Enough with the "my johnson is bigger than yours" flacid and strained intellectualization about this THING and about carcasses.
1) its somewhat dissapointing that technology has brought Architecture "this" far. Indeed Hernan is over-rated, however cool a human being he may be.
2) it doesnt plop on the ground nor does it rise to the level of ecstatic architecture
3) its ugly and not beautiful
4) its a good reason for the joe blows of the civilian (not-architecure) world to rubberneck. The installation thing has brought much appreciated attention to design.
5) when people fill the space up it will be about the EVENT the piece facilitates and less about the floating petals and anteaters.
I agree with the Thrilla 'n Manila that this thing looks good in virtual space but alas, I think it should stay there. Although I find Hernan's stuff fascinating, these kinds of projects end up so disappointing when built. They need to figure out a better way to fabricate these complex forms or else it's going to be a cheap and crude imitation of their intentions. Until then, I'll admire NURBS where they belong...on my computer screen.
Is there any Richard Serra's Installation in PS1??? How come i don't see anyone trying to compare between this two?? In term of site specific, relationship between art and architecture, and meaning in form? any debates?
Well..part of hernan doing this project is to try to figure out ways to build his computer designs. If it were easy and already figured out, even hacks like most of the posters on this board could do it. Of course its going to be ugly at first, because its an experiement... if he wanted to make a mies box, i be3t it would look great, because all those issues are already figured out. You dont seem to have any sense of adventure. There are only maybe 20 architects in the world that seem to be working on this type of geometries in architecture, so, we should expect the process to be slow and ugly. Even looking at the people on the sciarc website, only 4 of them seem to have any interest in complex form for their projects. I bet all 4 of them end up creating amazing things in the future, but right now well have to suffer their experiments and mistakes. But its worth it to me. I used to hate hernans work, but this project is incredible. Besides the few sciar faculty that do this, i can think of maybe only 12 others in the world that are commited to understanding complex curves, and software originated/grown geometry.
This is an Art/Sculpture project done by someone who has the title "architect". It is not really architecture...it is more sculptural.
Just because it is done by an architect, it does not mean that it has to be critisized in terms of architecture. Otherwise, we'd be bashing things like the Barcelona chair in terms of its sustainability, relationship to the ground etc.
The project has architectural elements and its scale is near architectural...but it is not architecture. So issues of sustainability etc. should not apply here.
I cant say that I am in love with the project...but in the end, I think that i'm glad it was built. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this lengthy discussion.
most notably, Hernan Alonso.
but also
Eric Moss
Marcello Spina (PATTERNS)
Marta Male-Alemany
Paul Preissner (QUAVIRARCH)
but hernan seems to be the most advanced of the group to date.
In the globe, I think that list includes those above, plus
Greg Lynn (orginal seed)
SHoP (kind of, they seem less focused today)
David Erdman (SERVO)
Jason Payne/Heather Roberge (GNU)
Frank Gehry (of course!)
Ali Rahim
Lars Spuybroek
and thats really the extent of the list i can think of.. im sure there are more, but I have only come accross those from magazines/faculty lists/internets/etc
I think some people have to realize that just because it looks like architecture, tastes like it...it doesn't have to be it. And this fine line between hernan's project being it and not being it, is what I find somewhat interesting.
Some would argue to you, that architecture is more than a structure that houses a program..that its a bit larger, and includes more, with less tangible boundaries.
Thank you for the well thought out reply and also for the work you did on this project (I am assuming you were involved in it) My earlier comments were not so much in reference to the project as they were in reference to the prevailing attitude of some in this discussion that architects can not or should not worry about issues of sustainability and/or the larger social implications of their work.
I have been very intrigued by the Sur project since the first rendering and the feature with Hernan was posted on Archinect. I plan to go see it in the next couple of weeks as soon as I have some free time.
