Casa en Ladera in El Retiro, Antioquia Colombia by Paisajes Emergentes, 2008.
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Sunday, May 31, 2009
Today's archidose #318
Saturday, May 30, 2009
NYC Lectures & Exhibitions
Below are upcoming lectures and ongoing exhibitions in and around New York City for the next 31 days. This calendar is curated by me and powered by Bustler; click the links to visit the Bustler entries for more information.
Today's archidose #317
On the left is the Philharmonie (2005) by Atelier Christian de Portzamparc with L'Hotel Evenement de la Place de L'Europe (2009) by Jim Clemes in the center, in Luxembourg's Kirchberg Plateau.
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
Pedestrians Take to the Streets
On Sunday, city crews closed sections of Broadway in Times Square (from 42nd to 47th Streets) and Herald Square by Macy's (from 33rd to 35th Streets). In a New York Times article by Nicolai Ouroussoff, and an accompanying slide show, we see the dramatic change that occurs when cars give way to people on foot, but we also read about how much work still needs to be done to make these actually well-designed spaces in the city.
While I have experienced last year's improvements of the 34th-42nd Street and Madison Square Park stretches of Broadway (lifeless or lively depending on weather and time of day), I've yet to walk these new pedestrian promenades. Nevertheless their repetition of last year's combination of safety bollards, tables and chairs, and (maybe) some surface aggregate and paint is a rudimentary response to a long-term vision for making parts of the city more amenable to pedestrians. It's clear from photos that the city's urban designers need to step up to make the design of these pedestrian areas reflect the intentions behind the car-closing.
[Broadway in Times Square Saturday and Monday | image source]
Much of the decision to create these pedestrian zones comes from the input of Denmark's Jan Gehl. As Ouroussoff points out, the success of Copenhagen's pedestrian areas took a long time and was a pull-and-take effort where closings were tested over time. The same appears to be happening in Manhattan, but the city must realize that the design of the street will play a part in the success of the closings, as will be what abuts the street, its frontage. In my opinion these stretches of Broadway are not the best test cases, chosen most likely for being tourist locales and therefore making impressions on visitors. It lacks the intimate scale and fine-grain retail of Stone Street or the continuity of just about any east-west street. The breaking up of the pedestrian zone by cross-town traffic that Ouroussoff mentions reminds me of the ubiquitous summer street fairs, hardly a great precedent for a pedestrian takeover of what truly belongs to them, but a worthy comparison.
The street fairs illustrate the importance of scale and frontage in a pedestrian zone. Typically occupying the wide north-south avenues, the street fairs delineate a smaller space down the center of the street, in the placement of the repeated bays of tents where the backs of the tents "front" the sidewalk, ironically making this typical pedestrian zone empty. And by fronting the new pedestrian zone in the center with food, music, wares the space is activated. The temporary fairs clearly indicate how scale and frontage activate pedestrian life, but they leave little to be desired in terms of design and the crass commercialism of the enterprises. I think narrow east-west streets would be great candidates in Manhattan for pedestrian zones, becoming public spaces more like parks than like retail malls, catering to residents instead of tourists, fronted by stoops not Duane Reades. And let's not forget there's plenty of areas in the other boroughs worthy of car-free streets.
While I have experienced last year's improvements of the 34th-42nd Street and Madison Square Park stretches of Broadway (lifeless or lively depending on weather and time of day), I've yet to walk these new pedestrian promenades. Nevertheless their repetition of last year's combination of safety bollards, tables and chairs, and (maybe) some surface aggregate and paint is a rudimentary response to a long-term vision for making parts of the city more amenable to pedestrians. It's clear from photos that the city's urban designers need to step up to make the design of these pedestrian areas reflect the intentions behind the car-closing.
[Broadway in Times Square Saturday and Monday | image source]
Much of the decision to create these pedestrian zones comes from the input of Denmark's Jan Gehl. As Ouroussoff points out, the success of Copenhagen's pedestrian areas took a long time and was a pull-and-take effort where closings were tested over time. The same appears to be happening in Manhattan, but the city must realize that the design of the street will play a part in the success of the closings, as will be what abuts the street, its frontage. In my opinion these stretches of Broadway are not the best test cases, chosen most likely for being tourist locales and therefore making impressions on visitors. It lacks the intimate scale and fine-grain retail of Stone Street or the continuity of just about any east-west street. The breaking up of the pedestrian zone by cross-town traffic that Ouroussoff mentions reminds me of the ubiquitous summer street fairs, hardly a great precedent for a pedestrian takeover of what truly belongs to them, but a worthy comparison.
The street fairs illustrate the importance of scale and frontage in a pedestrian zone. Typically occupying the wide north-south avenues, the street fairs delineate a smaller space down the center of the street, in the placement of the repeated bays of tents where the backs of the tents "front" the sidewalk, ironically making this typical pedestrian zone empty. And by fronting the new pedestrian zone in the center with food, music, wares the space is activated. The temporary fairs clearly indicate how scale and frontage activate pedestrian life, but they leave little to be desired in terms of design and the crass commercialism of the enterprises. I think narrow east-west streets would be great candidates in Manhattan for pedestrian zones, becoming public spaces more like parks than like retail malls, catering to residents instead of tourists, fronted by stoops not Duane Reades. And let's not forget there's plenty of areas in the other boroughs worthy of car-free streets.
Mannahatta in Miniature
Eric Sanderson's Mannahatta, a book, exhibition, and upcoming competition is sure to be a talked-about project this year, as it visualizes the island of Manhattan 400 years ago, when Henry Hudson arrived, and when the island was inhabited by natives. Striking and subtle juxtapositions show the differences between the island then and now.
[Mannahatta Project's view of Mannahatta ca. 1609 overlaid with today's footprint of Manhattan | image source]
Sanderson's ambitious, decade-in-the-making undertaking reminds me of a small plot of land in Greenwhich Village that recreates Manhattan's forest from 400 years ago. Alan Sonfist proposed Time Landscape of New York for the northeast corner of LaGuardia Place and Houston Street in 1965. It is located on the same block as I.M. Pei's University Village.
[Artist's statement | image source]
[Artist's plan and elevation | image source]
Construction started in 1978, during the Koch administration, though naturally the site has slowly evolved since then. The 1,000 sf (93 sm) plot is divided into three sections reflecting the three stages of forest growth (grasses-saplings-trees) with wildflowers throughout. The accessible park is one of the city's Greenstreets, city-owned land devoted to transportation but converted into green space. Maintenance is aided by volunteers.
[Street and aerial view today | image source]
As a piece of landscape art, the small park raises obvious questions about our relationship to the city and its nature. The natural in this sense has been obliterated, so even Sonfist's intervention is what can be called second-growth forest, obviously too small to carry the benefits of larger forests, though certain species (bugs, birds, people) do enjoy the diversity and density of vegetation. It's easy to miss this patch of green while walking either LaGuardia or Houston, but given the layered meanings in the park it deserves a second look and a slight detour inside the fenced-off landscape.
