This topical review of 2016's News isn't about certain architects' big projects or prizes (those'll have their own lists), but about the culture surrounding those big names, and the way their personalities convey the profession to a wider audience. For your reading pleasure, presented in reverse chronological order:
Jean Nouvel's court battle over the Philharmonie continues
Nouvel had originally filed an unsuccessful suit against the Philharmonie for "defiling" his design by altering it without his consent. He's now filing the complaint with a different French court, to get them to change it back to his original design, bringing up complex issues of intellectual copyright as well as architectural reputation.
Frank Gehry might bail on the U.S. now that Trump's been elected
Dual American-Canadian citizen Gehry mentioned in an interview that French president Francois Hollande had offered him self-exile, although it's unlikely that he'll take Francois up on it. In the same interview, Gehry also suggested "correlation between people's ambivalence towards uninteresting architecture and support for President-Elect Trump."
Koolhaas speaks at the GSD: architecture is "clearly dedicated to political correctness"
While in part due to Aravena's Pritzker, bemoaning architecture's turn to political correctness has clear echoes in 2016's post-election political discourse, a strong reminder that architecture is, and always has been, political.
Watch the official trailer for Tomas Koolhaas' upcoming documentary, 'REM'
Rem's son's documentary about his father is more expressive portrait than historical exposé, a treatment that in some ways leans heavily on Rem's cache as a starchitect, rather than pure information or their relationship, to communicate significance.
The unusual tale of how Luis Barragán became a diamond
You owe it to yourself to read the full story behind this fantastical scenario, which includes the architect's archive, a unconventional "love triangle", and a new approach to preservation.
David Adjaye is releasing a vinyl record with his brother
In "Architecture is frozen music" news, the composer, musician and DJ Peter Adjaye (aka DJ Kwame) will produce a vinyl record, Dialogues, to be released July 8 2017.
"The first major architect who disconnected the profession completely from angst": Rem on Bjarke
Before Bjarke Ingel's Rolling Stone profile, he made TIME's list of the "100 Most Influential People", where Koolhaas described him as, "completely in tune with the thinkers of Silicon Valley, who want to make the world a better place without the existential hand-wringing that previous generations felt was crucial to earn utopianist credibility."
Zaha Hadid Architects to continue under Patrik Schumacher's leadership
The professional transition happening at ZHA has been heavily reported on ever since Hadid's death, with a focus on how Patrik Schumacher and his parametric ideology might be applied to the world-renowned firm.
The Archives of American Art collected an impressive amount of love letters written by Saarinen to his second wife, Aline Bernstein Louchheim. Among the expected sweetness and fawning, there are also some choice architectural metaphors, and overall the letters lend a remarkably personal look into the life of one of the 20th century's greatest architects.
Rem Koolhaas to deliver keynote on day 3 of AIA National Conference
Koolhaas' talk, "Delirious Philadelphia" (in a nod to the conference's host city), was promised by the AIA's release to be "a kick in the pants". The starchitect's appearance at such a convention was highly anticipated, for its potential to shake-up a convention that otherwise might not be so theoretically inclined.
21 Comments
rem never said architecture is "clearly dedicated to political correctness", he said that architecture is inseparable from the political, which is something else entirely.
say, do you have a complete list of what rem said?
no, but i was there for his talk and if anything he was pushing back against the idea that "political correctness" has architecture over the knee.
This is a good wrap-up. Dangermouse, were you at the AIA Philly talk? I was so bored by it. I don't not believe you, but seriously I barely remember his talk because it was so dull.
i fell asleep at a lecture by Henry Kissinger once.
The few times I've seen Rem speak he has been much more interesting. I've never seen him speak about his architecture, which is already an interesting pattern. His narcissism takes entirely different path than the other stars.
Donna, I was at the GSD talk, which is the one Amelia has linked. He was funny, most of the meat was in the beginning 10 minutes, but it was enjoyable, if brief. There was a long Q&A period but most of the questions were of the "I'm going to make a 5 minute statement then tack on a question" variety.
But Dangermouse it's between quotation marks!
“I think that both the art world and the architecture world … are clearly dedicated to political correctness and therefore [are] pretty intolerant in terms of engaging” with political worlds beyond Western democracies. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/10/koolhaas-on-the-politics-of-architecture/
You put it between quotation marks, so can't argue with that ;)
Rem is trying have his gouda, and eat it too.
"Trump and his followers never defined “political correctness”, or specified who was enforcing it. They did not have to. The phrase conjured powerful forces determined to suppress inconvenient truths by policing language."
