Michelangelo, who was gay (or bisexual) produced a very queer design in the vestibule of the Laurentian Library. I think Italian mannerism is very queer. Or, as architects do we just admire our erections? The crescendos in Beethoven and Bruckner are studies of the ideal male orgasm. It took two men (Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor) to design Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. Are architectural partnerships subliminal gay partnerships, for the production of an erection? I would say more men than women achieve orgasm: hence we have more male architects and composers. Or is architecture autoerotic? Whenever I listen to the music of Richard Strauss it reminds me of masturbation.
if expression of 'queerness' is part of a stated design intention, so be it.
serious speculation about queer aspects of architecture of the past is even okay as the subject of a dissertation, accompanied by hard research and analysis.
idle speculation such as the one above, in which provocative comments are thrown on the table just to stir the pot, is unhelpful and irresponsible. if it's meant as something to which we are to respond seriously, i don't think we can. if, however, it's meant in the same spirit as a bunch of archi-geeks b.s.ing about architecture over beer, that's a different story. Let the b.s. begin!
Apr 3, 05 11:02 am ·
·
face the fax
Mies van der Rohe architecture is so gay!
"less is more" -- how gay can you get?
Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture is so gay!
and the hat and cape he wore -- how gay can you get?
Le Corbusier architecture is so gay!
promenade architecturale -- how gay can you get?
Trumbauer and Abele architecture is so gay!
gosh is that stuff gay!!!
Koolhaas architecture -- gay! gay! gay!
repeat
Koolhaas architecture -- gay! gay! gay!
Libeskind architecture, that's gay with a beard!
Lebbeus Woods architecture, that crazy mixed-up gay!
Paul Rudolph architecture, well there's a sado-masochist in every crowd.
Look around, you're all gay!
it bothers me when tall structures are considered phallic symbols. if theyre created by males, it's called erection worship. if theyre created by females, it's penis envy. it's neither. it IS a building with a small footprint and high density. it is a monument that you can see from far away. there was a kid at my school who made projects inspired by the form of the vagina and i thought it was annoying that people described them as being very welcoming and nurturing. why wasnt it vagina worship? why werent they scary dark caves?
-love,
she who is often frustrated with the double standards and limitations imposed by sexual stereotypes and those who are unable to separate them from their subjective perception
yeah, i hear you pazdon. eisenmann did some drawings for a building in the shape of a vagina. he used the whole skyscraper/penis thing as the basis of his concept.
To: design-l
Subject: A trivial day
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 19:29:37 -0500
At around 9.59 am this morning, I was sitting next to my brother in the waiting room of a doctor's office, waiting for one of Otto's regular doctor visits. Since the days in 1994 when I used to take our Dad to therapy after he lost his first leg, I always take a clipboard and pad of paper with me whenever I have to go a doctor's office (which is a lot!). Anyway, I always write notes, and I always date them. So today I started by writing 11.19.99, and I said to Otto, "look, today's one one one nine nine nine." It didn't seem to impress him.
I've been writing all day, actually. I have to finish up a paper I'll be presenting in Brussels, Belgium next week (Thanksgiving Day, which, in case you don't know, comes after Ax Wednesday). The paper is on Piranesi's Campo Marzio, and today I've been writing the section entitled "love and war." Here's my favorite paragraph:
Atop the bluffs along the south bank of the Petronia Amnis, Piranesi situates a series garden villas among a scattering of other building types. The planning of the villas individually is orderly, if not also symmetrical, yet, in relation to one another, the grouping of the villas appears completely disorganized. Once the names of the various buildings is understood, however, a distinctive pattern develops. The first and largest villa is the Horti Lucullani, the Gardens of L. Licinius Lucullus, which, in 46 AD "belonged to Valerius Asiaticus, but were coveted by Messalina, who compelled the owner to commit suicide." Messalena was the nymphomaniac wife of the emperor Claudius. Next to the Horti Lucullani is the plain and simple Horti Narcissi; Narcissus was the name of the freedman of Claudius by whose orders Messalena was put to death. Next to the Horti Narcissi is the triangular Horti Anteri. There was no real garden of Anteri in ancient Rome, but there was such a thing as an anteros, which is an avenger of slighted love, or, in this case, love triangles. Then there is a bath complex in honor of Venus, the love goddess herself, and then a nympheum named for Tiberius, an emperor known for his fondness of pornography. And, at the edge of the Ichnographia, there is the Viridarium Lucii Cornificii, a pleasure garden with two building extensions clearly phallic in plan. Finally, among these structures of love and lust are two Turres expugnandae, military defense towers whose plans no doubt represent substantial erections.
lauf-s
ps
I watched Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters for the first time last night. I had no idea one of the minor characters was going to be an architect with a schizophrenic wife.
Apr 4, 05 6:16 pm ·
·
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.
