The absolutely arbitary attraction to something.

lars lerup's book, 'planned assaults'.

Great question!
I went to study under Bahram Shirdel after seeing his Nara Convention Hall competition entry as featured in AD's 'Folding in Architecture' issue.
Then there is the twighlight, slightly foggy atmosphere of Edinburgh's New Town in autumn, to the tune of Claude Bolling's 'Suite for Violin and Jazz Piano'.
Or reading 'The Fall' by Albert Camus whilst drinking lots of red wine in a basement flat and listening to Aldo Romano's 'Ritual'.

My designs are consequently twisted green-glass empty Georgian boxes. The emptiness is The Void.
Actually, I design heavily 'value-engineered' schools. But things are changing.

well for me it has to be something along these lines:



and this:


and of course this:


There are other more impressive images, but these will have to do for now.

I do enjoy his theories, but like everything....in moderation!

experiencing Dani Karavan's Walter Benjamin Memorial







i thought this thread was about the band

lol dammson....

those are some sweet images. I don't think I am familiar with this project.

my childhood lego blocks

squirrellmeister...it's in portbou, spain

no shit! had I know this, whilst living there, I could have gone to see it. Dagnabit!!!

I thought this thread was going to be about the band too.

But while we're on the topic of bands, I will have to say that one of my earliest recorded creative epiphanies occurred while I was listening to Siamese Dream. It's still my favorite album and I still count the Pumpkins among my favorite bands, because their music is good for both singing/drumming along to, and designing to.

Projects though.....hmmmmm. Difficult to pinpoint as there are many that inspire me, but I'd say a big one is Parc de la Villette by Bernard Tschumi. It's whimsical and complex but still orderly and functional, and I've found that's how I operate.




I also remember learning about/seeing Dutch residential design, and thinking that the Dutch should probably design all buildings.

Sausage w/ orrichette and broccoli rapini.
Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Eclisse
Anthony Vidler's Warped Space and The Architectural Uncanny
Sprite Zero
Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska
Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow
Fritz Lang's The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Airbus A340
The Empire Stikes Back
Anything by Friedrich Kittler
Ornette Coleman's This Is Our Music

I was fascinated with deconstruction in school, literal stuff, loved Frank Gehry's house and Matta-Clark.
Then I started reading Derrida and Foucault, and GynEcology, and I am just now starting to lose steam on the joy of picking apart people's assumptions...

...problem is, such play seems too sublte? how can it really fix anything?

no worries OldFogey:

whilst I used to do what kablakistan said he/she was doing (with the reading of heavy theory) I have rethunk issues about certain architects/designers.

At the end of it all, as nubie suggested, this is about those things, whether written or drawn, made a profound impact on us today, now, and in our design expressions/interests.

For me it was Woods...and I was fortunate to see him and his dialog with another old cat, Peter Cook....who was just as brilliant.

Alsop's Cardiff Bay Visitors Center- http://www.ukattraction.com/south-wales/cardiff-bay-visitors-centre.htm

along with his quote along the lines that -providing employment for construction workers was justification enough for any design-
Probably a mis-quote, but love the idea that architecture could be as arbitrary as all get out and as long as it gainfully employed someone to construct it, it had a good reason to be built.
I can't say I still feel that way, but I still enjoy Alsop's work
j

There is a bank in Colle di Val d'Elsa, Italy that shows the true nature of a modern building as it relates to historical architecture. The sensitive manor in which the bank was placed in this small village was truly poetic

any images post-neorealcrapismist????

I'd love to see it!
I always enjoy the way those europeans are so sensitive and cautiously planning and erecting new structures within old context.

I do somewhere; I will have to dig them up for you squirrelly

sweet mate, cheers!

sidebar:
squirrelly, you are so funny. I keep having to look at your picture and remind myself that you don't actually have a British accent, tee hee.

Ok, as you were....