[Mannahatta Project's view of Mannahatta ca. 1609 overlaid with today's footprint of Manhattan | image source]
Sanderson's ambitious, decade-in-the-making undertaking reminds me of a small plot of land in Greenwhich Village that recreates Manhattan's forest from 400 years ago. Alan Sonfist proposed Time Landscape of New York for the northeast corner of LaGuardia Place and Houston Street in 1965. It is located on the same block as I.M. Pei's University Village.
[Artist's statement | image source]
[Artist's plan and elevation | image source]
Construction started in 1978, during the Koch administration, though naturally the site has slowly evolved since then. The 1,000 sf (93 sm) plot is divided into three sections reflecting the three stages of forest growth (grasses-saplings-trees) with wildflowers throughout. The accessible park is one of the city's Greenstreets, city-owned land devoted to transportation but converted into green space. Maintenance is aided by volunteers.
[Street and aerial view today | image source]
As a piece of landscape art, the small park raises obvious questions about our relationship to the city and its nature. The natural in this sense has been obliterated, so even Sonfist's intervention is what can be called second-growth forest, obviously too small to carry the benefits of larger forests, though certain species (bugs, birds, people) do enjoy the diversity and density of vegetation. It's easy to miss this patch of green while walking either LaGuardia or Houston, but given the layered meanings in the park it deserves a second look and a slight detour inside the fenced-off landscape.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Today's archidose #316
Here's a few views of the latest Studio 804 house, 3716 Springfield. Studio 804 is a design/build program at the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Design directed by Dan Rockhill. For more information check out my TENbyTEN article on Rockhill and Studio 804, "A Reality Dose on the Prairie."
Photographs are by archaalto, who has many more photos in his flickr set on the project.
Photographs are by archaalto, who has many more photos in his flickr set on the project.
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
$1,999.99!
In early 2007 I posted about the $836.00 winning bid for Peter Zumthor Works on ebay. At that time sellers on Amazon.com were asking $974.73 for the first edition (red cover) of Thinking Architecture, another highly-prized, out-of-print title by the Swiss architect. But now that Mr. Zumthor has won the Pritzker Prize, the price of that slim volume has changed...dramatically. As of last night two sellers are vying for collectors of first editions, with only one penny separating the two:
[not sure why the author is "Princeton Arch Staff", given that the publisher is Lars Muller and the author is, obviously, Peter Zumthor.]
I held on to Thinking Architecture, even after wondering a couple years ago if I should sell my copy for close to a grand and then go see some Zumthor buildings in person. These prices make me think I made the right decision, but on second thought I don't think the title will fetch two grand. Will somebody really pay that much for this first edition? More specifically, will architects -- really the only audience for the book -- pay that much? Not likely.
[not sure why the author is "Princeton Arch Staff", given that the publisher is Lars Muller and the author is, obviously, Peter Zumthor.]
I held on to Thinking Architecture, even after wondering a couple years ago if I should sell my copy for close to a grand and then go see some Zumthor buildings in person. These prices make me think I made the right decision, but on second thought I don't think the title will fetch two grand. Will somebody really pay that much for this first edition? More specifically, will architects -- really the only audience for the book -- pay that much? Not likely.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, Monday
My weekly page update:
Incremental Housing Strategy in Pune, India by Urbanouveau.
This week's book review is Urban Design, edited by Alex Krieger & William S. Saunders.
Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:
Incremental Housing Strategy in Pune, India by Urbanouveau.
This week's book review is Urban Design, edited by Alex Krieger & William S. Saunders.
Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:
For Architects
A searchable database of architecture firms around the world. (added to sidebar under architectural links::online journals)
GAB Report
GAB = Green Architecture Building Report, "a resource for sharing information on responsible, green, and sustainable design, ranging from the architecture to the building details, and from the site features to the building products." (added to sidebar under blogs::sustainability)
Urbanautica
"A search by images, words, signs, colors on places of living. A sailing by sight, a trip around ideas, people, and what makes them part of nature, and the world." (added to sidebar under blogs::urban)
Talkitecture
"A space dedicated to the discussion of contemporary world architecture, art and design." (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)
AIA/NY
The redesigned web page of the AIA New York Chapter.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Today's archidose #315
Fallingwater (aka the Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. Residence) in Bear Run, Pennsylvania by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1934.
For those who can't visit the house in Pennsylvania or see the large-scale model in the exhibition now at the Guggenheim in New York, a LEGO kit is coming soon.
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Book Review: Inspired by Nature: Animals
Inspired by Nature: Animals by Alejandro Bahamón & Patricia Pérez
W.W. Norton, 2009
Paperback, 192 pages
In an exhibition of Andreas Gursky's photographs years ago one image made me think of the relationship between the habitations of humans and other creatures. Shanghai portrays a building's atrium, with its yellowish tone and curving form immediately recalling beehives. Trying to move beyond a merely formal comparison, I thought at the time that the "human nature" that drives us to live collectively is not too far removed from other creatures, be they insects, mammals, or maybe even birds. So the formal morphology of what we build will find a number of resonances with habitats made by animals lacking the consciousness that is our blessing and curse. This idea links us to the creatures we share the earth with, but it also makes our harmful practices excusable to a certain degree. (We are doing things naturally, just like other creatures, so we don't need to worry about the impact of our actions.) Counter to this would be an approach to building that finds inspiration from all creatures great and small, thereby leading to an appreciation and respect of their lives, too.
The Inspired By Nature series by Alejandro Bahamón, Patricia Pérez and others can be seen as an embodiement of this approach. What at first glance sounds like a rational for another collection of contemporary architecture is actually a thoughtful investigation of the myriad ways designers are influenced by their surroundings. Previous titles looked at Plants and Minerals, with this latest installment focused on animals. The survey of 26 projects is split into four sections (Anatomical Structures, Animal Constructive Structures, Social Animal Constructive Structures, Temporary Animal Structures) with the first loaded with nearly half of them. The naming clearly indicates that structure is what influences architects, be it the skin and bones of animals or the habitats they build individually, collectively or temporarily. Nevertheless, not all of the projects included are necessarily inspired by nature, meaning the architects did not set out to replicate the anatomy or habitats of animals. As well, the book does not include obvious projects by the likes of Santiago Calatrava, whose sketchbooks illustrate his fondness for the elegance of animals' skeletal structures, or Herzog & de Meuron, whose Bird's Nest clearly spells that stadium's influence.
What is included ranges in size, location, and building type, from well- and lesser-known architects. Highlights include a renovation of a pig barn by FNP Architekten, a bus station curved like a shell by Justo GarcÃa Rubio, an apiary by Marlon Blackwell, and a house with a kangaroo "pouch" by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Architects. These illustrate the range of projects presented, respectively showing how concept and process are as important (or more so) than form in human/animal comparisons, how form and structure can find a symbiosis readily found in animals, how animals can actually be part of a building's function (in this case bees), and how a playfulness can extend from finding inspiration in the animal world. The text by Bahamón and Pérez does a good job of explaining each project's inclusion in the book, without belabouring the point. Color photos and drawings predominate, alongside sketches of the animals and habitats that give architects inspiration free of charge.
or 
W.W. Norton, 2009
Paperback, 192 pages
In an exhibition of Andreas Gursky's photographs years ago one image made me think of the relationship between the habitations of humans and other creatures. Shanghai portrays a building's atrium, with its yellowish tone and curving form immediately recalling beehives. Trying to move beyond a merely formal comparison, I thought at the time that the "human nature" that drives us to live collectively is not too far removed from other creatures, be they insects, mammals, or maybe even birds. So the formal morphology of what we build will find a number of resonances with habitats made by animals lacking the consciousness that is our blessing and curse. This idea links us to the creatures we share the earth with, but it also makes our harmful practices excusable to a certain degree. (We are doing things naturally, just like other creatures, so we don't need to worry about the impact of our actions.) Counter to this would be an approach to building that finds inspiration from all creatures great and small, thereby leading to an appreciation and respect of their lives, too.