In terms of sustainability - The N-Architects project certainly beats out everything that has been done at PS-1. The thing that was most impressive about it though was the defininition of space in the courtyard. It seemed to occupy and envelope more of the courtyard than some of the earlier interventions.
I can wait to see how the Sur project works in the courtyard and how the participants in the Warm up interact with it.
ok. honestly, the only problem i see with this, there should be many more projects like this funded and designers given a chance to experiment so we don't become awed or upset with one rare example and endlessly debate its validity. projects like this, like it or not, helps to change architectural landscape by influancing younger generation and designers eventually put it in the right uses. thats how physical constructions like this work. when i was a student, it was a big deal to shift the grid and eventually that trickled down to mini malls.
personally i don't see any ground breaking radical or revolutionary departure in 'sur'. maybe due to my overloaded visual experience with installation works. ps1 is a perfect venue for it. i would be more interested in dan graham installation on dia foundation roof. but maybe that is my age.
sur is like a corbusian plan, a free form extending into defined borders of ps1 exterior courtyards. i care less about its fabrication which utilizes nothing much new.
I can't think of a single progressive architect (and yes this is archituecture) that scores a perfect 10 on her/his initial project. Yes there are problems (as many of you have pointed out repeatedly) and I'm sure Hernan noticed them well before all of you, but let him work through these kinks before burning him at the stake. Could you imagine where Corb, Mies, Khan, Tschumi, Frank, Mayne, etc. would be if they would have stopped after one project? Let this man have his day, make his mistakes, make the corrections, inflence people, and maybe we'll all be able to learn just a little bit from his efforts. Just think, if he can create a better way to build an object or architecture that is truly inexpensive yet individual - think of Eames meets the Jetsons - we're talking about seriously changing the future for everyone.
shit, even architects who've done it again and again faulter in bigger way. fuggin gerhy buildings still leak like crazy. now that some sad shit for an owner of one of his buildings.
Early electronic music, specifically disco was trendy at first...then it got just plain stupid and the masses reacted with disgust (death of disco). What happened? well artist learned from the mistakes made in the past, and much of the music we listen to today benefits from it. It doesn't matter what genre you listen to, and you may even hate all electro-shit and be a purist who listens to just live music...classical...whatever. The point is discussion, and learning from experimentation. Not everyone will like it...the software which helped create the forms, it's toxicity, shit...you may even hate the cigar brand Hernan smokes for all I care.
The way I see it, this is just a sketch realized in full-size. People will interact with it, spill beer on it, puke, and eventually it will either be purchased by some museum or become landfill.
Compare this to Serra? well, they both create sculptures which in turn create space. Is it architecture? you may not think so, but walk through "torqued ellipses" and you certainly feel something. There is something spatial about it. What is the difference between Hernan and Richard? they both use a non-mainstream tool and manage groups of people to create their pieces. Richard takes giant ship-building presses, and guides their operators to create something which may not seem natural. Hernan uses software, methods non-architeturaly common to architeture + "cheap/free labor" to do the same.
Like I said before, I don't particulary care for his shit...but I can appreciate the effort and vision.
we love it, we hate it... the problem is this is as far as the argument can go = there is nothing else there to talk about.
its a folie/folly on a small scale designed to do nothing but sit in the plaza and get sat upon - there are not very many demands on the initial program, and the project does not create any new framework with which to judge it. it casually ignores craft - so hard to critique it there. it's digital but handmade, short circuiting the machine fabrication discussion...
so we end up with this inane discussion of taste..
the larger problem really is the lack of a larger problem.
to all those hatin' on it: what were you expecting? it's a PS1 installation! y'know. it's designed for people to walk around drinking and listening to odd music and think to themselves "i'm an architect! in new york!! at PS1!!!"
is it sustainable? uhhh... i doubt this thing needs any "sustaining" given the indestructible/nonbiodegradable components involved.
