Showing posts with label relationship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relationship. Show all posts
Theorem 2015
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| Famously known as "Theorem 1909" in Rem Koolhaas' Delirious New York, each level is a different world, a phenomenon of the elevator; Full-page cartoon by A.B. Walker published in Life magazine’s “Real Estate Number” of March, 1909. |
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| "Theorem 2015": the elevator is old news. The old is the new: horizontal 4-storey world space; Thesis in progress, October 2014. |
Few and many
Every skyscraper is trying to be unique and iconic - in a densely built city it doesn't hurt because at the scale of the city they are all like perfume bottles on a dresser: the individual appearances don't really matter anymore, but rather the whole field is the impression. The more unique and impressive ones are admired individually in print (enlarged and singled out, reviewed for their merits, beauty and poetry- like perfumes) and in person.
In print, the criteria for critique is simultaneously zoomed in and zoomed out - zoomed into the engineering and architectural details and zoomed out into the object-form. It is primarily a critique of form and appearance that can be seen in print. What can be read (in words) in print is a critique of the space, but this is built on a personal experience of the space in person.
In person, the experience of the object-form is second place to the experience of immediate space. A small blank wall in print is a huge blank wall in person. In person, the sequence of rooms and the height of room ceilings, the color and texture of walls, circulation paths, the chance for encounters, the implied barriers and entries, the freedom or oppression, these become first place.
So, designing at two scales, 1) Object-form, 2) Space/function
Which is more important?
(In a small building, the two meld together much more, because there the form of a room and the sequence of spaces can actually determine to a greater extent the form of the building without contrivance, while in a large building with many rooms an over-arching form is needed (?) )
Is loneliness a constant?
We can agree that if there is no loneliness, Blade Runner could not be made. (Is there any great movie that can be made in the absence of loneliness..?)
Yet, are there people who feel nothing for Blade Runner? Perhaps they would not notice if loneliness is not present? Perhaps they do not sense loneliness? Is it necessary?
What is architecture, what can it do if the canvas is loneliness?
Is there loneliness in a small town? Is there loneliness in a warm family?
Loneliness in a city full of people? Warmth in a city full of emptiness?
Why is a red balloon most red against a solid blue sky? "There is nothing redder in this world" - who said this..?
You cannot clothe the petty things of life with majesty
"Those tenements and office buildings of which you speak can be made artistic I suppose; but they cannot inspire great art. Your office buildings and factories and stores are matters of percentage. Art is not. Your theaters...are also per cent affairs, where the curious and idle make exchanges with..."
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