The Inspired By Nature series by Alejandro Bahamón, Patricia Pérez and others can be seen as an embodiement of this approach. What at first glance sounds like a rational for another collection of contemporary architecture is actually a thoughtful investigation of the myriad ways designers are influenced by their surroundings. Previous titles looked at Plants and Minerals, with this latest installment focused on animals. The survey of 26 projects is split into four sections (Anatomical Structures, Animal Constructive Structures, Social Animal Constructive Structures, Temporary Animal Structures) with the first loaded with nearly half of them. The naming clearly indicates that structure is what influences architects, be it the skin and bones of animals or the habitats they build individually, collectively or temporarily. Nevertheless, not all of the projects included are necessarily inspired by nature, meaning the architects did not set out to replicate the anatomy or habitats of animals. As well, the book does not include obvious projects by the likes of Santiago Calatrava, whose sketchbooks illustrate his fondness for the elegance of animals' skeletal structures, or Herzog & de Meuron, whose Bird's Nest clearly spells that stadium's influence.
What is included ranges in size, location, and building type, from well- and lesser-known architects. Highlights include a renovation of a pig barn by FNP Architekten, a bus station curved like a shell by Justo GarcÃa Rubio, an apiary by Marlon Blackwell, and a house with a kangaroo "pouch" by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Architects. These illustrate the range of projects presented, respectively showing how concept and process are as important (or more so) than form in human/animal comparisons, how form and structure can find a symbiosis readily found in animals, how animals can actually be part of a building's function (in this case bees), and how a playfulness can extend from finding inspiration in the animal world. The text by Bahamón and Pérez does a good job of explaining each project's inclusion in the book, without belabouring the point. Color photos and drawings predominate, alongside sketches of the animals and habitats that give architects inspiration free of charge.
or
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Craigslist Ad of the Week
Title: Project Architect: Public and Design Excellence projects
When: 2009-05-18
Who: Robert Siegel Architects
Description:
When: 2009-05-18
Who: Robert Siegel Architects
Description:
Comments: Oh, where to begin with this one. I can't tell if it's a job posting or advice for job seekers. It seems odd that a firm looking to hire would talk about using "care in selecting the paper, the font, and the organization of text on the page." It sounds controlling as well as very, very particular. What's probably most unique about Robert Siegel Architects is the test they administer, the first step in their three-step process towards being hired. Many architects might not be willing to put up with such a process, but today I'm guessing many won't think twice about it. But what's most interesting about these Siegel ads is the number of them, as they pop up on Craigslist regularly--for at least half a year now--as well as on other job boards. This makes me think Siegel isn't really hiring to fill a position, that they are shopping around for the best and brightest. This is speculation, and if correct it's their prerogative, but nevertheless it's mildly unsettling, as if the current state of the profession is an opportunity to mine talent towards hiring, maybe, at a future date. But, like I said, this is speculation.We are looking for talented and passionate architects who are excited about making buildings and working outside their comfort zone towards innovation in architecture. Hard work and dedication, combined with inspiration and drawing ability, is one thing that all staff members share. You must have truly excellent written and oral communication skills.
Cover Letter with Salary History:
Send us a brief, signed cover letter specific to Robert Siegel Architects that states why it makes sense to hire you. Graphic presentation is key. This is your first impression and demonstrates your ability as a designer. Use care in selecting the paper, the font, and the organization of text on the page.
One-Page Resume:
People who have stayed at a firm for 4-5 years are very attractive. We are looking for great experience and commitment. Limit your resume to one page only.
Your Work Samples:
Show us only your best stuff and the work you are most passionate about. You should showcase your abilities - whether it is a sketch, a floor plan, a construction detail, wall section, spec section, watercolor, etc. So long as it is your work, we are interested in seeing it. Please do not show renderings made by others. Submitting renderings other than your own will lead to automatic rejection.
Test:
After making it through the first resume review process, we give selected promising candidates a graphic test in our office. The goals of this 20 minute test are:
Personal Interview:
- Drawing ability using a pencil. This is a tool that architects use to communicate. In our office we are always drawing and sketching freehand.
- Passion for architecture and analytical ability. There is a portion of the test in which you have to draw a plan and a section or elevation of any piece of architecture. Amazingly, either history is no longer taught or the relevance of our architectural past is not integrated into design curricula since most people fail this portion catastrophically.
- Basic design ability. This is a classic "Architecture 101" test to measure spatial design ability.
You will be asked to present highlights of your work and a detail or two. Move quickly and ask questions. Let the person conducting the interview hold the portfolio and turn at their own pace. You must demonstrate your ability to edit and to be concise. Do not be late: Make sure that you are on time and are dressed as if you were meeting with a valued client.
Professional References:
You should have outstanding professional references that are able to talk about your specific strengths and abilities. Please have these ready to give at the conclusion of a personal interview.
ABOUT THE JOB:
Are you a talented architect with 5 to 10 years experience? Do you enjoy working rigorously on exciting design projects for demanding clients? Do you love to draw, make models, and visit construction sites?
Would you like to work on projects ranging in size from $500,000 to $150 million in construction value? Are you energized by the idea of working with outstanding public clients including the United States General Services Administration and the New York State University Construction Fund? Do you enjoy working with private companies and high-end private residential clients?
Robert Siegel Architects focuses on architectural innovation, every day, for every client. Our staff is an energetic and talented group drawn from all over the world with a passion for architecture and expertise in design, technology, urban and graphic design. We offer a great working environment, a comprehensive benefits package and competitive salaries.
If you would like to be part of our growth and are interested in contributing to the creative process at a design, detail and management level, we would like to see your work. For consideration please mail (no emails, please) the following:
Please send to:
- Cover Letter with salary history
- Resume
- Work Samples that demonstrate your design and technical ability
Robert Siegel Architects
Attn: Suzann Wolfe
37 West 37th Street, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10018NO PHONE CALLS OR EMAILS PLEASE
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Zumthor Politics
Shortly after the announcement of Peter Zumthor as this year's Pritzker Prize winner, critics took aim at the Swiss architect's focus on the aesthetic and experiential qualities of space and his apparent lack of politics or confrontation with the myriad crises at hand today. Examples include Christopher Hawthorne's assertion that "Zumthor's work has nothing to do with social activism, disaster relief, sustainability, new design software, mega-cities, affordability or infrastructure -- all of which have crowded together recently near the top of the profession's agenda -- [his winning is] a boost for the idea that architecture is fundamentally an aesthetic rather than a political profession." James S. Russell calls the winner a "Swiss Hermit" and says the jury "avoids contemporary challenges" and "left me wishing it had been more adventurous." Clay Risen goes furthest in his call to "Fix the Pritzker," stating, "there's a real opportunity to reorient architecture toward more humane, socially engaged goals. Getting rid of the Pritzker—at least as we know it today—would be a good start."