i'm more interested in the question "is it flammable?" that thing would look wicked going up in flames. :D
though it's not my cup of tea, despite its shortcommings, and whatever one makes of this architect's vice, this project is not "way gay" in terms of its purpose. sure, it could have been made of injection-molded cornmeal of whatever is the biodegradeable material du jour, but that's for a project with different means and purpose.
has anyone seen this post the opening party? from some of the photos on the internet it doesnt look like it was very well made... or even thought out and its already falling apart..
doesnt this have to last another 2 months? hows it going to do that? isnt the point of architecture more than just making some crazy shapes to but also know how to put it together? doesnt that separate architects from designers....?
this is a little off the subject, but it is confusing to me how architecture/an architect can dismiss sustainability as an issue for one project and not another. if it is something a person or a profession is not concerned with, that is something else alltogether, but by its very defintion SUSTAINability is something to be SUSTAINed throughout the thought process of the profession/practioner.
as a side note, i am a vegetarian but i eat cow hearts every other friday.......but only as formal exercise.
just like you cannot please everyone all the time, architecture cannot address all issues at all times. Paul Rudolph stated: "All problems can never be solved...architects are highly selective in determining which problems they want to solve. Mies, for instance, makes wonderful buildings only because he ignores many aspects of a building. If he solved more problems, his buildings would be far less potent." by no means is sustainability unimportant, i'm just arguing that it seems to be outside the purpose of this particular design exercise/experiment/marketing tool/whatever you want to call it. sometimes to develop something new you have to ignore other issues for the time being for the sake of innovation. just how innovative this thing is is a whole other issue.
has a good overview and response to current state of affairs in the courtyard of PS1. Apparently...yes, the installation had to be cordoned off after the Saturday WarmUp.
Here is the rest of the line up of warmup's. Some amazing dj's lined up.
July 16
Juan Atkins aka Model 500 (Metroplex Records, Detroit)
Alex from Tokyo (World Famous, Tokyo Black Star)
Kimyon (Pockit Rockit USA/ NYC)
July 23
Live: MU & Maurice Fulton (Output)
Darshan Jesrani (Metro Area)
Tim Sweeney (DFA, Beats in Space)
July 30
GusGus DJ Set featuring
Buckmaster De La Cruz and Earth (Reykjavik, Iceland)
BMG of Ectomorph (IT) vs. Sal Principato of Liquid Liquid (99 Music, DFA)
(BMG: Electronics and Sal P: live vocals and percussion) DJ Kaos (K7, Berlin)
Aug 6
Josh Wink (Ovum, Philadelphia)
Stacey Pullen aka Kosmic Messenger (Black Flag Recordings, Detroit)
Brennan Green (Modal, Balihu)
Aug 13
Lovebug Starski (original hip-hop legend)
+ Very special guest
Jason Blackkat (Blackkat Soundsystem, NYC)
Aug 20
Live: Tortured Soul (Central Park Recordings, NYC)
Jerome Sydenham (Ibadan Records, NYC)
Ben Cook (Triangle Orchestra, Rong Music, SF)
Aug 27
Doc Martin (Sublevel, LA)
Monolake (live laptop set)
Phil Smart (Australia)
Nikola Baytala (S.W.A.T., SF)
Sept 3
Extended Set: Norman Jay M.B.E. (Good Times Sound System, U.K.)
DJ Bluewater (funk 45 set, NYC)
whoa! july 30 looks nice.
gusgus and liquid liquid!
they can have a double double dj dj showdown showdown.
by the way - in light of the argument about what Sur "offers the profession" ... in the end, it is just a pavilion. there is a whole history of pavilions offering not much more than something to look at or experience and then - poof - it is gone. i think it is great that this work is there, but for me it represents a revolution that already has happened and which we have already made more mature steps away from its naive beginnings. There is something very 1997 about Sur. I would say we have moved on to other applications for digital architecting that get beyond stand-alone sculpting ...
but as far as the larger argument about computing technology and construction, i have to say Stan Allen's essay in Log 5 "The Digital Complex" lays todays argument down pretty well. He charts both the context of computer modelling in academia in recent times, and suggests 3 facets that require further exploration that are not exclusively form-based (construction, program, and yes, sustainibility). He also identifies 3 examples in peripheral fields with the example of "monsters inc vs. waking life." a must read for, well everyone really.
