Lifestyle // Traffic Jam Theater

Stumbled across this story on NPR about Los Angeles artist Joel Kyack, who stages puppet shows from the back of his truck amidst the city's worst traffic snarls.

[All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances.]

 This article is fascinating for a few reasons; firstly, it touches again on the topic of mobile, or dynamic, architecture in which the paradigm of certain traditional cultural institutions - in this case, theater - has evolved to include transiency, improvisation and whimsy [see the previous post about food trucks]. Additionally, Kyack's ideas about the nature of performance, the choreography of movement and patterns of behavior are strikingly architectural. A few of my favorite quotes:

"I like chaos," Kyack observes. "I like things that are moving in and out of control, like negotiations of agency and resignation. And for me, the traffic jam is that."  

Wow, that sounds like it came straight out of architecture school. It nearly refers to "swarm intelligence," a trendy topic in many futurist / avant garde design programs about uncontrolled systems and one that I've mentioned before on this blog.

"How you navigate, how you make the world that you want around you, and how you compromise with what the world's giving you," Kyack explains. "And I think that formally, the traffic jam is sort of the perfect metaphor to explore that."

Compromise is an important facet of architecture that is often ignored in theory but appears again and again in practice; it sometimes leads so much frustration during the design process that it leads one to question the viability or usefulness of the architectural profession. But what Kyack says here, quite optimistically, is that compromise is an opportunity. It is a means by which we can explore the constraints of life, add to them, and freely enrich ourselves. The constraint of traffic, for example, could lend to compelling studies about the various layers of architecture contained within (the car environment, the road as a form of architecture that contains "inhabitants" and performs living functions, or, as shown here, the traffic jam as a staging area, etc.). After all, we spend so much time in automotive purgatory, yet traffic is very underutilized in a practical sense. Radio shows and the like are sufficient entertainment but lack context - there's no element of "now" or "here."

Lastly, my absolute favorite snippet:

He doesn't get in trouble. But then again, the cops don't quite buy his academic theories about offering a space of engagement for drivers to reflect on the chaotic structures of their daily routine.

Is this the author taking a little potshot at dullard cops? Could be...but there it is again, the conflict between academia and real life that often gets smarty types in trouble. More compromising is in order!

Discussion // World Architecture Survey

Vanity Fair just published a survey of 52 highly-acclaimed architects (some of whom are my own favorites), authors, and academicians, to determine the 5 most influential works of architecture of the past 30 years. The overwhelming winner, according to the story, was Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum - Bilbao. American buildings named in survey responses include the Cooper Union building by Morphosis and the Seattle Public Library, Central by Rem Koolhaas.

See the article here.

Listen to the NPR interview with the story's editor here.

And who was the only architect to pick his own work as the most influential? Wolf Prix of Coop Himmelblau....figures. ;)

Film // Inception

Even without prolonged consideration, I can say with certainty that Inception is truly one of the most remarkable films ever made. If you are an architect and are passionate about your craft, the philosophical questions posed in the film about the nature of creativity should resonate to the very core of what drives you. I mentioned in a comment on the previous post, which is also about architecture in film and whose content bears relevance to this post, that I have recently been interested in only the visceral qualities of buildings - material, texture, shape, form, aesthetic - but I'm finding that view to be incredibly short-sighted in light of the words of respected colleagues and the works of genius artist/philosophers like Christopher Nolan. I have learned that dreaming, sensuality, and the creative subconscious are all just as important as we interpret our world through our mind. 

I don't want to discuss particular points of the movie here, but I am really curious to hear insight from the rest of you. For myself, I can already tell grad school will be a rewarding venture - I can't wait to put some of these notions to the test!

Discussion // Sensual Envy

Check out this funky video of the new Rolex Leaning Center, Lausanne, Switzerland, by Japanese firm SANAA (thanks to Brian Ward for the link...)

Discussion // Pixar: The New Heralds of Modernism?

Film - animation in particular- has long been, forgive the pun, a staging ground for architectural expression since the days of the first silent films. The advantage of practicing architecture through mainstream animation is, especially with the sophistication of current rendering techniques, limitless creativity and imagination without the constraint of a construction budget. Disney is world-famous for taking images from their films and transforming them into reality (theme parks), providing their customers with an architectural experience that today one achieves virtually through 3d visualization technology.

So I was watching Toy Story 3 the other day, and naturally, the geniuses of Pixar (which Disney purchased in 2006) have taken it upon themselves to create a whole new world of design - one that incorporates a ton of iconic imagery from American Modernism. Furthermore, the company hired excellent Pennsylvania-based firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson to design their facilities in California, and the result is a light, airy, and wholly modern studio space that reflects the technical brilliance of Pixar's work (I will definitely try to make it out there once I'm in California). I am not sure if Pixar hires architectural or interior design consultants to ensure the buildings are accurate, but given the quality and level of detail involved, they must.

(Above) Eichler home, ca. 1960
(Below) The Parr Home from Pixar's The Incredibles, 2004

Discussion // The American Fear of Football (Soccer)

With the US team in the throes of its World Cup campaign, the question often is posed to soccer players and people involved in the game: "Why aren't Americans better at soccer?" To address this question is to not only evaluate the skill and talent of American players but to understand the nature of the game in a country where the sport is incredibly popular and which is blessed with a population of 300 million (the largest of the participating nations in the World Cup), and to recognize misperceptions by the public and, especially, members of the media.

^^^US Men's National Team.

From a purely "soccer" perspective, the US (ranked 14th in the world) does not have a poor team burdened with non-athletes. Jozy Altidore is an incredible physical presence; Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, and Landon Donovan are world-class and blessed with speed, agility and intelligence. Then again, American as a whole consistently produces great athletes no matter the particular sport. The problem lies in coaching players to understand soccer, a game where, at the highest level, no one individual can dominate and the team is required to function as a whole, without pause, on offense and defense. Basketball and hockey are similar in the latter aspect but with far fewer players on the field of play and other rules differences, those sports can be won, but not always and to a measured extent, by superior individuals.