ABSTRACT
Abstraction is ubiquitous throughout architectural education and practice. In architecture especially, abstraction is inextricably entangled with the real. Abstraction is also a nearly universal phenomenon in architectural education, especially at the beginning design levels, with highly mixed outcomes, and often very little critical understanding. Linguistically, it is a self-defeating term. This is because the moment abstraction becomes the singular objective of a project, it stops being possible. By definition, for something to be abstract, it requires an idea or concept separate from itself to reference. Without external reference, it creates an irreconcilable circular logic, as something cannot be an abstraction of itself. This is why it makes no sense when someone says that a project or drawing “looks abstract.” Yet, this is a common phrase uttered by students, academics, and practitioners alike. So, what is it to be abstract in a design process? Can it be used critically, objectively, and rigorously in a measured and disciplined way? Does abstraction have instrumentality that other more figural or literal representations do not? Is abstraction disciplinary, or is it a modernist vanity of architectural academia? Abstraction is fundamentally necessary for interpretation. Students think critically by challenging what they think they know and interpreting it in new ways. However, this is a thoughtful process, not absent-minded practice. It privileges choice and prioritization in design, not baseless form-making. Effective abstraction, especially at the beginning design level, requires strategy and disciplinarity. For example, the subtitle of this section is a disciplined use of abstraction. The abstract of a paper is a distillation of content. It removes supporting evidence, observational notes, contextual analyses, or anything else that might be extraneous to the singular objective of the paper. That does not make it less true, nor less real; it makes it more focused. This is disciplined abstraction. Perhaps abstraction is not the problem, but rather misunderstanding or misapplying it is. Additionally, this chapter presents common uses and abuses of abstraction in the design studio. It also seeks to present pedagogical strategies for abstraction to play a critical and instrumental role in beginning design education.
