Hernan Diaz Alonso is an exuberant, lively guy and the three days of conversations about his passions and obsessions were as charged as his personality.  Before his visit, I was not really sure what to expect. Horrific, fleshy, plump, decaying – all adjectives I would use for Hernan’s work. Without a close eye, it could be hard to differentiate the tactics and techniques deployed in his work. Some may even question his status as “an Architect” considering his indifference to program and users. But to Hernan, his limited palette is neatly curated to his sensibilities as a designer; and Architecture is not limited to buildings or even spaces for people. Hernan is not conflicted to subjectively fight his corner and say, “I have an Architect’s mind, I couldn’t be any other type of designer.”

This type of unwavering, confident statement was characteristic of much of the conversation during his visit. Here at Knowlton we are surrounded by a variety of talented professors, whose interests and strengths land all over the map. With the theoretical underpinnings of this institution, it can sometimes feel like an obligation to navigate the various camps of thought coherently even though many times they are completely in conflict (Conflict is where genius happens, by the way).  To that end, one of the big ideas Hernan impressed upon me was that Architects are individuals – each with varying interests and expertise – and thus it is not pertinent for him to participate in conversations irrelevant to his work.

Though he spoke of his work intelligibly, many of his thoughts were rounded out with the simple application of intuition.  He also discussed the importance of constructing one’s discourse, but still privileged building (and recognizing) one’s sensibilities first.  This was one of those, “magicians talking to other magicians” conversations that he probably wouldn’t speak so bluntly about in a public forum. It boiled down to this: first, figure out what you like, then, figure out why. That is an extreme oversimplification but it ultimately removed a bit of pressure from thinking we need to have a resolved agenda we are looking to inject into Architecture.  With time, research, and experimentation, it will click (“or it won’t” –Doug Graf).  At that point, leave it behind and forge forward with the substance that surfaces.

I personally don’t have a stomach for much of his work  - I have little to no interest in the grotesque affects that manage to consistently emerge. Nonetheless I found our sessions with him extremely valuable. His work is positioned in contemporary modes of production and thought, which easily relates to all young Architects despite their particular M.O.

This guest post is courtesy of Laila Ammar, a G3 Architecture student and participant in the Baumer Sessions

CreditThis week we were fortunate to have Hernan Diaz Alonso with us for both a public lecture and an extended period in our Baumer sessions. Hernan is the Graduate Programs Chair at SCI-Arc and founder Xefirotarch, a speculative practice based in L.A. The title of his lecture “Form and... View full entry

Welcome back everyone. I hope you enjoyed the holidays. Starting up this next Wednesday, January 15th is our Winter lecture series titled "Doubling". We are starting off with Hernan Diaz Alonzo, founder of Xefirotarch and the Graduate Programs Chair at Sci-Arc. He will also be working with our... View full entry

Credit Welcome back everyone and Happy Holidays.  Playing catch-up on my part, on November 13th we were fortunate to have Sebastian Schmaling of Johnsen Schmaling Architects give a lecture in conjunction with this years AIA design awards, a cooperative event that takes place in Knowlton... View full entry

Credit Welcome back everyone. On Oct 30th we were joined by Mark Lee. USC and GSD graduate, Mark is the principle and founder of Johnston Marklee, an architecture practice operating out of Los Angeles. With a staff of designers coming from academic and professional backgrounds their practice has... View full entry

Welcome back everyone. About a month ago we here at Knowlton were fortunate to hold a symposium titled Situating Foods. The focus of this symposium was on understanding relationships of food and design. Particularly, the conference seemed to focus much on urban land-use practices in association... View full entry

Architecture school gets a bad rep, deservedly so, but there are some great parts too. We have a little bit of fun and have a really great community. Credits to Lindsay Mitchell who credits Chad Barrington of Cannon Design for this wonderful idea. Needless to say we looked forward to every Friday... View full entry

Credit Welcome back everyone. Not too long ago we were fortunate to have Sylvia Lavin, Director of Critical Studies in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA and a leading theorist, give a lecture and also spend time working with the third year March students as this years Baumer... View full entry

Source Welcome back everyone. On the 9th we were joined by Laura Kurgan, an Associate Professor of Architecture at Columbia University and director of the Spatial Information Design Lab at Columbia. The lab began in 2004 to address a lack of GIS use in the school and since has worked on an array... View full entry

Credit Welcome back everyone. I’m sorry this has been along time coming, but we’ve been up to some other great projects that are coming down the pipeline. We were lucky enough to have our own Doug Graf, Professor of Architecture and historian extraordinaire, give a lecture on the... View full entry

Credit Welcome back everyone, or should I be welcoming myself back after a short absence. A lot of exciting things have been happening here at Knowlton and there are more to come down the pipeline. One of the big events was our yearly Glimcher lecture, co-sponsered by the Knowlton School and the... View full entry

What a way to start a weekend! A workshop led by Peter Trummer with Kristy Balliet. We began on a Saturday morning, and learned about aggregation of the city - or how to make a lovely pile. We looked at cities and at buildings in relationship to cities.  We used the Sears Tower as an... View full entry

Credit Welcome back. This Wednesday we were fortunate to have Peter Trummer, Head of the Institute for Urban Design & Spatial Planning at the University of Innsbruck, as our speaker and workshop leader over the previous 5 days (we will have a recap posted in the near future). Kristy Balliet... View full entry

Need I say this year has begun with a bang. For those of us that came from OSU undergrad, school shouldn’t be starting for another week and a half (the semester switch moved the start date from late September to August last year). But, more importantly is the 2 ½ week project we just... View full entry

Image Credit Welcome back everyone. This Wednesday we had speaker Tridib Banjeer join us from USC. Tridib is a Dr of Urban and Regional Planning at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. His research over the years has included the relationship of the... View full entry

Source Welcome everyone. It is a shame you all couldn’t make it to the lecture on Wednesday. After hearing Kens presentation I certainly have a newfound respect and understanding for his work. To start us off Kristy Balliet, assistant professor and organizer for this lecture series, shined... View full entry

Welcome back to the new school year everyone. Returning this year with a vengeance is our fall lecture series titled "Loose Fit". We should have some amazing speakers this semester, see for yourself. Starting us off is Ken Smith, an award winning Landscape Architect out of New York. Hats off to... View full entry