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Lexicon

Altocumulus Castellanus (ACCAS) n. (latin: high/heaped castle)

1. named for its tower-like projections that billow upwards from the base of the cloud, they may be a harbinger of heavy showers and thunderstorms. The appearance of Altocumulus Castellanus early in a sunny day indicates a high probability of the formation of thunderstorms in the afternoon.

dislocation n.

1. Displacement; removal from its proper (or former) place or location.
2. Having the continuity broken and the part displaced, as a line or stratum.
>> It often seems that the notion of dislocation carries with it a negative connotation, that somehow what we have grown accustomed to has changed or been misplaced. Yet I see this as a term that is rich with possibilities to my research, and might be quite positive. Traditional modes of building and dwelling hold to fairly rigid presuppositions as to how building are constructed and how their inhabitants interact with them. Perhaps the exterior skin or facade of a building need not be such a rigid construct and people begin to control this facade; perhaps the facade gets dislocated.


suburb n.

1. A place of vacancy.

They... had decided to burn the suburbs, in order to preserve the city... Ranke's History, 1845 latency 1. Delay between a stimulus and a response. respiration n. 1. a continuous physiological process; exhalation or inhalation. ecology n. 1. knowledge of the house, household economy. 2. colossal domestic architecture. 3. "a question of images...images of architecture and the architecture of images."

prosthetic n.

1. giving additional power, adding, furthering.
2. an extension of man's frontiers through "environment extensions."
>>A prosthetic gives "additional power." Perhaps this power allows one to control their environment. By viewing the building as a prosthetic, it becomes an extension of its inhabitants and also becomes active.


wild a.

1. bound by different laws, not tame.
2. acting or moving freely without restraint; going at one's own will; unconfined, unrestricted.


adaptive a.

1. to face the unpredictable; and survive.
2. term for the evolutionary process which produces divergent forms in different environments.
>>I see adaption as crucial within architecture. So often we conceive of buildings as static objects rather than things that can change and be manipulated. How might a building adapt to an impending storm, or an evening frost?

evolution n.

1. the process of unrolling, opening out, or disengaging from an envelope.
2. to change over time.
>>These two definitions of evolution were particularly relevant to me as I consider both forms of micro and macro evolution in the building section over time.


transformation n.

1. the action of changing in form, shape, or appearance; metamorphosis.
>>The environment within which we live is always changing. Why pose solutions to changing environments with static habitats?


economy ad.

1. the art or science of managing a household.
2. the rules which control a person's mode of living.


climate n.

1. a region considered with reference to its atmospheric conditions, or to its weather.
2. condition (of a region or country) in relation to prevailing atmospheric phenomena.


air n.

1. vital to life and weather.
“The sun is bright-the air is clear, The darting swallows soar and sing.”
Not Always May, Longfellow, 1840


housekeeping n.

1. the maintenance of a household; the management of household affairs.


Landshaft n.

1. a deep and intimate mode of relationship not only among buildings and fields but also among patterns of occupancy activity and space each often bound into calendrical time.
>>Landshaft's embodiment of both the notion of occupancy, time, and environment presented itself as a key term in my Lexicon while exploring active dwelling within a dynamic environment.