Book Review: Too Blessed To Be Depressed
Too Blessed To Be Depressed: Crimson Architectural Historians, 1994-2002 edited by Ewout Dorman, Ernst van der Hoeven, Michelle Provoost, Wouter Vanstiphout and Cassandra Wilkins, published by 010 Publishers, 2002. Paperback, 480 pages. (Amazon)
The five members of Crimson live and work in Rotterdam, "the city that never thinks." This situation affects their practice to a great degree, and subsequently this book - a collection of writings over almost a decade. But instead of rallying against the postwar, industrial city, like others they criticize, they embrace it in all its "mediocrity and pragmatism." Split into three sections (History, Obsession, Top Down), the first and last focus primarily on their home city, primarily its reconstruction after World War II and its industrial ports. For somebody who hasn't traveled to Rotterdam, the middle section provides the most enjoyment, not dependent upon a stronger understanding or interest in the place. Obsession's subjects include OMA's House in Bordeaux, Philip Johnson, Reyner Banham, Jon Jerde, and a book on Alvar Aalto, among others. The book's design - from its use of glossy and matter papers to its mixture of historical images and computer-generated collages and fractals - illustrates a certain underlying conflict (evident more directly in the cover). Perhaps this conflict is between past and future, between those who want to clean Rotterdam's slate and those who want to celebrate the city's industrial past; mainly it's indicative of Crimson themselves: a hybrid practice that is the collision of history, criticism, design, teaching, exhibition, and research.
The five members of Crimson live and work in Rotterdam, "the city that never thinks." This situation affects their practice to a great degree, and subsequently this book - a collection of writings over almost a decade. But instead of rallying against the postwar, industrial city, like others they criticize, they embrace it in all its "mediocrity and pragmatism." Split into three sections (History, Obsession, Top Down), the first and last focus primarily on their home city, primarily its reconstruction after World War II and its industrial ports. For somebody who hasn't traveled to Rotterdam, the middle section provides the most enjoyment, not dependent upon a stronger understanding or interest in the place. Obsession's subjects include OMA's House in Bordeaux, Philip Johnson, Reyner Banham, Jon Jerde, and a book on Alvar Aalto, among others. The book's design - from its use of glossy and matter papers to its mixture of historical images and computer-generated collages and fractals - illustrates a certain underlying conflict (evident more directly in the cover). Perhaps this conflict is between past and future, between those who want to clean Rotterdam's slate and those who want to celebrate the city's industrial past; mainly it's indicative of Crimson themselves: a hybrid practice that is the collision of history, criticism, design, teaching, exhibition, and research.
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