Very well said Mason.
I don't think it's about not being interested into formal research, it's about questionning the limits of such research when it's so much self centered, meaning NOTHING ELSE than form making. These kind of discourse started in the mid 90's because the tools had step forward both in terms of power and in term of usage by many architecture office.
It was the right time to question the limits of the modern and post modern "vocabularies" used by architecture during the 80's.
But now we all now much more about these tools. Every architecture student has at least notions of autocad and Maya or 3dsmax when at school. Every one of us knows that the possiblities are not limited by our tools of representation but by their disconection with materiality. There is no sign of such question in the work of Alonzo.
From the gallery, the "Before" shots look great - but it looks like this thing is getting worked at the parties. Does PS1 have a weekly maintenance budget for these pavs? I have to say that I was really pleasantly surprised by the finished product before they let the people in - damned bodies.
Xefirotarch @ P.S. 1
Enough with the "my johnson is bigger than yours" flacid and strained intellectualization about this THING and about carcasses.
1) its somewhat dissapointing that technology has brought Architecture "this" far. Indeed Hernan is over-rated, however cool a human being he may be.
2) it doesnt plop on the ground nor does it rise to the level of ecstatic architecture
3) its ugly and not beautiful
4) its a good reason for the joe blows of the civilian (not-architecure) world to rubberneck. The installation thing has brought much appreciated attention to design.
5) when people fill the space up it will be about the EVENT the piece facilitates and less about the floating petals and anteaters.
I agree with the Thrilla 'n Manila that this thing looks good in virtual space but alas, I think it should stay there. Although I find Hernan's stuff fascinating, these kinds of projects end up so disappointing when built. They need to figure out a better way to fabricate these complex forms or else it's going to be a cheap and crude imitation of their intentions. Until then, I'll admire NURBS where they belong...on my computer screen.
DUH....no economic mode in Maya. This will always be the case for building "cool shit" unless Figures like Hernan win the lotto.
Is there any Richard Serra's Installation in PS1??? How come i don't see anyone trying to compare between this two?? In term of site specific, relationship between art and architecture, and meaning in form? any debates?
Well..part of hernan doing this project is to try to figure out ways to build his computer designs. If it were easy and already figured out, even hacks like most of the posters on this board could do it. Of course its going to be ugly at first, because its an experiement... if he wanted to make a mies box, i be3t it would look great, because all those issues are already figured out. You dont seem to have any sense of adventure. There are only maybe 20 architects in the world that seem to be working on this type of geometries in architecture, so, we should expect the process to be slow and ugly. Even looking at the people on the sciarc website, only 4 of them seem to have any interest in complex form for their projects. I bet all 4 of them end up creating amazing things in the future, but right now well have to suffer their experiments and mistakes. But its worth it to me. I used to hate hernans work, but this project is incredible. Besides the few sciar faculty that do this, i can think of maybe only 12 others in the world that are commited to understanding complex curves, and software originated/grown geometry.
Hotsies could you list here those other architects that might be pursuing the same kind of interest. I am interested in seeing your list. thanks.
This is an Art/Sculpture project done by someone who has the title "architect". It is not really architecture...it is more sculptural.
Just because it is done by an architect, it does not mean that it has to be critisized in terms of architecture. Otherwise, we'd be bashing things like the Barcelona chair in terms of its sustainability, relationship to the ground etc.
The project has architectural elements and its scale is near architectural...but it is not architecture. So issues of sustainability etc. should not apply here.
I cant say that I am in love with the project...but in the end, I think that i'm glad it was built. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this lengthy discussion.
