Peter Cook; The need for architectural experimentation: hunch, crunch and scrambled-egg concepts play an important role in architecture.As a new boy to the world of the columnist, I can't knock the fine old institution of the magazine as a key vehicle of architectural ideas, can I? Nor can I deny that more minutes of television time, more queues to open houses, more credibility to the idea of Brad Pitt on the job at Frank Gehry's office all conspire con·spire v. con·spired, con·spir·ing, con·spires v.intr. 1. To plan together secretly to commit an illegal or wrongful act or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action. 2. to suggest that architecture is up there in the public consciousness. Yet it still leaves a key territory all but ignored and unloved. Delving into one or two schools of architecture, or infiltrating one of a handful of competition teams, you might find a different consciousness, with few forms that are easy on the eye and few easy explanations to titillate tit·il·late v. tit·il·lat·ed, tit·il·lat·ing, tit·il·lates v.tr. 1. To stimulate by touching lightly; tickle. 2. To excite (another) pleasurably, superficially or erotically. you. Indeed, if things are going well, there will be strange mixtures of hunch, crunch or (as Cedric Price Cedric Price (11 September 1934 – 10 August 2003) was an English architect and influential teacher and writer on architecture. The son of an architect, Price was born in Stone, Staffordshire and studied architecture at Cambridge University (graduating in 1955) and the would have had it) scrambled-egg concepts: eccentric thinking, lateral thinking lateral thinking Noun a way of solving problems by apparently illogical methods Noun 1. lateral thinking - a heuristic for solving problems; you try to look at the problem from many angles instead of tackling it head-on and the positively half-baked idea-all using the opportunity to strike out. A quick look at history reveals the ultimate wisdom and necessity of those strikers-out. Soane, Hawksmoor, Loos, Corb, Hejduk or Miralles--each turned the steady path of architecture on its head, never to be the same again. Some who dare not dare themselves feel, nonetheless, a collective sense of achievement for the existence of such leaders. How do we know? By the column inches in print, the endless reproduction by etching, photograph, postcard and (now) tee-shirt. Yet nothing can beat the fascination or pump of adrenalin that accompanies a room filled with ideas: the seance-like quality of a show as we play eavesdropper eaves·drop intr.v. eaves·dropped, eaves·drop·ping, eaves·drops To listen secretly to the private conversation of others. . For years, as an exhibitor, curator, designer and carrier of impossible boxes up impossible stairs, I have stopped in the middle for a sandwich and wondered why, in this age of cassettes, chips and the internet, we need this eighteenth-century palaver of fixings, white walls and vermissages called 'exhibition'. Yet we undoubtedly do. The instinct to pry is mixed up with the need to rally. To sense the weight of effort, to be party to the measure of history, to indulge in the game of making one's own comparisons at one's own pace. Berliners have been lucky enough to do this for the last 25 years thanks to the Aedes Gallery. This will shortly move to its fourth venue, where Kristin Feireiss will continue to charm nearly everyone that matters to pitch in, find support, be civil to disbelievers, expose raw student work, embarrassing sketches, new dreams and pose for photographs, delighting in having created both an intercontinental crossroads and endless salon. The other survivor is New York's 'Storefront', founded by Kyong Park, who sent his tentacles into the world of moral politics, architecture and art, kick-starting twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. of surprises swinging out of an impossibly narrow triangular room flanked by Steven Holl's flip-flap outer wall. Park has left, but this unlikely instrument has continued to bridge the cymcism of a tough city as a ground base for the serious contemplation of motivated invention. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] History and anecdote reveal knowing, coercive individuals who shoved culture forward through dare and the manipulation of competitiveness to which even the most sure-footed succumb. Hence Diaghilev, Nadia Boulanger Nadia Boulanger (September 16, 1887 – October 22, 1979) was an influential French composer, conductor, and music professor. An outstanding music educator at the highest level, she taught many of the most important composers and conductors of the 20th century. , George Weidenfeld Sir Arthur George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld (born September 13, 1919 in Vienna) is a British publisher, philanthropist, and newspaper columnist. Weidenfeld attended the University of Vienna and the city's Diplomatic College. . In our world we have Peter Noever of the MAK Mak Falstaffian figure; categorically maintains his innocence. [Br. Lit.: The Second Shepherds’ Play] See : Deceit Mak sheep stealer succeeds by waiting till the shepherds fall asleep. [Br. Lit. in Vienna. So I was staggered but unfazed un·fazed adj. Not fazed or disturbed. by the recent presentation by Lebbeus Woods Lebbeus Woods (born 1940 in Lansing, Michigan) is an American architect and artist. Woods, who envisions experimental constructs and environments, has stated, "the interplay of metrical systems establishing boundaries of materials and energetic forms is the foundation of a of a series of jagged lines (catalogued as drawings), inspired by the urban energy of Vienna and then thrust as a fearsome steel web across a dark gallery space: he who draws makes. Noever's twisting arm was once again in evidence, having already pushed his old hulk of a museum way out beyond its collections of furniture to incorporate built bits of new architecture and really stunning architectural shows. Might we be heading back to the atmosphere of the 1980s, when Oslo, Hanover, Munich, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Montreal and Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. had small rooms where the speculations of the inventors--local and international--tweaked at the comfort of the regional warlords Warlords may refer to:
To my surprise, Hamburg recently opened its second venue: the oddly named 'Institute for Cultural Policy', kicking off with exhibitions by Nat Chard, Marcosandmarjan and Raoul Bunschoten (names particularly known to the London architectural underground). A treble-height space with a bar and a cinema is taking a provocative route towards the future. Not just showing the local, the familiar, the well networked or the politically correct politically correct Politically sensitive adjective Referring to language reflecting awareness and sensitivity to another person's physical, mental, cultural, or other disadvantages or deviations from a norm; a person is not mentally retarded, but , but concerned with true experiment. Surely a challenge for London, Tokyo or Shanghai. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With the opening of a new Light Forum in Dornbirn, Austria, Zumtobel Staff celebrates another milestone in its corporate history. The Light Forum is a place of encounter, exchange and technical training dedicated to the subject of light. Occupying a floor space of 1000 sqm, sophisticated lighting solutions, product innovations, new technologies and their applications are displayed in separate presentation, workshop, experimentation and seminar areas. In addition to the Light Forum in Lemgo in Germany, the Dornbirn Light Forum is a new international hub for Zumtobel Staff, strengthening its position as a dynamic innovator within the lighting industry. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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