Additional, less-critical coverage includes Paul Goldberger fairly typical portrait of "Zumthor's Quiet Power," Richard Lacayo's coverage in Time Magazine, Thomas de Monchaux's essay on "The Mystery of Peter Zumthor" and interviews with Zumthor at The Architect's Journal, with Blair Kamin and with Edward Lifson.
I'm interested in addressing the critiques linked in the first paragraph above, ones that think Zumthor is not a political architect because he does not deal with what are held to be political issues, such as those mentioned by Christopher Hawthorne. Politics in these cases is defined one way, an engagement with government and its policies. Architects are always dealing with government, even if they are building a relatively insignificant structure like a hot dog stand, because they are following codes, zoning and other rules established by governments. But Hawthorne and others want architects to go beyond this and engage governments in their choice of commissions and their working process, leading to buildings that formally express this engagement. I would argue that these three parts of architecture (project selection, process, formal product) are political in Zumthor's work, though not in the view of politics held above, and that architects can learn by his actions.
The definition of politics I would adopt is "the often internally conflicting interrelationships among people in a society." Henri Lefebvre's assertion that "(social) space is a (social) product" is perhaps the best sentence describing this fact, though it gets lost in today's tumble around big issues and bigger plans. Basically this definition and quote situate all architects and their projects within a political process of building and shaping space. Architects are but one role in the process, which also involves the government, the landowner, the builder, the current occupants and future occupants, the neighbors, and more. In capitalist society certain roles are stronger in shaping space, but in most cases all are able to take part in the process, even though it may not be so obvious, so easy or so successful. Architectural projects in democratic societies can be seen as the utmost expression of politics, in that the conflicting interrelationships are played out in space, with the help of money, power and (free) speech. Architects tend to either play down this fact, in favor of relegating the political to the client and ignoring the importance of form in public space's contested realm, or taking up the cause to the extreme, like Architecture for Humanity (AFH) and other architects fighting for the public whose voice and wants are usually squashed in the process of building. Basically, all architects are political -- like it or not -- and how they practice situates them within a gradient from ignorant to activist.
So where is Zumthor in this gradient? Returning to the three parts of the architectural process mentioned above (ignoring teaching, writing and other marginal aspects that influence the process but are not directly involved), he is closer to being an activist than an ignoramus, because he is very selective of the projects he takes, he works on projects for an amount of time much longer than most architects, and he creates buildings at odds with most developer-driven architectural production today. Of course these are all related (the second aspect makes the first a prerequisite, for example), but in this way of practicing Zumthor is advocating for an architecture not only distilled to its essence (as many critics attest, correctly or incorrectly) but also that engages its physical, social and political contexts in a very particular way. He does not choose projects that aim to make a quick buck or whose presence is harmful environmentally or socially. He works a long time to make buildings that last a long time, not disposable architecture. And his forms raise one's appreciation of his or her surroundings, without excluding everybody but a select few (many of his projects require payment for admission, so they are not totally accessible).
Zumthor is not the model architect, that is obvious. His idiosyncratic ways and designs, though, should be commended as an alternative to more standard practices that are complacent in their adverse impact on the environment and social life. Few architects can practice the way he does, but the same can be said about architects or organizations like AFH. I believe we need these and other architects who make the political gradient that much more diverse, calling attention to the architect's role in the "conflicting interrelationships among people in a society."
Additional, less-critical coverage includes Paul Goldberger fairly typical portrait of "Zumthor's Quiet Power," Richard Lacayo's coverage in Time Magazine, Thomas de Monchaux's essay on "The Mystery of Peter Zumthor" and interviews with Zumthor at The Architect's Journal, with Blair Kamin and with Edward Lifson.
I'm interested in addressing the critiques linked in the first paragraph above, ones that think Zumthor is not a political architect because he does not deal with what are held to be political issues, such as those mentioned by Christopher Hawthorne. Politics in these cases is defined one way, an engagement with government and its policies. Architects are always dealing with government, even if they are building a relatively insignificant structure like a hot dog stand, because they are following codes, zoning and other rules established by governments. But Hawthorne and others want architects to go beyond this and engage governments in their choice of commissions and their working process, leading to buildings that formally express this engagement. I would argue that these three parts of architecture (project selection, process, formal product) are political in Zumthor's work, though not in the view of politics held above, and that architects can learn by his actions.
The definition of politics I would adopt is "the often internally conflicting interrelationships among people in a society." Henri Lefebvre's assertion that "(social) space is a (social) product" is perhaps the best sentence describing this fact, though it gets lost in today's tumble around big issues and bigger plans. Basically this definition and quote situate all architects and their projects within a political process of building and shaping space. Architects are but one role in the process, which also involves the government, the landowner, the builder, the current occupants and future occupants, the neighbors, and more. In capitalist society certain roles are stronger in shaping space, but in most cases all are able to take part in the process, even though it may not be so obvious, so easy or so successful. Architectural projects in democratic societies can be seen as the utmost expression of politics, in that the conflicting interrelationships are played out in space, with the help of money, power and (free) speech. Architects tend to either play down this fact, in favor of relegating the political to the client and ignoring the importance of form in public space's contested realm, or taking up the cause to the extreme, like Architecture for Humanity (AFH) and other architects fighting for the public whose voice and wants are usually squashed in the process of building. Basically, all architects are political -- like it or not -- and how they practice situates them within a gradient from ignorant to activist.
So where is Zumthor in this gradient? Returning to the three parts of the architectural process mentioned above (ignoring teaching, writing and other marginal aspects that influence the process but are not directly involved), he is closer to being an activist than an ignoramus, because he is very selective of the projects he takes, he works on projects for an amount of time much longer than most architects, and he creates buildings at odds with most developer-driven architectural production today. Of course these are all related (the second aspect makes the first a prerequisite, for example), but in this way of practicing Zumthor is advocating for an architecture not only distilled to its essence (as many critics attest, correctly or incorrectly) but also that engages its physical, social and political contexts in a very particular way. He does not choose projects that aim to make a quick buck or whose presence is harmful environmentally or socially. He works a long time to make buildings that last a long time, not disposable architecture. And his forms raise one's appreciation of his or her surroundings, without excluding everybody but a select few (many of his projects require payment for admission, so they are not totally accessible).
Zumthor is not the model architect, that is obvious. His idiosyncratic ways and designs, though, should be commended as an alternative to more standard practices that are complacent in their adverse impact on the environment and social life. Few architects can practice the way he does, but the same can be said about architects or organizations like AFH. I believe we need these and other architects who make the political gradient that much more diverse, calling attention to the architect's role in the "conflicting interrelationships among people in a society."