From the sciarc faculty there are a few
most notably, Hernan Alonso.
but also
Eric Moss
Marcello Spina (PATTERNS)
Marta Male-Alemany
Paul Preissner (QUAVIRARCH)
but hernan seems to be the most advanced of the group to date.
In the globe, I think that list includes those above, plus
Greg Lynn (orginal seed)
SHoP (kind of, they seem less focused today)
David Erdman (SERVO)
Jason Payne/Heather Roberge (GNU)
Frank Gehry (of course!)
Ali Rahim
Lars Spuybroek
and thats really the extent of the list i can think of.. im sure there are more, but I have only come accross those from magazines/faculty lists/internets/etc
I think some people have to realize that just because it looks like architecture, tastes like it...it doesn't have to be it. And this fine line between hernan's project being it and not being it, is what I find somewhat interesting.
Some would argue to you, that architecture is more than a structure that houses a program..that its a bit larger, and includes more, with less tangible boundaries.
Zoë Coombes,
Thank you for the well thought out reply and also for the work you did on this project (I am assuming you were involved in it) My earlier comments were not so much in reference to the project as they were in reference to the prevailing attitude of some in this discussion that architects can not or should not worry about issues of sustainability and/or the larger social implications of their work.
I have been very intrigued by the Sur project since the first rendering and the feature with Hernan was posted on Archinect. I plan to go see it in the next couple of weeks as soon as I have some free time.
In terms of sustainability - The N-Architects project certainly beats out everything that has been done at PS-1. The thing that was most impressive about it though was the defininition of space in the courtyard. It seemed to occupy and envelope more of the courtyard than some of the earlier interventions.
I can wait to see how the Sur project works in the courtyard and how the participants in the Warm up interact with it.
Thanks again
Pete
Minor Typo in my last post - I CAN'T wait to see how the Sur project works in the courtyard and how the participants in the warm-up interact with it
more stuff to digest.....
from the gutter........
http://gutter.curbed.com/
ok. honestly, the only problem i see with this, there should be many more projects like this funded and designers given a chance to experiment so we don't become awed or upset with one rare example and endlessly debate its validity. projects like this, like it or not, helps to change architectural landscape by influancing younger generation and designers eventually put it in the right uses. thats how physical constructions like this work. when i was a student, it was a big deal to shift the grid and eventually that trickled down to mini malls.
personally i don't see any ground breaking radical or revolutionary departure in 'sur'. maybe due to my overloaded visual experience with installation works. ps1 is a perfect venue for it. i would be more interested in dan graham installation on dia foundation roof. but maybe that is my age.
sur is like a corbusian plan, a free form extending into defined borders of ps1 exterior courtyards. i care less about its fabrication which utilizes nothing much new.
I can't think of a single progressive architect (and yes this is archituecture) that scores a perfect 10 on her/his initial project. Yes there are problems (as many of you have pointed out repeatedly) and I'm sure Hernan noticed them well before all of you, but let him work through these kinks before burning him at the stake. Could you imagine where Corb, Mies, Khan, Tschumi, Frank, Mayne, etc. would be if they would have stopped after one project? Let this man have his day, make his mistakes, make the corrections, inflence people, and maybe we'll all be able to learn just a little bit from his efforts. Just think, if he can create a better way to build an object or architecture that is truly inexpensive yet individual - think of Eames meets the Jetsons - we're talking about seriously changing the future for everyone.
shit, even architects who've done it again and again faulter in bigger way. fuggin gerhy buildings still leak like crazy. now that some sad shit for an owner of one of his buildings.
Early electronic music, specifically disco was trendy at first...then it got just plain stupid and the masses reacted with disgust (death of disco). What happened? well artist learned from the mistakes made in the past, and much of the music we listen to today benefits from it. It doesn't matter what genre you listen to, and you may even hate all electro-shit and be a purist who listens to just live music...classical...whatever. The point is discussion, and learning from experimentation. Not everyone will like it...the software which helped create the forms, it's toxicity, shit...you may even hate the cigar brand Hernan smokes for all I care.