Gay Architecture
Michelangelo, who was gay (or bisexual) produced a very queer design in the vestibule of the Laurentian Library. I think Italian mannerism is very queer. Or, as architects do we just admire our erections? The crescendos in Beethoven and Bruckner are studies of the ideal male orgasm. It took two men (Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor) to design Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. Are architectural partnerships subliminal gay partnerships, for the production of an erection? I would say more men than women achieve orgasm: hence we have more male architects and composers. Or is architecture autoerotic? Whenever I listen to the music of Richard Strauss it reminds me of masturbation.
ah probably because no women were allowed to be architects or composers or anything else for that matter...
you got issues buddy...
if expression of 'queerness' is part of a stated design intention, so be it.
serious speculation about queer aspects of architecture of the past is even okay as the subject of a dissertation, accompanied by hard research and analysis.
idle speculation such as the one above, in which provocative comments are thrown on the table just to stir the pot, is unhelpful and irresponsible. if it's meant as something to which we are to respond seriously, i don't think we can. if, however, it's meant in the same spirit as a bunch of archi-geeks b.s.ing about architecture over beer, that's a different story. Let the b.s. begin!
face the fax
Mies van der Rohe architecture is so gay!
"less is more" -- how gay can you get?
Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture is so gay!
and the hat and cape he wore -- how gay can you get?
Le Corbusier architecture is so gay!
promenade architecturale -- how gay can you get?
Trumbauer and Abele architecture is so gay!
gosh is that stuff gay!!!
Koolhaas architecture -- gay! gay! gay!
repeat
Koolhaas architecture -- gay! gay! gay!
Libeskind architecture, that's gay with a beard!
Lebbeus Woods architecture, that crazy mixed-up gay!
Paul Rudolph architecture, well there's a sado-masochist in every crowd.
Look around, you're all gay!
what else can i say
everybody's gay
wait a minute, I'm not gay
I don't even exist
jesus you people
le bossman- jesus was not gay.
or was he ...
the Earthly Jesus was not gay, the Risen Christ definitely is...
"more men than women achieve orgasm: hence we have more male architects "
very curious rationalization. I disagree but don't care enough to explain why.
Also I would like to submit the Silent Disapproval Robot for "Best New Archinect Member"....
I second WonderK's nomination - SDR is the new, electronic Philip Gentleman.
j
that may be, but at least my alias doesn't look like a swingin' tube sock
I third - Silent Disapproval Robot will no doubt make us all post more thoughtfully.
Just like the Catholic church's vocal disapproval has stopped so many from being gay....
But seriously, a big welcome SDR. Like your style.
okay guys who has an erection right now????
Silent Disapproval Robot, Electronic I presume?
Silent Disapproval Robot is another feature that was missing on this site, just like the "mispelling bee whatever".
can't resist > misspelling
I'm really doing my best Steven, I'm sure that I will get better and better with the help of all these little bees...
bzzzzz
it bothers me when tall structures are considered phallic symbols. if theyre created by males, it's called erection worship. if theyre created by females, it's penis envy. it's neither. it IS a building with a small footprint and high density. it is a monument that you can see from far away. there was a kid at my school who made projects inspired by the form of the vagina and i thought it was annoying that people described them as being very welcoming and nurturing. why wasnt it vagina worship? why werent they scary dark caves?
-love,
she who is often frustrated with the double standards and limitations imposed by sexual stereotypes and those who are unable to separate them from their subjective perception
yeah, i hear you pazdon. eisenmann did some drawings for a building in the shape of a vagina. he used the whole skyscraper/penis thing as the basis of his concept.
how creative!
To: design-l
Subject: A trivial day
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 19:29:37 -0500
At around 9.59 am this morning, I was sitting next to my brother in the waiting room of a doctor's office, waiting for one of Otto's regular doctor visits. Since the days in 1994 when I used to take our Dad to therapy after he lost his first leg, I always take a clipboard and pad of paper with me whenever I have to go a doctor's office (which is a lot!). Anyway, I always write notes, and I always date them. So today I started by writing 11.19.99, and I said to Otto, "look, today's one one one nine nine nine." It didn't seem to impress him.
I've been writing all day, actually. I have to finish up a paper I'll be presenting in Brussels, Belgium next week (Thanksgiving Day, which, in case you don't know, comes after Ax Wednesday). The paper is on Piranesi's Campo Marzio, and today I've been writing the section entitled "love and war." Here's my favorite paragraph:
Atop the bluffs along the south bank of the Petronia Amnis, Piranesi situates a series garden villas among a scattering of other building types. The planning of the villas individually is orderly, if not also symmetrical, yet, in relation to one another, the grouping of the villas appears completely disorganized. Once the names of the various buildings is understood, however, a distinctive pattern develops. The first and largest villa is the Horti Lucullani, the Gardens of L. Licinius Lucullus, which, in 46 AD "belonged to Valerius Asiaticus, but were coveted by Messalina, who compelled the owner to commit suicide." Messalena was the nymphomaniac wife of the emperor Claudius. Next to the Horti Lucullani is the plain and simple Horti Narcissi; Narcissus was the name of the freedman of Claudius by whose orders Messalena was put to death. Next to the Horti Narcissi is the triangular Horti Anteri. There was no real garden of Anteri in ancient Rome, but there was such a thing as an anteros, which is an avenger of slighted love, or, in this case, love triangles. Then there is a bath complex in honor of Venus, the love goddess herself, and then a nympheum named for Tiberius, an emperor known for his fondness of pornography. And, at the edge of the Ichnographia, there is the Viridarium Lucii Cornificii, a pleasure garden with two building extensions clearly phallic in plan. Finally, among these structures of love and lust are two Turres expugnandae, military defense towers whose plans no doubt represent substantial erections.
lauf-s
ps
I watched Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters for the first time last night. I had no idea one of the minor characters was going to be an architect with a schizophrenic wife.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.