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Today's archidose #314
The Burnham Pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park by UNStudio, 2009. This is a construction shot of this week's dose.
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose
Monday, May 18, 2009
Monday, Monday
My weekly page update:
Two Pavilions in New York City and Chicago by UNStudio.
This week's book review is Urban China Bootlegged by C-Lab for Volume, edited by Jeffrey Inaba.
Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:
Two Pavilions in New York City and Chicago by UNStudio.
This week's book review is Urban China Bootlegged by C-Lab for Volume, edited by Jeffrey Inaba.
Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:
On Street Level
"Random thoughts on our urban world." (added to sidebar under blogs::urban)
yourchitect
A "new site that brings everything you need to imagine, plan, build and decorate your home together in one place." (added to sidebar under architectural links::online journals)
architecture online
The "the first architecture database connecting online firms from all over the world." (added to sidebar under architectural links::online journals)
My-Architecture.com
"Architecture news around the web. See what is new in architecture and design." (added to sidebar under blogs::aggregate)
Mark Lamster
Blog of the former Gutter-meister.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Today's archidose #313
Here's an exterior and interior view of Antón Garcia-Abril and Ensamble Studio's Musical Studies Center in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The building was featured a few years ago on my weekly page. Photographs are by viditocho.
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose
Saturday, May 16, 2009
From Within Outward
Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward opened yesterday at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition marks the New York institution's 50th anniversary and runs until August 23. The exhibition follows last year's completion of the building's three-year restoration and is the first on the architect of this scope in a building of his design. This fact is much less impressive than the assertion from Phil Allsop of the Frank Lloyd Foundation that the approximately 200 drawings on 64 projects displayed is less than 1% of the Foundation's holdings. Similarly scaled exhibitions could be held once a year until 2120!
[Outside the Guggenheim | photo by archidose]
Unveiled last year after repairs to the concrete and a fresh coat of paint, the exterior's current, like-new appearance is an important element in the 50-year-anniversary exhibition, one that sets the stage for one's appreciation of Wright's work. To have the building under scaffolding would distract from a formal appreciation of his buildings, making one think instead about the stories of leaky roofs and other critiques. Instead the visitor is greeted by a gleaming object across from Central Park, as if Wright's thinking is as fresh today as it was 50 years ago.
[At the bottom of the atrium before Thomas Krens et al took the mic | photo by archidose]
Unlike many exhibitions that have occupied the still controversial spiral ramp (controversial for curators and artists faced with mounting works on sloped and curved floors and walls), From Within Outward does not make itself noticeable from below. It preserves the atrium, its solid guardrails, triangular light covers and creamy white paint as a space of architecture, free of art. Only people activate the space of the atrium and ramp, minus Wright's Hillside Theater Curtain from Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin, a colorful hanging visible directly opposite the main entrance. Strategically placed in the two-story High Gallery, the curtain draws one up the ramp and the beginning of the exhibition, a reversal of the typical Guggenheim route via an elevator trip to the top and a leisurely stroll down the ramp. Climbing the ramp one moves forward in time, from the 1904 Larkin Building in Buffalo to the Guggenheim itself, modestly located at the ramp's climax.
[Hillside Theater Curtain (1952) from Taliesin | photo by archidose]
More modesty was exhibited in Thomas Krens's brief introduction during a press preview on Thursday. The former director of the Guggenheim, and co-curator of From Within Outward (with David van der Leer and Maria Nicanor), used superlatives like "brilliant" and "superb," calling the less-than-1% Foundation drawings in the show the "200 best." Superb was his description for the second and fifth floor galleries in the 1992 annex by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates. These two galleries respectively house some of Wright's domestic designs and his urban projects. Both are rendered in dark paint on the walls, accessible via corridors that draw one into the galleries via subdued lighting and highlighted imagery on the walls.
[Left: 2nd floor gallery entrance; right: 5th floor gallery entrance | photos by archidose]
Most of the second floor gallery is occupied by custom vitrines which house Wright's drawings, be they renderings or working drawings. Difficulty in viewing the drawings arises from the vitrines being positioned end-to-end and back-to-back down the center of the room, their orientation level to the floor (unlike others on the spiral ramp placed at an angle, described later) and the glass surface on top. This means that people must crowd at the edge of the table to get a good look at Wright's signature illustrations, surely to be problematic with the anticipated large crowds.
[2nd floor gallery | photo by archidose]
The fifth floor gallery is a bit looser than the second floor, though it follows the same formula of vitrines in the center, with more renderings, models and multimedia at the perimeter. On the upper level the vitrines are arranged in smaller groups, allowing the drawings to be viewed more easily and from more angles, a condition aided by the different sizes and the stepped perimeters of the vitrines. The fifth floor space jibes with Krens's assertion that the show is "light," or not overdone. Many, many more Wright drawings could fill the ramps and annex galleries, but the curators opted to allow some breathing room in the different spaces, heightening the impact of the individual pieces as artifacts.
[5th floor gallery | photo by archidose]
The second type of vitrine, in addition to the tabletop variety in the annex galleries, are slanted ones located on the spiral ramp, the Guggenheim's pièce de résistance. These display pieces, what Krens called brilliant, accomplish a few things: they refer to the drafting tables used in Wright's day, they negotiate the sloping floor, they reinforce the central space of the atrium in their orientation and, most importantly, they make the drawings easy to look at and therefore appreciate.
[One of the many vitrines on the spiral ramp holding Wright's drawings | photo by archidose]
Individually these vitrines are commendable, well-made and well-detailed, but in combination, peered at across the atrium space (below) they appear haphazard. Oriented to the perpendicular walls of the spiral ramp, the vitrines fail to address the atrium space itself. The curators stayed away from the sloping exterior walls (projecting slides on these surfaces), but in doing so they opted for what are basically objects in space, and they failed to think of these in the larger scheme of Wright's building housing the exhibition.
[More vitrines on the spiral ramp holding Wright's drawings | photo by archidose]
Overshadowing the 200 drawings, slideshows and animations (the last, made by Harvard GSD students, are well-made but displayed on screens too small and badly located to compete with their neighbors) will surely be the newly commissioned models. Most impressive is the exploded version of the Herbert Jacobs House #1, fabricated by Brooklyn's Situ Studio and located in the second floor annex gallery. The various components of the house are held apart in separate layers, suspended with wires and lead weights. It shows the floor plan at bottom, with everything above from radiant flooring and windows to walls and the roof. The choice of Jacobs House is important, for it shows the workings of one of Wright's Usonian houses, one of many completed, but a fraction of what Wright would have liked to see populating the countryside, a la Broadacre City. For what's as close to mass-production as Wright could get, the Usonian house illustrates the superiority of its design over the suburban standards that ended up predominating, at the level of the plan, the spaces and the services provided.
