In today’s New York Times, the front page article in the Arts section is an article about the addition that Renzo Piano will propose for the Kimbell Arts Museum by Louis Khan. The article describes the conversation of the addition including the change in promenade that the addition will create, the ghostly duplicate (in plan) that the addition will appear to be, and how the buildings reflect who the respective architect looked up to. While Louis Khan looked up to the architects of antiquity, Renzo Piano worked with Louis Khan early in Piano’s carrer. The question I have for the addition is why the addition is all glass. While the Kimbel Art Museum is careful with its light manipulation, the glass addition is, well, just glass. What do you think?(via the NYTIMES )
Archive Page 2
Kimbell by Khan and Piano
I stumbled upon these animated stereo views of old Japan by Japanese Photographer T. Enami (1859-1929). Simple gif animation that oscillates between the positives of a stereoscopy. I think the digital animation helps the analog stereographic cards without needing immediate use of a stereoscope. What helps one see the power of the stereo views in animation is the extreme contrast between foreground, middle ground, and background. Because the image was taken to show far distances, the parallax shifts show up dramatically in those with extreme contrasts in ground. (from top to bottom “sumo wrestlers”, “clam diggers having lunch”, “along the Fuji River”, “firewood dealers”. via pinktentacle)
Sukkah City: NYC 2010
Perhaps appropriately proceeding Kai’s parametrics blog post, I came across Sukkah City:NYC 2010In an attempt to jump start culture and creative thing, Reboot is organizing Sukkah City:NYC 2010
Sukkah City: NYC 2010 is a competition with parameters as dictated by the old the old testament and reinterpreted by 21st century thinkers.
My favorite rule is “At night, one must be able to see the stars from within the sukkah, through the roof”
I also enjoy their “hand breadth” units of measure.
Biblical in origin, the sukkah is an ephemeral, elemental shelter, erected for one week each fall, in which it is customary to share meals, entertain, sleep, and rejoice.
(via: Sukkah City: NYC 2010
)
Patrik Schumacher, a partner in the office of Zaha Hadid, and Co-director of London’s A.A. Design Research Lab, has been steadily making a case that “Parametricism” is the most important theoretical position in architecture since modernism. Espousing many of the same ideas that Thom Mayne talked to us about, Schumacher proposed a Parametricist Manifesto in 2008 that states:
“[Parametric design is] penetrating into all corners of the discipline. Systematic, adaptive variation, continuous differentiation (rather than mere variety), and dynamic, parametric figuration concerns all design tasks from urbanism to the level of tectonic detail, interior furnishings and the world of products… Architecture finds itself at the mid-point of an ongoing cycle of innovative adaptation – retooling the discipline and adapting the architectural and urban environment to the socio-economic era of post-fordism. The mass society that was characterized by a single, nearly universal consumption standard has evolved into the heterogenous society of the multitude. The key issues that avant-garde architecture and urbanism should be addressing can be summarized in the slogan: organising and articulating the increased complexity of post-fordist society. The task is to develop an architectural and urban repertoire that is geared up to create complex, polycentric urban and architectural fields which are densely layered and continuously differentiated.”
This week, he continues his argument in The Architect’s Journal:
“In my Parametricist Manifesto of 2008 I first communicated that a new, profound style has been maturing within the avant-garde segment of architecture during the last 10 years. The term ‘parametricism’ has since been gathering momentum within architectural discourse and its critical questioning has strengthened it. So far, knowledge of the new style has remained largely confined within architecture, but I suspect news will spread quickly once it is picked up by the mass media. Outside architectural circles, ‘style’ is virtually the only category through which architecture is observed and recognized. A named style needs to be put forward in order to stake its claim to act in the name of architecture.”
Parametricism, he claims, “finally offers a credible, sustainable answer to the drawn-out crisis of modernism that resulted in 25 years of stylistic searching.”
Do you agree? Can we ignore parametricism? What are legitimate alternatives to parametric design we ought to be working with? Why?
Thom Mayne Lecture
What did you all think of the Thom Mayne lecture last night?
He had some valuable insights into all aspects of our profession and the architecture education system. I hope it provokes discussion, and not blind acceptance, complacency, resignation, or denial. His ideas on an architecture of complex systems and idiosyncratic notes was intriguing.
The theory of a design “growing” (thus the reference to the biological paradigm) or being generated through a process based on pre-scripted (prescriptive?) parameters, with an outcome unknown at the beginning, is noteworthy. But I think there are many possible variations on this idea: truly good design has always embodied aspects of this idea. It’s only novices or amateurs that preconceive of an idea and then just execute it. But the method, process, and techniques through which one arrives at conclusions are numerous and very subjective: difficult to learn, define, or teach categorically. He did not talk much about that ultimately subjective part of his process: which parameters to foreground, or how to chose between the many variations that a computer can generate.
What did you think about his views of the profession and its future? Are you all willing to work only as a small part of a giant team? Are you as pessimistic as he?
