Forthcoming publication: FACTUM 1:1 (2021) by Federica Goffi
Figure 1 Carlo Scarpa and Sergio Los. Entry portal of the IUAV (1984). © Courtesy of Prakash Patel Photography, Washington DC, and Università Iuav di Venezia.
FACTUM 1:1 is a forthcoming book chapter by Federica Goffi, discussing the theories and tactics for exercises 8&7, titled, Tracing Anthropoietic Performance Drawings 1 : 1. The publication includes the work of a group of students from the Azrieli School of Architecture andUrbanism at Carleton University: Sideqa Haqani, Arielle Lavine, Rubin de Jonge, Frederic Delannoy.
Goffi, Federica. "FACTUM 1:1." In T-Squared. Theoories & Tactics in Architecture and Design. Edited by Samantha Krukowski. Introduction by David Leatherbarrow. Intellect Press (2021-22).
“The concept of facticity is under question,[i] and a climate of post-truth affects global politics. While significant attention is given to current cultural, political, economic, environmental and societal debates that challenge our global communities, there is an underlayer of responsibility entwined to architectural discourse inherent in our work ethic and investing the forms of making that contribute to envisioning the world around us, whether through a sketch, a model, or a digital fabrication.
The words verum ipsum factum (the true is the made) by philosopher Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) gain renewed significance. Vico stated that “For the Latins, verum (the true) and factum (the made) are interchangeable, […], they are convertible.”[ii] These words, enduringly inscribed into the Istrian stone gated entrance of the architecture school in Venice following a design by Carlo Scarpa, are a solid reminder that every human construct is a demonstration of its having been made (Figure 1). Facticity is based on ‘solid’ evidence and our actions and making rest upon ethical responsibility for how we do things.
The IUAV manifesto—VERUM IPSUM FACTUM—suggests the necessity of a full-scale engagement, from one made fact to the next—FACTUM 1:1.
[i] For an examination of facticity in relations to phenomenology and hermeneutics see the introduction to Raffoul, Francois and Eric Sean Nelson. 2008: 1-23. Rethinking Facticity. Albany: State University of New York Press.
[ii] Vico, Giambattista. 1988: 45-47. On the Most Ancient Wisdom of the Italians. Unearthed from the Origins of the Latin Language. Translated by L. M. Palmer. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
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