[Exploded model of Herbert Jacobs House #1, 1936-37 | photo by archidose]
The fifth floor gallery includes a model for the Pittsburgh Point Park Civic Center #1, made by Kennedy Fabrications. Engaged and glowing within one of the dark walls, the unbuilt design located glass orbs in an atrium space ringed by circulation. In addition to the spheres housing the sea creatures, aquariums were fitted underneath the ring of circulation. The design illustrates a commonality with many architects, how ideas are tested on various projects. In this case we see a Guggenheim-esque spiral being used for another exhibition space, though in Pittsburgh the space of the atrium is anything but hollow. (Of course artists faced with site-specific installations in the Guggenheim's atrium do their best to fill its void.)
[Detail of model for the Pittsburgh Point Park Civic Center #1, 1947 | photo by archidose]
Another spiral project is the unbuilt Gordon Strong Automobile Objective and Planetarium, where an exterior ramp is an extension of the surrounding roadways, as if the building exists to be driven on and around. The Situ Studio model cuts a wedge from the wedding cake, revealing the surprise inside, a hemisphere recreating the night sky. One need only think of Polshek Partnership's Hayden Planetarium alongside Wright's design to see the sharp change in the representation of the heavens via architectural representation, namely from hidden to exposed.
[Model of Gordon Strong Automobile Objective and Planetarium, 1924-25 | photo by archidose]
Models also include, among others, the unbuilt Huntington Hartford Sports Club/Play Resort:
[Model of the Huntington Hartford Sports Club/Play Resort, 1947 | photo by archidose]
And Wright's Plan for Greater Baghdad, both by Situ Studio:
[Model of the Plan for Greater Baghdad, 1957 | photo by archidose]
The last is part of what could be called a mini-exhibit within From Within Outward. His Plan for Greater Baghdad and designs for various buildings in the city are located near the top of the Guggenheim ramp, partitioned off from the atrium by three sloping and kinked walls.
[Looking towards the partitioned "mini-exhibit" for Wright's Baghdad Plan | photo by archidose]
These smaller spaces within the larger atrium/ramp space elevates the importance of Wright's designs for Baghdad, a place whose position in world affairs has obviously changed in the last 50 years. His building designs include landscape elements (green roofs, trellises, etc.) that would be fitting in today's sustainability trend. The models downplay this aspect, but Wright's attempt to turn buildings into landscapes was surely ahead of its time, even when compared to the earth berm architecture from over 30 years ago.
[Inside the partitioned "mini-exhibit" for Wright's Baghdad Plan | photo by archidose]
So what does all of this add up to? What does the exhibition say about Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture, his career, his drawings? If anything it celebrates these, just as it celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Guggenheim (also the year of Wright's death; he did not live to see it open). The show also brings Wright's designs into the contemporary via the newly commissioned models and the choice of exhibiting unbuilt projects that many people will be seeing for the first time. The curators have created a surprisingly fresh exhibition on an architect gone for half a century. It is not without its faults (mentioned above, namely certain formal decisions on displaying drawings), but overall it is a commendable exhibition that rewards the extended gaze, those willing to soak in drawings by Wright's hand and the animations and models that cast a new light on what could have been.
[Outside the Guggenheim | photo by archidose]
Unveiled last year after repairs to the concrete and a fresh coat of paint, the exterior's current, like-new appearance is an important element in the 50-year-anniversary exhibition, one that sets the stage for one's appreciation of Wright's work. To have the building under scaffolding would distract from a formal appreciation of his buildings, making one think instead about the stories of leaky roofs and other critiques. Instead the visitor is greeted by a gleaming object across from Central Park, as if Wright's thinking is as fresh today as it was 50 years ago.
[At the bottom of the atrium before Thomas Krens et al took the mic | photo by archidose]
Unlike many exhibitions that have occupied the still controversial spiral ramp (controversial for curators and artists faced with mounting works on sloped and curved floors and walls), From Within Outward does not make itself noticeable from below. It preserves the atrium, its solid guardrails, triangular light covers and creamy white paint as a space of architecture, free of art. Only people activate the space of the atrium and ramp, minus Wright's Hillside Theater Curtain from Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin, a colorful hanging visible directly opposite the main entrance. Strategically placed in the two-story High Gallery, the curtain draws one up the ramp and the beginning of the exhibition, a reversal of the typical Guggenheim route via an elevator trip to the top and a leisurely stroll down the ramp. Climbing the ramp one moves forward in time, from the 1904 Larkin Building in Buffalo to the Guggenheim itself, modestly located at the ramp's climax.
[Hillside Theater Curtain (1952) from Taliesin | photo by archidose]
More modesty was exhibited in Thomas Krens's brief introduction during a press preview on Thursday. The former director of the Guggenheim, and co-curator of From Within Outward (with David van der Leer and Maria Nicanor), used superlatives like "brilliant" and "superb," calling the less-than-1% Foundation drawings in the show the "200 best." Superb was his description for the second and fifth floor galleries in the 1992 annex by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates. These two galleries respectively house some of Wright's domestic designs and his urban projects. Both are rendered in dark paint on the walls, accessible via corridors that draw one into the galleries via subdued lighting and highlighted imagery on the walls.
[Left: 2nd floor gallery entrance; right: 5th floor gallery entrance | photos by archidose]
Most of the second floor gallery is occupied by custom vitrines which house Wright's drawings, be they renderings or working drawings. Difficulty in viewing the drawings arises from the vitrines being positioned end-to-end and back-to-back down the center of the room, their orientation level to the floor (unlike others on the spiral ramp placed at an angle, described later) and the glass surface on top. This means that people must crowd at the edge of the table to get a good look at Wright's signature illustrations, surely to be problematic with the anticipated large crowds.
[2nd floor gallery | photo by archidose]
The fifth floor gallery is a bit looser than the second floor, though it follows the same formula of vitrines in the center, with more renderings, models and multimedia at the perimeter. On the upper level the vitrines are arranged in smaller groups, allowing the drawings to be viewed more easily and from more angles, a condition aided by the different sizes and the stepped perimeters of the vitrines. The fifth floor space jibes with Krens's assertion that the show is "light," or not overdone. Many, many more Wright drawings could fill the ramps and annex galleries, but the curators opted to allow some breathing room in the different spaces, heightening the impact of the individual pieces as artifacts.
[5th floor gallery | photo by archidose]
The second type of vitrine, in addition to the tabletop variety in the annex galleries, are slanted ones located on the spiral ramp, the Guggenheim's pièce de résistance. These display pieces, what Krens called brilliant, accomplish a few things: they refer to the drafting tables used in Wright's day, they negotiate the sloping floor, they reinforce the central space of the atrium in their orientation and, most importantly, they make the drawings easy to look at and therefore appreciate.
[One of the many vitrines on the spiral ramp holding Wright's drawings | photo by archidose]
Individually these vitrines are commendable, well-made and well-detailed, but in combination, peered at across the atrium space (below) they appear haphazard. Oriented to the perpendicular walls of the spiral ramp, the vitrines fail to address the atrium space itself. The curators stayed away from the sloping exterior walls (projecting slides on these surfaces), but in doing so they opted for what are basically objects in space, and they failed to think of these in the larger scheme of Wright's building housing the exhibition.