How about the issue of scale and complexity? Will “architecture” be limited to these kinds of mega-projects only? What do we make of the arguments by someone like Jane Jacobs who argued that (1960s) megastructures are by definition inhuman. Anything designed by one person, or even one large team of sophisticated thinkers, is bound to be monolithic and determinative. What about the proverbial “kitchen addition” and the more humble “buildings” (as opposed to “architecture”) that makes up the majority of our built environment? Will those be generated using the same paradigms? Are they even part of Mayne’s definition of architecture?
How about what Mayne said about the role of drawing in architecture? It’s fun to think that Mayne was at one time most famous for the amazing drawings he produced, and now he is rejecting it entirely. What should be the role of drawing at CMU or in architecture education? Can we learn all there is to know about architecture through the keyboard? How does one build up to, or become educated to generate the kind of sophisticated modeling Mayne showed us?
Certainly his projects can’t be “drawn” in the conventional sense. Are the visual images he showed us always so different though? Should all architecture be merely the 3D digital output of scripts and parameters? Silvetti’s article “The Muses are Not Amused: Pandemonium in the House of Architecture” warned about these kind of auto-generated substitutes for good design skills. What is the role of personal expression and individual creative gestures? Should architecture really be like a “tricked out BMW,” as Mayne claimed?
What about the role of craft, construction, and the resistance of materials? Is all architecture to be merely “fabrication” of a-priori digital data? Can “making” be so objective that we can leave it to computers?
Mayne, ever intent on rattling the establishment and the academy, has been saying these things for years. See his ultimatum “Change or Perish” to the AIA from 2005.
CMU2014 Blog
As most of you likely know, the CMU2014 blog is going strong.
Check it out: http://cmuarch2014.wordpress.com/
Perhaps there’s a way we can encourage more inter-class communication and interaction through the blogs, comments on posts, etc. Try commenting on their posts to move the discussion beyond your class.
I guess you’ll soon need to change the title on your blog header to 2013 or 3rd year…
Chicago Site Photos
Hey everyone,
Figured it would make sense to share site photos on the server. I created a folder called “Project 3 Site Photos” in the “48-205” folder under “Studios” which will be organized by where the photo is taken from. This should make it easy for us to find the views we need. You may want to put photos into a folder with your name on it (or otherwise tag them) so that you can be credited when someone uses your photo (is this important to people?).
Feel free to create new folders for other vantage points.
Thanks!
This frog is outrageous!!
wats:ON
The Fun Theory
This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.
Check out the site for more!
Landscapes of Quarantine
Mar 10 2010 – Apr 17 2010
Opening reception: Tuesday, March 9, 7pm
Group exhibition exploring the spaces of quarantine, from Level 4 biocontainment labs to underground nuclear waste repositories.
Landscapes of Quarantine features new works by a multi-disciplinary group of eighteen artists, designers, and architects, each of whom was inspired by one or more of the physical, biological, ethical, architectural, social, political, temporal, and even astronomical dimensions of quarantine.
Works on display:
Pages 179 – 187, Joe Alterio
Q-CITY: An Investigation, Front Studio | Yen Ha & Michi Yanagishita
MAP 002 QUARANTINE, David Garcia Studio
Did We Build The Frontier To Keep It Closed?, Scott Geiger
Field Notes from Quarantine, Katie Holten
Hotel III, Camp II, Lab IV, Cell V, Mimi Lien
Cordon Sanitaire, Kevin Slavin
Context/Shift, Brian Slocum
Containing Uncertainty, Smudge Studio | Jamie Kruse & Elizabeth Ellsworth
NYCQ, Amanda Spielman & Jordan Spielman
Quick, Richard Mosse
Thermal Scanner and Body Temperature Alert System, Daniel Perlin
Precious Isolation: A Pair of Invasive Species, Thomas Pollman
(via Storefront for Art and Architecture and BLDGBLOG)
For those of you who do not know the work of Raimund Abraham, his passing (see NYTimes) offers a good chance to look back at an amazing career. A real thinker, intent on promoting the discipline of architecture, as opposed to mere construction or building, a functionalist who did not always feel the need to build. He made his career with drawings, not unlike Lebbeus Woods, his long-time colleague at Cooper Union. His drawings are dark and inspired; his buildings come from a spirit of making. He spoke a few years ago at Carnegie Mellon, wonderful stuff. His most famous building is the Austrian cultural institute in NYC.
Some links to his work:
http://www.shift.jp.org/en/archives/2001/11/raimund_abraham.html
http://www.arcspace.com/architects/abraham/abraham_bio.html
Pine Cone Oscillator
Below are print screen images of a time lapsed video of a pine cone oscillating after being showered in a controlled environment. The natural system of the pine which responds to its environment is, no doubt, a system to be studied at a greater depth for architectural purposes.
Pine Cone Time Lapse
honeycomb under glass
Parody Time
Just thought I’d share a funny, not really related, comic while we all work like crazy for the next deadline.\
CMU Architecture 2013 
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