``Although the senses occasionally mislead us respecting minute objects, such as are so far removed from us as to be beyond the reach of close observation, there are yet many other of their informations, the truth of which it is manifestly impossible to doubt; as for example, that I am in this place, seated by the fire, clothed in a winter dressing gown, and that I hold in my hands this piece of paper....'' Descartes, Meditations.
This project considers the distance between the viewer and what is being viewed. How does technology alter our perceptions of distance, scale, and structure? Technologies for viewing continue to evolve, from the camera obscura to the telescope to the atomic force microscope; each new technology raises questions about what is real versus what is an artifact of the viewing process. For example, how does the framed vision of the microscope differ from the framing induced by the World Wide Web? Discontinuities induced by these media can undermine what Husserl calls the ``inner'' and ``outer'' horizons of experience. These horizons are vital to architecture and to what we might call ``telepistemology'': the study of how distance influences belief, truth, and perception.
Why Fallingwater?
Cantilevers are also used to measure forces in Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS): miniature devices etched from silicon. Examples of current research can be found at many labs including UC Berkeley, Cornell and UCLA. For example, many automotive air bags measure the deflection of a MEMS cantilever to detect collisions.
(L) Frank Lloyd Wright's floorplan. (R) CAD model.
(L) CAD model. (R) .1 mm (width of a human hair).