[More vitrines on the spiral ramp holding Wright's drawings | photo by archidose]
Overshadowing the 200 drawings, slideshows and animations (the last, made by Harvard GSD students, are well-made but displayed on screens too small and badly located to compete with their neighbors) will surely be the newly commissioned models. Most impressive is the exploded version of the Herbert Jacobs House #1, fabricated by Brooklyn's Situ Studio and located in the second floor annex gallery. The various components of the house are held apart in separate layers, suspended with wires and lead weights. It shows the floor plan at bottom, with everything above from radiant flooring and windows to walls and the roof. The choice of Jacobs House is important, for it shows the workings of one of Wright's Usonian houses, one of many completed, but a fraction of what Wright would have liked to see populating the countryside, a la Broadacre City. For what's as close to mass-production as Wright could get, the Usonian house illustrates the superiority of its design over the suburban standards that ended up predominating, at the level of the plan, the spaces and the services provided.
[Exploded model of Herbert Jacobs House #1, 1936-37 | photo by archidose]
The fifth floor gallery includes a model for the Pittsburgh Point Park Civic Center #1, made by Kennedy Fabrications. Engaged and glowing within one of the dark walls, the unbuilt design located glass orbs in an atrium space ringed by circulation. In addition to the spheres housing the sea creatures, aquariums were fitted underneath the ring of circulation. The design illustrates a commonality with many architects, how ideas are tested on various projects. In this case we see a Guggenheim-esque spiral being used for another exhibition space, though in Pittsburgh the space of the atrium is anything but hollow. (Of course artists faced with site-specific installations in the Guggenheim's atrium do their best to fill its void.)
[Detail of model for the Pittsburgh Point Park Civic Center #1, 1947 | photo by archidose]
Another spiral project is the unbuilt Gordon Strong Automobile Objective and Planetarium, where an exterior ramp is an extension of the surrounding roadways, as if the building exists to be driven on and around. The Situ Studio model cuts a wedge from the wedding cake, revealing the surprise inside, a hemisphere recreating the night sky. One need only think of Polshek Partnership's Hayden Planetarium alongside Wright's design to see the sharp change in the representation of the heavens via architectural representation, namely from hidden to exposed.
[Model of Gordon Strong Automobile Objective and Planetarium, 1924-25 | photo by archidose]
Models also include, among others, the unbuilt Huntington Hartford Sports Club/Play Resort:
[Model of the Huntington Hartford Sports Club/Play Resort, 1947 | photo by archidose]
And Wright's Plan for Greater Baghdad, both by Situ Studio:
[Model of the Plan for Greater Baghdad, 1957 | photo by archidose]
The last is part of what could be called a mini-exhibit within From Within Outward. His Plan for Greater Baghdad and designs for various buildings in the city are located near the top of the Guggenheim ramp, partitioned off from the atrium by three sloping and kinked walls.
[Looking towards the partitioned "mini-exhibit" for Wright's Baghdad Plan | photo by archidose]
These smaller spaces within the larger atrium/ramp space elevates the importance of Wright's designs for Baghdad, a place whose position in world affairs has obviously changed in the last 50 years. His building designs include landscape elements (green roofs, trellises, etc.) that would be fitting in today's sustainability trend. The models downplay this aspect, but Wright's attempt to turn buildings into landscapes was surely ahead of its time, even when compared to the earth berm architecture from over 30 years ago.
[Inside the partitioned "mini-exhibit" for Wright's Baghdad Plan | photo by archidose]
So what does all of this add up to? What does the exhibition say about Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture, his career, his drawings? If anything it celebrates these, just as it celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Guggenheim (also the year of Wright's death; he did not live to see it open). The show also brings Wright's designs into the contemporary via the newly commissioned models and the choice of exhibiting unbuilt projects that many people will be seeing for the first time. The curators have created a surprisingly fresh exhibition on an architect gone for half a century. It is not without its faults (mentioned above, namely certain formal decisions on displaying drawings), but overall it is a commendable exhibition that rewards the extended gaze, those willing to soak in drawings by Wright's hand and the animations and models that cast a new light on what could have been.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Today's archidose #312
Here's a few views of the Art Institue of Chicago's Modern Wing by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The building opens to the public on Saturday, May 16, 2009. Photographs are by John Zacharle, who has a Flickr set with many more shots of The Modern Wing. Note, the middle shot is the Terzo Piano Chicago restaurant at the museum, designed by local firm Dirk Denison Architects.
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Book Review: Yes is More
Yes is More by Bjarke Ingels Group
DAC, 2009
Paperback, 400 pages
The monograph has become a fairly predictable format for architecture books, varying, it seems, only in terms of how much content is presented and what the page looks like. Collecting photographs of finished buildings, renderings of unbuilt or soon-to-be-built projects, conventional architectural drawings, descriptive text, essays by admirers, and sometimes more, the clear goal of monographs is product, not process. Certain exceptions to this unwritten rule exist, most notably OMA/Rem Koolhaas's influential S,M,L,XL and later Content, but the effort and potential risks associated with undertaking such preclude more in their ilk, meaning the tried-and-true prevails. Many monographs do attempt different ways of arranging the content and/or expanding it to include process as well as product, but for a full understanding of why a particular design looks the way it does one is left yearning for more. Perhaps architects do not want to reveal too much, or they've moved beyond the buildings collected into a monograph. Whatever the reason, this "archicomic on architectural evolution" stands apart from other monographs to provide abundant insight into the working process of Denmark's Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
Arising from an exhibition at the Danish Architecture Centre, the book calls itself "a popular cultural manifesto" instead of a monograph. It structures the 35 projects more or less like your run-of-the-mill monograph -- each project is presented distinctly -- yet in comic book format. Bjarke Ingels is the constant presence, literally, from one project to the next, his visage pops up in unexpected places to describe some tidbit via comic speech balloons. One traditional format (monograph) is traded for another (comic) and the results make each project read like a narrative. The words, images and diagrams combine with the usual photos, drawings, models and renderings to explain each design from inception to occupation, or however far the project was taken. One sees consistency in the various projects, but more than a formal consistency. One sees the questioning of status quo responses, not out of "being different" but in an effort to improve upon the shortcomings of traditional typologies. The Mountain Dwelling project in Copenhagen is a good example of BIG's strategy of using given conditions (site, program) to generate designs beyond expectations. In this case all residential units are south-facing with a large outdoor space, suburbia transplanted to the city yet retaining the latter's density.
So is the "archicomic" something that will catch on with other architects? Surely there will be others like this, but one must acknowledge that it is the combination of words and images here that makes it work. It's not just a matter of adopting the comic format and the deal is done; the choice of words and images is important. BIG's evolutionary diagrams work extremely well with the comic format, in many cases telling enough of one portion of the story on their own. As well, the words floating in the speech bubbles and other boxes are more lighthearted than most writing on architecture, but nevertheless informative and intelligent. If other architects want to learn something from this book, they should be inspired by how BIG found something appropriate to the firm and their output. As Bjarke Ingels explains early in the book, they tried to convey the energy and life of the office and its projects, to make it personal and to tell the stories behind the designs. They succeeded and the reader is better off for it.
or or 
Update 08.03: Taschen will be distributing the book in the American market. It will be available in mid-November, 2009. According to somebody at Taschen the book can be pre-ordered via their web site or by calling 1-888-TASCHEN, though I don't see it listed on the former.
