Archinect

Lian (Harvard GSD M.Arch.I)

I graduated in 2013, but still blog here once in a while.

  • anchor

    What should I ask Rafael Moneo?

    By Lian Chikako Chang
    Mar 29, '10 9:24 PM EST

    The lottery gave me one of two student seats at dinner with
    Rafael Moneo tomorrow night, after his lecture. What should I ask him?

    Lianimage

    [Addendum: The lecture was great. It was called "Design Conditioned by Circumstance: The Advantages of Obstacles for the Architect." Michael Meredith described it as taking Venturi Scott Brown's argument, which was "promiscuous" and radical in its context and making it into a moral argument. I saw it not so much in terms of making an argument about complexity or contradiction, but about making a building that is a good neighbor and a good leader, that respects its context while making the buildings around it better also. He looked at four American institutional projects and talked quite a bit about how his intervention related to the existing context in terms of urbanistic questions of paths through the site, creating linkages, doorways, and thresholds in a campus, and so on.

    The dinner was even better. I'll write soon...]



     
    • 11 Comments

    • for a job.

      Mar 30, 10 4:24 am  · 
       · 
      Lian Chikako Chang

      Ha! We'll see how that one goes over.

      Mar 30, 10 10:40 am  · 
       · 

      these after-lecture conversations are often most fun and memorable when kept casual. don't go in with your notes and your rehearsed question(s). propose a bourbon. start a conversation about something he's mentioned which appears to interest him, get him interested and engaged in talking to you. then just see what happens. [don't forget to have a bourbon yourself.]

      Mar 30, 10 11:34 am  · 
       · 
      Lian Chikako Chang

      A bourbon is a very specific recommendation! What about a gin and tonic? :)

      Mar 30, 10 12:12 pm  · 
       · 

      i'm a kentuckian, after all. i have to be patriotic.

      Mar 30, 10 2:19 pm  · 
       · 
      LOOP!

      That's exciting... Can't go wrong with Knob Creek.

      Mar 30, 10 5:10 pm  · 
       · 
      Lian Chikako Chang

      Knob Creek it is!

      Mar 30, 10 6:27 pm  · 
       · 
      b3tadine[sutures]

      i would ask him what he's reading. it's my go to question for any architect.

      Mar 30, 10 9:44 pm  · 
       · 
      dlb

      Ask him why the MFA addition in Houston is such a bad museum building.

      Mar 31, 10 9:46 am  · 
       · 
      danger

      hold up strange objects in his face and ask him how it makes him feel.

      or perform a myers-briggs personality test on him - 100 plus questions should take you thru most of dinner...

      Mar 31, 10 1:56 pm  · 
       · 
      Lian Chikako Chang

      Thanks, everyone! Unfortunately, bourbon was not available: the options were red, white, and sparkling or still water.

      Mar 31, 10 8:04 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.

    • Back to Entry List...
  • ×Search in:
 

About this Blog

This blog was most active from 2009-2013. Writing about my experiences and life at Harvard GSD started out as a way for me to process my experiences as an M.Arch.I student, and evolved into a record of the intellectual and cultural life of the Cambridge architecture (and to a lesser extent, design/technology) community, through live-blogs. These days, I work as a data storyteller (and blogger at Littldata.com) in San Francisco, and still post here once in a while.

Affiliated with:

Authored by:

  • Lian Chikako Chang

Other blogs affiliated with Harvard University:

Recent Entries