Simultaneity translated by Florian Koehl.

I attended Thursday’s lecture by Florian Koehl who spoke of simultaneity. The lecture stimulated a lot of excitement for me about architecture. I have been finding more and more that I am attending these lectures and leaving with the sense that I don’t fully “get it”; I am missing something. I have always found architectural theory to be a fascinating topic, but often it is inaccessible to me as it can take a long time for me to process its relevance. There is no immediacy of recognition. However with Koehl’s lecture I felt that the way in which he integrated theory into practice was brilliant. Sometimes it’s hard for me to imagine how theory can be tangible, how a concept or a philosophy can be something that is felt by the human body. His description of precedents for simultaneity; the work of Gordon Matta-Clarke, as one example, struck me and I immediately was able to understand how he perceives this term manifesting architecturally. I suppose the excitement for me lies in the fact that as designers we can manifest our perception of theory via architecture. It doesn’t even matter if you agree or not in the meaning or the relationship to the theory, just the idea that we have the opportunity. The notion that a cityscape can be this dynamic and potent setting where interstitial space serves as a bridge, connecting meaningful thought, is so incredibly interesting. His lecture made me understand the reality of what we are trying to do in school, and that theory can be accessible, it can be synthesized into useful architecture.