Update 11.11: The book is now available at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk via the links above.
DAC, 2009
Paperback, 400 pages
The monograph has become a fairly predictable format for architecture books, varying, it seems, only in terms of how much content is presented and what the page looks like. Collecting photographs of finished buildings, renderings of unbuilt or soon-to-be-built projects, conventional architectural drawings, descriptive text, essays by admirers, and sometimes more, the clear goal of monographs is product, not process. Certain exceptions to this unwritten rule exist, most notably OMA/Rem Koolhaas's influential S,M,L,XL and later Content, but the effort and potential risks associated with undertaking such preclude more in their ilk, meaning the tried-and-true prevails. Many monographs do attempt different ways of arranging the content and/or expanding it to include process as well as product, but for a full understanding of why a particular design looks the way it does one is left yearning for more. Perhaps architects do not want to reveal too much, or they've moved beyond the buildings collected into a monograph. Whatever the reason, this "archicomic on architectural evolution" stands apart from other monographs to provide abundant insight into the working process of Denmark's Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
Arising from an exhibition at the Danish Architecture Centre, the book calls itself "a popular cultural manifesto" instead of a monograph. It structures the 35 projects more or less like your run-of-the-mill monograph -- each project is presented distinctly -- yet in comic book format. Bjarke Ingels is the constant presence, literally, from one project to the next, his visage pops up in unexpected places to describe some tidbit via comic speech balloons. One traditional format (monograph) is traded for another (comic) and the results make each project read like a narrative. The words, images and diagrams combine with the usual photos, drawings, models and renderings to explain each design from inception to occupation, or however far the project was taken. One sees consistency in the various projects, but more than a formal consistency. One sees the questioning of status quo responses, not out of "being different" but in an effort to improve upon the shortcomings of traditional typologies. The Mountain Dwelling project in Copenhagen is a good example of BIG's strategy of using given conditions (site, program) to generate designs beyond expectations. In this case all residential units are south-facing with a large outdoor space, suburbia transplanted to the city yet retaining the latter's density.
So is the "archicomic" something that will catch on with other architects? Surely there will be others like this, but one must acknowledge that it is the combination of words and images here that makes it work. It's not just a matter of adopting the comic format and the deal is done; the choice of words and images is important. BIG's evolutionary diagrams work extremely well with the comic format, in many cases telling enough of one portion of the story on their own. As well, the words floating in the speech bubbles and other boxes are more lighthearted than most writing on architecture, but nevertheless informative and intelligent. If other architects want to learn something from this book, they should be inspired by how BIG found something appropriate to the firm and their output. As Bjarke Ingels explains early in the book, they tried to convey the energy and life of the office and its projects, to make it personal and to tell the stories behind the designs. They succeeded and the reader is better off for it.
or or Update 08.03: Taschen will be distributing the book in the American market. It will be available in mid-November, 2009. According to somebody at Taschen the book can be pre-ordered via their web site or by calling 1-888-TASCHEN, though I don't see it listed on the former.
Update 11.11: The book is now available at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk via the links above.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
BKLYN DESIGNed
Sunday I moseyed over to DUMBO and BKLYN DESIGNS™. Lest you forget, the event is "New York’s hottest exhibition of designers and manufacturers of contemporary furnishings, lighting, and accessories made and/or designed in Brooklyn, all handpicked by a jury of editors from leading design and shelter magazines."
This is the show's seventh year but my first visit. Taking place in St. Ann's Warehouse, the 37 booths were basically spread across two large spaces, with a 38th at Jane's Carousel down the street. The exposed roof joists and decking lend the exhibition a very Brooklyn air, separating it from expos like next week's ICFF at Jacob Javits. The furniture and other objects on display, though, are a fitting snapshot of design trends (recycled materials, prefab, CNC fabrication, etc.) that are at the margins but not outside or considered avant-garde, kinda like DUMBO itself.
[Levent and Romme's Weave Screen (foreground) greeted visitors | photo by archidose]
[St. Ann's Warehouse | photo by archidose]
[an impressive piece by takeshi miyakawa design| photo by archidose]
[detail of a table by Palo Samko | photo by archidose]
Architects were represented by two firms: Nandinee Phookan Architect's new subsidiary I Make Studio and Garrison Architects, hawking their series of modular residences (urban, townhouse, rural/suburban). The latter's Nzinga Townhomes in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood are supposedly going ahead with construction at a time when many projects are stalled. Perhaps future BKLYN DESIGNS will see architects stepping into territory typically tread by furniture makers and designers who create pricey objects, but ones still much cheaper than architectural creations. It certainly couldn't hurt a profession in need of not only clients but justifying itself in the face of such.
This is the show's seventh year but my first visit. Taking place in St. Ann's Warehouse, the 37 booths were basically spread across two large spaces, with a 38th at Jane's Carousel down the street. The exposed roof joists and decking lend the exhibition a very Brooklyn air, separating it from expos like next week's ICFF at Jacob Javits. The furniture and other objects on display, though, are a fitting snapshot of design trends (recycled materials, prefab, CNC fabrication, etc.) that are at the margins but not outside or considered avant-garde, kinda like DUMBO itself.
[Levent and Romme's Weave Screen (foreground) greeted visitors | photo by archidose]
[St. Ann's Warehouse | photo by archidose]
[an impressive piece by takeshi miyakawa design| photo by archidose]
[detail of a table by Palo Samko | photo by archidose]
Architects were represented by two firms: Nandinee Phookan Architect's new subsidiary I Make Studio and Garrison Architects, hawking their series of modular residences (urban, townhouse, rural/suburban). The latter's Nzinga Townhomes in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood are supposedly going ahead with construction at a time when many projects are stalled. Perhaps future BKLYN DESIGNS will see architects stepping into territory typically tread by furniture makers and designers who create pricey objects, but ones still much cheaper than architectural creations. It certainly couldn't hurt a profession in need of not only clients but justifying itself in the face of such.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Hadid Building Burns
Architect's Newspaper reports on another building set to open this year catching ablaze, the Guangzhou Opera House, in Guangzhou, China designed by Zaha Hadid. In early February, during Chinese New Year celebrations, OMA's TVCC Building was nearly destroyed in a fire before it was able to open for business.
[A photograph from a Chinese news site showing the fire [abbs.com.cn] | image source]
From the A/N blog:
[A photograph from a Chinese news site showing the fire [abbs.com.cn] | image source]
From the A/N blog:
"The project, designed by Zaha Hadid with a web-like exoskelton, includes an 1800 seat theater as well as a multipurpose hall and support facilities. The building was set to open this fall. A Chinese media outlet reports that blaze has been extinguished but that the extent of the damage has not been determined. A project architect is currently on site and a statement from Hadid’s office is expected shortly."(Thanks to Matt for the heads up!)
Today's archidose #311
Here's two buildings nearing completion on West 18th Street in Chelsea, near 10th Avenue.
Left: Four Five Nine West Eighteenth by Della Valle Bernheimer
Right: Chelsea Modern by Audrey Matlock Architect
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose
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