The way I see it, this is just a sketch realized in full-size. People will interact with it, spill beer on it, puke, and eventually it will either be purchased by some museum or become landfill.
Compare this to Serra? well, they both create sculptures which in turn create space. Is it architecture? you may not think so, but walk through "torqued ellipses" and you certainly feel something. There is something spatial about it. What is the difference between Hernan and Richard? they both use a non-mainstream tool and manage groups of people to create their pieces. Richard takes giant ship-building presses, and guides their operators to create something which may not seem natural. Hernan uses software, methods non-architeturaly common to architeture + "cheap/free labor" to do the same.
Like I said before, I don't particulary care for his shit...but I can appreciate the effort and vision.
You sre off your rocker if you compare this to Serra. Worlds apart
I'm MR. " this is great BLAa BLaa Blaa blaa"
we love it, we hate it... the problem is this is as far as the argument can go = there is nothing else there to talk about.
its a folie/folly on a small scale designed to do nothing but sit in the plaza and get sat upon - there are not very many demands on the initial program, and the project does not create any new framework with which to judge it. it casually ignores craft - so hard to critique it there. it's digital but handmade, short circuiting the machine fabrication discussion...
so we end up with this inane discussion of taste..
the larger problem really is the lack of a larger problem.
just my 2cents.
it looks like a fun place to throw a party...
to all those hatin' on it: what were you expecting? it's a PS1 installation! y'know. it's designed for people to walk around drinking and listening to odd music and think to themselves "i'm an architect! in new york!! at PS1!!!"
is it sustainable? uhhh... i doubt this thing needs any "sustaining" given the indestructible/nonbiodegradable components involved.
i'm more interested in the question "is it flammable?" that thing would look wicked going up in flames. :D
This one waas the second prise!!! Looks very interesting..I am designing stuff like this in my Design lab 4
READ,....http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1437
previous ps1 winner
http://www.massiearchitecture.com/images/ps1-Surface1Rust3p.jpg
http://www.massiearchitecture.com/images/ps1-Surface1Under640.jpg
actually kristi, that link is last years winner, which was built.
poor kristi.....(: /)
does anybody know what company supplied the polyurethan-sprayed spandex?
177 post.....c'mon lets make it to the 200 mark.
though it's not my cup of tea, despite its shortcommings, and whatever one makes of this architect's vice, this project is not "way gay" in terms of its purpose. sure, it could have been made of injection-molded cornmeal of whatever is the biodegradeable material du jour, but that's for a project with different means and purpose.
has anyone seen this post the opening party? from some of the photos on the internet it doesnt look like it was very well made... or even thought out and its already falling apart..
doesnt this have to last another 2 months? hows it going to do that? isnt the point of architecture more than just making some crazy shapes to but also know how to put it together? doesnt that separate architects from designers....?
this is a little off the subject, but it is confusing to me how architecture/an architect can dismiss sustainability as an issue for one project and not another. if it is something a person or a profession is not concerned with, that is something else alltogether, but by its very defintion SUSTAINability is something to be SUSTAINed throughout the thought process of the profession/practioner.
as a side note, i am a vegetarian but i eat cow hearts every other friday.......but only as formal exercise.
just like you cannot please everyone all the time, architecture cannot address all issues at all times. Paul Rudolph stated: "All problems can never be solved...architects are highly selective in determining which problems they want to solve. Mies, for instance, makes wonderful buildings only because he ignores many aspects of a building. If he solved more problems, his buildings would be far less potent." by no means is sustainability unimportant, i'm just arguing that it seems to be outside the purpose of this particular design exercise/experiment/marketing tool/whatever you want to call it. sometimes to develop something new you have to ignore other issues for the time being for the sake of innovation. just how innovative this thing is is a whole other issue.
has a good overview and response to current state of affairs in the courtyard of PS1. Apparently...yes, the installation had to be cordoned off after the Saturday WarmUp.
