Detour : Art, Architecture, Cities and Landscape

19 January 2010 - Guggenheim

"Detour started in 1993 as a collaborative project between the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and the foundation Norsk Form. At the heart of the project lay a wish to integrate contemporary architecture into Norwegian landscapes. With this goal in mind, Norwegian and international architects and designers have over the past decade located 18 suitable tourist routes in Norway, and highlighted them by creating close to 200 innovative and visually appealing viewing platforms, resting points, and picnic areas along the roadsides"

http://www.norway.org/News_and_events/Culture/Architecture--Design/architectural_detour/

Craig Dykers from Snohetta discussed a few interesting projects; (http://www.snoarc.no/#/main/)

• A Park Shelter in South Dallas
• A Sidewalk Project in Guatemala City
• A CMU wall habitat for birds in NYC

Nader Tehrani from Office dA in Boston (http://www.officeda.com/)

poignantly recognizes a lack of authenticity and pursues originality through the splicing and montaging of elements---much like my own personal tastes as well as the works of Rauschenberg. His focus on public works characterizes architects as mediators of democracy as we try to establish consensus.

Peter Zumpthor is collaborating with Louise Bourgeois on a memorial to the witch persecution in a small town in Norway. He seems to be on a scaffolding kick as demonstrated by his roadside mine museum as well as the witch's memorial. Photos of these projects are scarce as they are in the early stages.

The general tone from most of the speakers was a movement towards a lack of authorship where you sacrifice control and just "let it happen". In the roadside projects, there were very few Construction documentation as that process was mostly left to the local builders.

Battlestar Galactica : The Plan

Spoilers Involved

The Plan is an amateur re-hash of the Galactica series as told from the perspective of the cylon skin jobs. It combines scenes from the mini-series and various episodes with newly filmed footage. For the most part, the integration between new and existing footage is seamless.

The narrative revolves around Cavil-the number one cylon. It's slowly revealed that he has been orchestrating acts of sabotage both within the fleet and within the resistance group back on Caprica.

His reasons for the attack are simplistic and dogamatic: "As long as humans exist, there won't be a place for us."

On the other hand, several cylons have been profoundly touched by their interaction with humanity. Boomer's failed attempt to kill Adama underscored her true feeling for the father figure. Simon's (the black doctor) suicide was a direct rebellion against Cavil's orders to blow up the ship as well Leoben's refusal to kill Strabuck.

The Plan's contribution to the Galactica oeuvre is negligible. From Cavil's point of view, interaction with humanity corrupted the the cylon's true nature. That was humanity's danger: "that they make you feel this way about them". His steadfast annihilation strategy prevented, or at least delayed, the other skin jobs from exploring a more positive relationship with humanity. The other Cylons that had close interactions with humanity developed an empathy towards them that Cavil could never comprehend.

Cavil's self righteousness culminates by murdering the boy at the end of the show. Ultimately, he comes across as just another despot with a superiority complex.

Exposed Structure in Stadia and Beyond

AIA Center, NYC - 12 January 2010

Thomas Z. Scarangello is a chairman of the structural engineering firm, Thornton Tomasetti. The primary thrust of his lecture was document delivery through Building Information Modelling (BIM). The methodical presentation laid out the advantages of providing 3D models as part of Construction Documentation. Although, I'm not clear on all the legal ramifications, the system seems perfect for large scale facilities where typologies are relatively established and most of the structure is exposed, i.e. sports arenas.

Theoretically, this system applies to non structural issues in smaller scale work as well. It always helps to fully illustrate how that window seat interacts with the existing sill or how those wall tiles accommodate the duplex receptacle. Unfortunately, current billing schedules don't budget for BIMs and most smaller scale work can be adequately documented with the current system of plans, elevations, sections, and on-site decisions.

Scarangello's lecture was amusing; some of the more memorable quotes below:

If we could build luxury boxes on the pyramids, we would tear those down as well.

Wizard of Oz Reference

Dorothy

the seeker, as client.

Scarecrow

the brains, as structural engineer.

Lion

the body, as contractor.

Tin Man

the heart/dreamer, as architect

Toto

grounded in reality and nipping at the heels, as lawyer.

http://www.thorntontomasetti.com/

New Architecture in Moscow - Andrey Bokov

AIA Center NYC - 04 January 2010

Andrey Bokov is the current head of the Russian Federation of Architect, an organization comparable to the AIA. His talk was a bit dry, but could have been a condition of English as a secondary language. Much of the work is stereotypically brutal with a cold institutional feel; however many of the interior spaces demonstrated some compelling interactions with circulation and form.

A few interesting, but minimally addressed, points were that modern architecture in Russia differs from modern architecture internationally. Bokov cited cultural and climatic differences as the end results of the heavy form. I can only assume that culturally, he was referring to the fascist Soviet Union with its brutal forms conveying the state's formidable presence.

From the exterior some of his large glass atrium spaces had a very organic quality. From the interior, they came off as overly structured and overly complex--a likely result from the need to accommodate the severe snow loads. I wonder if this imposing look is preferred or if the current technology simply doesn't allow for smaller and fewer structural members.

http://www.bokov.info/katalog/portfolio.htm