THE MOTOR

MOTOR is the first assignment that students at Unit 1a of the School of Architecture are introduced to. The purpose of the assignment is to shake up the students and their preconceptions of what architec- ture is. This is done by introducing them to a working method that al- lows them to develop architecture that resides beyond their own imag- inative capabilities. In other words the core aim of the assignment is to equip students with an understand- ing that architecture can be devel- oped through a predetermined ge- neric process and that through this process opportunities exist to devel- op something original and genuine that decisively challenges the limits of the field of architecture. This un- derstanding is important if students are to avoid mimicking an existing world of imagery in architecture or fragments of it.
The point of departure for the MO- TOR assignment is that a car engine is dismantled in order to cast a spot- light on the individual engine com- ponents. This means that an ob- ject (the engine) is removed from
its original functionality and deter- mined context and staged as an aes- thetic object via a new contextual
relationship being resolved. The de- contextualisation is dependent on a reading and analysis of the formal characteristics of the engine com- ponent. This is crucial if the staging process is to succeed.