and shifts into the essential building material of the object. Granulation becomes the texture, the structure as well as the architectural support of the work.

Alongside this rather technical inquiry, a second, more conceptual starting point arose in which the expressive potential of granulation was explored. In this context granulation evolves from a decorative or constructive technique into subject matter and concept, reaching beyond the technical applications of the process towards a more poetic dimension.

Parallel to these questions the whole research and artistic output was divided into two groups. The first group concentrated on objects that were really build up with granules and the second group on objects where the ‘world’ of granulation with its technical, formal and conceptual constructs is more used as an idea in the subject matter than it is actually present in the object itself.

The outcome of this research is twofold: one is an exhibition body of work resulting in 40 objects, and the second, a written doctoral thesis, developed in interaction with the artistic practice, wherein the intellectual, artistic and practical processes, imperative to the artistic work, were substantiated.

The magnetic reversal sequence determined at five sections of the Chugwater Formation can be correlated over a distance of more than 200 km. A detailed study of 203 cores constituting a grid of samples taken from a normal to reverse transition zone at the Red Grade section shows that the transition is characterized by a fairly smooth 180° direction change accompanied by an intensity decrease in about 80 cm of section. The transition occurs in the same way in all vertical columns within the grid and in other columns at the same stratigraphic level up to 80 m from the grid and appears identical to the transition reported by Herrero-Bervera and Helsley at the same lithologic horizon about 1 km from the grid. Thermal and chemical demagnetization of grid samples removes a secondary remanence in the general direction of the earth's present magnetic field and does not reveal the presence of normal and reverse components in the same sample. The transition appears to have been magnetized during a reversal of the earth's field. Samples probably became magnetized in a few hundred years or less while they were close to the deposition surface. Paleomagnetic pole positions for all five sites are very closely clustered, and there appears to be no consistent long-term polar wander from bottom, to top in the sections. The mean pole position (46.6°N, 113.5°E; α95 = 1.88°) is significantly different from pole positions for the Early Triassic Moenkopi Formation from the Colorado Plateau, suggesting that post-Triassic rotation has occurred between the plateau and the basement uplifts of Wyoming.

Architects and designers confronted with the complex task of adaptive reuse of an existing (historic) building need to establish a relationship with the host space before they actually start designing. This relationship may be very formal, through analysis of the physical characteristics of the host space, but can also be emotional, focussing on the intangible qualities of the place, the building, the interior. Our contribution investigates how sketching may be a valuable technique in establishing a formal as well as emotional relationship with the host space. The technique of sketching in the discipline of architecture, more specifically for the first perceptual registration of the existing space, is an underestimated tool for basic and detailed visual data collection. To gain insight in the technical and methodological aspects of sketching in architecture, we make a comparison with two other disciplines with parallel systems on the perceptual site-specific sketch, the so-called fi...