William O’Brien Jr.

William O’Brien Jr.

Founders Rome Prize
September 10, 2012–August 5, 2013
Profession
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Principal, William O’Brien Jr. LLC, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Project title
Anachronous Formalisms: The Renewed Novelty of Architectures of Rome
Project description

In an effort to expand, enrich, and diversify the formal vocabulary of contemporary architectures allied with digital processes, this study will analyze and ultimately appropriate a range of anachronous formalisms that are demonstrated throughout Rome. A strategic sampling of Roman architectures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods will be conducted. Specifically, the selection will seek precedents which rigorously abide by formal mechanisms such as symmetries, axes, ratios, harmonic proportions, and principles informed by Palladianism. The tectonic and spatial attributes that are often associated with these formalisms—hierarchical, figural, permanence, and thickness—seem to be novel once again in the contemporary context of formalisms born of digital processes which are predominantly nonhierarchical, surfacial, fleeting, and thin. This study will aim to articulate several instances of anachronous formalisms which are ripe for reconsideration through analytical diagrams and text, with the intention of sponsoring new, hybrid, and nuanced formal languages.