FOLDS, BODIES & BLOBS.By Greg Lynn Greg Lynn (born 1964), is an American architect, philosopher, and science-fiction writer Life and WorkLynn graduated cum laude from Miami University (OH) with degrees in Architecture and Philosophy, and Princeton University with a Master's of Architecture. . Brussels: La Lettre Volee. 1998. BF850. In English ANIMATE FORM By Greg Lynn. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Princeton Architectural Press. 1999. [pounds]28 In US academia today, Greg Lynn is some kind of post-Deconstructionist Wunderkind wun·der·kind n. pl. wun·der·kin·der 1. A child prodigy. 2. A person of remarkable talent or ability who achieves great success or acclaim at an early age. . Media-savvy and verbally dextrous dex·trous adj. Variant of dexterous. Adj. 1. dextrous - skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands; "a deft waiter"; "deft fingers massaged her face"; "dexterous of hand and inventive of mind" , Lynn (35) is leading the way towards understanding the architectural possibilities of the now ubiquitous computer. Here two separate publications neatly package his work to date: Folds, Bodies & Blobs collects a dozen or so essays from 1992 to 1996 whereas Animate Form contains a new introductory essay, eight competition or installation designs, and a nifty CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). . The book from Brussels, coinciding with a Lynn installation there in 1998, is extremely useful to establish the cultural milieu in which its author operates. Originally published in such journals as Any (New York) and Arch+ (Berlin), Lynn's writing persuasively argues for a 'generative theory of complex variation', a blended architecture unlike the 'violent formal conflicts' of the 1980s. Inflicting digs at Rowe and Gwathmey, 'A Physique physique /phy·sique/ (fi-zek´) the body organization, development, and structure. phy·sique n. The body considered with reference to its proportions, muscular development, and appearance. Out of Proportion', Lynn repeatedly quotes (via Derrida) Husserl's 'an exact yet rigorous' prescription for complex geometries Lynn's greatest hero is biologist D'Arcy Thompson who tracked graphically the morphological nuances of mutant organisms. In the largely visual Princeton publication one sees series of viscous forms undergoing additions multiplications (Lynn loves the 'pli' or fold in the belly of that word) and, in particular, mutations as the architect arrives at actual intentions for Yokohama and Cardiff and galleries in Manhattan and Oslo But not, unfortunately, the New York church recently realized with Garofalo and McInturf. Whether repetition and change is boring or exhilarating is not completely clear. As Lynn distrusts the Manichaean, perhaps both. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion