Preface: Ley Lines | 14 Projects Robert Stasi 2009 Ley lines are hypothetical alignments of a number of places of geographical and architectural interest, such as ancient monuments and megaliths. Their existence was first suggested in 1921 by the amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins, in his book The Old Straight Track.

Hypothetical alignments have been suggested for many historical sites, from the ancient Mayan and Egyptian Pyramid Complexes to the Northern European observational sites such as Stonehenge. Another example are The Nazca lines of South America which are drawn on the vast canvas of the desert floor, depicting mythical animals and creatures, seemingly meant to be observed from above.

In the built world we encounter a host of theoretical lines which order our physical existence, from the property lines that divide the world into marketable chunks, to lines of human and animal circulation which have existed for thousands of years and still have an impact on our daily lives. From these lines, architecture can take shape. Ley lines also have a metaphysical significance in some works of early architecture, linking perceived reality with

orders that supersede our immediate understanding. They are the concrete expression of this cosmological linkage,

orienting monuments to the daily ritual birth and death of the Sun, the cycle of the stars and moon, and so on.

The Stonehenge and Giza Complexes and proposed astronomical alignments of the monuments

The Fibonacci Sequence: Analysis of the Casa del Fascio and The Danteum

Regardless of a definitive meaning, the idea of overarching governing lines has specific significance to the work. At

the outset of any particular project, an analytical effort is performed to determine potential "lines of force" that exist on

the site and it's surroundings. Once established, formal and organizational architectural patterns seek to incorporate

the project's ley lines to be used in the schematic outline and to re-present them in the final project solution.

Within this framework, the work draws on a number of guiding factors during the design process, such as the use of the spatial techniques of early modernism as illustrated in Colin Rowe and Robert Slutsky's essay "Phenomenal Transparency". In this arrangement of form and space, architecture derives meaning not from any implicit picturesque locus, but from the factors of time, position and movement of the individual though the architectural promenade. Equally important in the formation of the projects is an understanding of the relationship of the work to its larger context. This is not the post-modern "contextualism" of the latter half of the last century, but a morphological understanding of the project and its connection to, as Aldo Rossi points out, the larger continuous project of urbanism and the collective work of a particular society. Baroque concepts and techniques also play a role in the overall expression of the architectural form, from the use of indirect or screened natural light, the emphasis of the object within a larger enclosing object, to the exploration of poche space and its relationship to architectural function. Finally, formalism is understood not as an end in itself, but rather a means to an end providing a framework for ideas

that shape architectural study and this catalogue in particular.

Application of daylight and calendar studies to schematic project layout

Conceptual Project Diagrams for the Boston Holocaust Memorial Competition applying a re-presentation of documented memory

and the schematic techniques of modern production