Here is the rest of the line up of warmup's. Some amazing dj's lined up.
July 16
Juan Atkins aka Model 500 (Metroplex Records, Detroit)
Alex from Tokyo (World Famous, Tokyo Black Star)
Kimyon (Pockit Rockit USA/ NYC)
July 23
Live: MU & Maurice Fulton (Output)
Darshan Jesrani (Metro Area)
Tim Sweeney (DFA, Beats in Space)
July 30
GusGus DJ Set featuring
Buckmaster De La Cruz and Earth (Reykjavik, Iceland)
BMG of Ectomorph (IT) vs. Sal Principato of Liquid Liquid (99 Music, DFA)
(BMG: Electronics and Sal P: live vocals and percussion) DJ Kaos (K7, Berlin)
Aug 6
Josh Wink (Ovum, Philadelphia)
Stacey Pullen aka Kosmic Messenger (Black Flag Recordings, Detroit)
Brennan Green (Modal, Balihu)
Aug 13
Lovebug Starski (original hip-hop legend)
+ Very special guest
Jason Blackkat (Blackkat Soundsystem, NYC)
Aug 20
Live: Tortured Soul (Central Park Recordings, NYC)
Jerome Sydenham (Ibadan Records, NYC)
Ben Cook (Triangle Orchestra, Rong Music, SF)
Aug 27
Doc Martin (Sublevel, LA)
Monolake (live laptop set)
Phil Smart (Australia)
Nikola Baytala (S.W.A.T., SF)
Sept 3
Extended Set: Norman Jay M.B.E. (Good Times Sound System, U.K.)
DJ Bluewater (funk 45 set, NYC)
Now I really whish I was there to get to see all these guys! Atkins and Josh Wink are classics!
Nick Pisca (new archinect member) was reponsible for "making the scripts for PS1". Contact him via his archinect profile / email / website.
Archinect Member Name: NickPisca
http://archinect.com/members/profile_view_ind.php?id=9472
whoa! july 30 looks nice.
gusgus and liquid liquid!
they can have a double double dj dj showdown showdown.
by the way - in light of the argument about what Sur "offers the profession" ... in the end, it is just a pavilion. there is a whole history of pavilions offering not much more than something to look at or experience and then - poof - it is gone. i think it is great that this work is there, but for me it represents a revolution that already has happened and which we have already made more mature steps away from its naive beginnings. There is something very 1997 about Sur. I would say we have moved on to other applications for digital architecting that get beyond stand-alone sculpting ...
but as far as the larger argument about computing technology and construction, i have to say Stan Allen's essay in Log 5 "The Digital Complex" lays todays argument down pretty well. He charts both the context of computer modelling in academia in recent times, and suggests 3 facets that require further exploration that are not exclusively form-based (construction, program, and yes, sustainibility). He also identifies 3 examples in peripheral fields with the example of "monsters inc vs. waking life." a must read for, well everyone really.
Very well said Mason.
I don't think it's about not being interested into formal research, it's about questionning the limits of such research when it's so much self centered, meaning NOTHING ELSE than form making. These kind of discourse started in the mid 90's because the tools had step forward both in terms of power and in term of usage by many architecture office.
It was the right time to question the limits of the modern and post modern "vocabularies" used by architecture during the 80's.
But now we all now much more about these tools. Every architecture student has at least notions of autocad and Maya or 3dsmax when at school. Every one of us knows that the possiblities are not limited by our tools of representation but by their disconection with materiality. There is no sign of such question in the work of Alonzo.
From the gallery, the "Before" shots look great - but it looks like this thing is getting worked at the parties. Does PS1 have a weekly maintenance budget for these pavs? I have to say that I was really pleasantly surprised by the finished product before they let the people in - damned bodies.
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