Arqueología de los diagramas

Abstract

The use of diagrams in contemporary architecture appears as the result of a will to elaborate new systems of analysis and design. The diagram finds its place between idea and design, and it is a guarantee against returning to the imagery of closed classical aesthetics. In diagramatic architecture, the information about everyday human life is taken as the basic structure, which is then transformed into form. Diagrams are closely related to the capacities and discoveries of vision and representation. The diagrams from Dutch architecture were reborn from the Habraken proposal for "shared design", where diagrams in which geometric patterns are added are used, with a free arrangement of interchangeable elements like those used by MVRDV . In the sixties, Christopher Alexander developed diagrams through patterns which took into account the experiences of people. His methodological construction is a synthesis of English psychologism. Peter Eisenman has made use of the diagrams method from a formal point of view, without any relationship to functionality and context, advocating conception through transformation. For Kazuyo Sejima, diagrams are useful for relating activities with spaces, departing from Modernist floor schemes and opting to identify each space with its structure. Diagrams will only be able to evolve if they are able to integrate the vitality and experience of human activities, as well as the diversity of contemporary knowledge.