The Cube: An obituary

Research Background: Architect Victoria's guest editors invited Michael Spooner and Peter Knight to write an essay for inclusion in a special issue of the journal on 'The art and artifice of architectural visualisation'. The Cube was as one of eight contributions that sought to examine the state of architectural visualisation in contemporary practice and discourse. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION 'The Cube: an obituary' discussed how the virtual might minister to the profession of architecture without confusing it with the contemporary digital fascinations. It approached the cube - a trope of modernism - through a consideration of Charles Hintons' 'fourth dimension' and the cubes initial articulation as one of the first considerations of the geometry of the virtual. The essay traced a line across the historical condition of a virtual cubic space - Quad by Samuel Beckett, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Fase dance work, Big Data visualisation - and offered as a conclusion the work of Jo-Han Seah. The essay insisted that an ever expanding consideration of meaning was the domain of the virtual. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE Architect Victoria is the journal of the Australian Institute of Architect Victorian Chapter. It is the only journal to consider specifically the discourse on architecture in the state of Victoria. It is a direct form of communication to all members of the professional institute. Every edition of the journal is given over to a guest editorial panel who petition members of the profession to articulate a position within the curated framework. The journal was guest edited by Anna Jeffery (Architect & Chair of the Victorian Chapter Editorial Committee) & James Staughton (Architect & director Workshop Architecture).