A Study on Low-Resolution Architecture Through Brick Toys

This study is an exploration of “low-resolution architecture” as a means of reducing the sense of coercion felt by students in architectural design education. This project examines “architectural resolution” using the model case of the “Roosevelt Island Project” (1975), which was conceived by Oswald Mathias Ungers in the East River District Planning Competition on Manhattan Island. Architectural resolution” is a measure of the spatial density of a building's intrinsic information and refers to the expression of a building using elements up to the limit of human perception. As a practical application of this concept, this study visualizes our perception of architecture by representing objects using toy blocks based on the hypothesis of “abstract architecture,” recognizing objects from the perspective of scale and extracting and discussing the relationships among the building's components. The architectural perception is visualized by extracting and discussing the relationship between the building components. The three building variations in the original proposal are further subdivided and analyzed.