Cool film...unfortunately the content difficult for me to enjoy because all I can think when I watch is, "they could never build that in America!" True, building standards in the US are more detailed and restrictive than almost any in the world, and it's often depressing to compare our best design side-by-side to that of Europe or Asia, but what we sacrifice in sexiness we gain in accessibility, safety, and performance. To be fair, the image of wheelchair-bound patrons spinning out of control on the undulating floor in some sort of unintentional handicapped demolition derby is enough to make myself or any building inspector or civil rights activist shudder in horror.
The odd, spindly columns and sculptural slab shapes wouldn't exactly imbue an American contractor with any significant degree of confidence, either...but I say, as long as there's some place in the world where people are willing to try something bold, then I say go for it! American design could use a little liberation. It's easy to see the formal oppression that practice levels on young architects in their academic work, which tends to be over-expressive (guilty as charged) as a means of escaping the tyranny of practical matters. Sarah Graham talks about this issue in the dialogue a few posts back - I highly recommend you check it out.
^^^Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio, by Coop Himmelblau. It's not all functional, people...
Ya see, function's almost been severed from form, it's hanging by a sinew. A function can take any construct-able, thinkable form now. And a whole other range of impressions/feelings can be evoked. You get a sense of joy and wonder from the film of the Rolex center, something dreamy. There's a goal right there.
ReplyDeleteForgive my disenchantment...for awhile I've simply been interested in the visceral pleasures of creation - the touch, the smell, form, materials...It's like I've tasted the wine and all I can discern is the taste of the alcohol so I dismiss it as disgusting. I think this state of mind exists only because I lack sufficient experience with my own joys and dreams to translate them. You and others, much to my appreciation, have really encouraged me to explore myself and the world to discover that architecture, or any other expression of our creativity, is just a means by which dreams become reality.
ReplyDelete...and for that I most grateful, because for all the pessimism in the above post about my own present, I think I have renewed optimism about my future.
ReplyDelete(arms upraised) YES!
ReplyDeleteNOW you're talking like someone who's gonna change their world.
And part of that optimism you're feeling has to be not being afraid of failure.
(because, well, you'll discover it yourself soon enough:
there is no failure.)