the article illustrates the potentials of an Actor-Network theory (ANt) perspective to design. Drawing on ANt's assumption that objects with their scripts and incorporated programs of action compel and rearticulate new social ties, I argue that design triggers specific ways of enacting the social. It is impossible to understand how a society works without appreciating how design shapes, conditions, facilitates and makes possible everyday sociality. Viewed as a type of connector, not as a separate cold domain of material relations, design's investigation might shed light on other types of non-social ties that are brought Albena Yaneva is a Lecturer in Architectural Studies at the University of Manchester. Her research has frequently applied the Actor-Network Theory to architectural and industrial design, art and craftsmanship.
How do architects imagine, see and define a distant object that is meant to become a building? How does it become knowable, real? To answer these questions, I follow architects as they fabricate models and scale them up and down at different rates of speed. Instead of being a logical, linear procedure for generating a new object that becomes progressively more knowable, ascending from the abstract to the concrete, scaling is a versatile rhythm, relying on surges, 'jumps' and returns. By focusing on the most frequently repeated moves such as 'scaling up', 'jumping the scale', 'scaling down', and describing their cognitive implications, I depict how architects involve themselves in a comprehensive dialogue with materials and shapes. Their material dialogue takes into account dispositions, resistance, stability and other properties that change proportionally with scale. In the scaling venture, two alternative states of the building are simultaneously achieved and maintained: a state of being 'less-known', abstract and comprehensive; and a state of being 'moreknown', concrete and detailed. After multiple up and down transitions between small-and large-scale models, the building emerges, becomes visible, material and real. These scaling trials bring the building into existence. , Rotterdam. In the middle of an architectural office, on a huge table, various scale models of a building, parts and detailed variations are installed: a mini-exhibition space lit by neon light; a solemn spectacle waiting to be discovered by invited visitors. Reproduced in various material samples, colours and shapes, models are maintained in this particular arrangement during the whole process of architectural design (Figure 1).'This is the Whitney project', Rem Koolhaas tells the visitors to his office as they view a colourful assemblage on the table. 1 These models illustrate different facets of the building; visualizing scenarios, issues and possibilities that have been tested. No single starting point triggering a linear series of models or elements can be found, but this is not a chaotic assembly of scattered leftovers from the conception process. What we see on the different parts of the table are diverse concentrations of models, intensities of detail, variations and images. Separated by different spatial Social Studies of Science 35/6(December 2005) 867-894
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