I see Rem would rather speak in generalities, and thereby insulate himself from criticism, rather than define what "political correctness" is, in his own words. He's played into the hands of Cheeto Jesus, and the games of obfuscation and distraction.
I'm sorry, did that piece have Rem define political correctness", or did that piece have to do with Rem's flawed understanding of the United States?
Can you explain why his understanding was flawed in that article?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h67k9eEw9AY
Perfectly summed up political correctness...
Using soft language or completely avoiding reality to spare feelings and distance oneself from the message being conveyed .
Jla-x, polictical correctness is not synonymous with "soft language". PC uses soft language but it's more specifically concerned with not insulting or denigrating persons or groups of persons:
po·lit·i·cal cor·rect·ness
NOUN
the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against
Soft language or doublespeak has a much longer history (probably since humans have had language) and is more often than not associated with politics and politicians, although as Carlin points out, it's everywhere in the language. George Orwell, who originated the term doublespeak in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four, didn't mince his words when he talked about soft and two-faced language .
q-dam;
"In the last 10-15 years we have almost exclusively looked at cities," he said, pointing out that since publication of statistics showing that more than 50 per cent of humanity now lives in cities, "90 or even 99 percent" of intellectual activity is focused on urban issues."
Was Rip-Van-Rem asleep all this time, does he have Alzheimer's? He wrote a fucking book about NYC, almost 40 years ago. The focus of the nearly the entire 20th Century has been on the city.
"Agriculture in America is more and more concentrated on a central belt that runs from the south to the north," said Koolhaas. "And there is a kind of seasonal operation where larger and larger machines that are used for harvesting are so big that no individual farmer can actually own one. They become like armada of machinery that that is so expensive that it has to function 24 hours a day."
Did somehow agriculture just up and move into the middle of the country? Fuck. It's been part of "our" existence since we stomped on this continent.
In 2015, the top 10 agricultural producing States, in terms of cash receipts were (in descending order): California, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Indiana. These and related statistics can be found in ERS's Farm Income and Wealth Statistics.
No. In fact, family farms have accounted for a large majority of farm numbers and agricultural sales since the 1970s. But as production shifts to larger farms, family-owned farm businesses often become incorporated. Family corporations (having more than half the voting stock held by individuals related by blood or marriage) account for about a fifth of farm sales. See the ERS report for more information: America's Diverse Family Farms: 2015 Edition
"That is concentrating a large percentage of all the production in America in a central zone. So it is in our view no so coincidence that that is where the Drumpf voters were voting."
Clinton lost the following, which lost her the election; Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. Wisconsin - the only one in the top ten of the ag economy [and that's dairy farmers]. The other states, hardly the "center" of the country, and in fact, long considered the rust-belt.
Old, Well-Off, College Educated, White People [Not Working Class Whites]
Hardly a picture of working class, former union or blue collar types.
As for his claim about farm jobs;
How many jobs in America are related to agriculture?
USDA does not have an official estimate of the number of jobs associated with specific industries or sectors. Published U.S. Government data are available for direct farm employment and for employment in selected industries or sectors related to agriculture. The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes data on the number of full- and part-time jobs for agricultural and related industry sectors.
Total farm and agriculture-related:
Which of course doesn't account for the migrant jobs, and jobs by undocumented workers; jobs most Americans wouldn't do, and haven't done since The Depression Era, you know, the one depicted in the Grapes Of Wrath.
"On top of this, a new form of mega-architecture is starting to creep into the countryside to house the server farms, distribution warehouses and factories that require almost no human labour and which are too big to fit in cities, he explained."
Amazon
All producing jobs, with real humanoids, err white suburban KKK members.
"For instance in Nevada there is now huge concentrations of server farms, fulfilment centres, battery factories and all of that is reaching the scale of a city but it will never have the density of the city."
Nevada? Hillary won Nevada, but again, Nevada produces two things; Prostitution and Gambling, well three, if you count Yucca Mountain. Now, Tesla. But again, hardly central part of the country.
At least Rem could acknowledge the true reality;
"However a report published last year by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University found that 85 percent of the 5.6 million manufacturing jobs lost in the USA between 2000 and 2010 were due to automation rather than offshoring."
The one thing Hair Furor refuses to acknowledge; Manufacturing will come back, but it will be in the form of automation, not jobs.
So what. Rem should at least acknowledge the issues at hand, and now getting traction across the spectrum; UBI. He could also say what is "politically incorrect" to say, and say it loud;
This election was about identity politics; White Identity Politics, and White Supremacy, otherwise known as; FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET.
I see a parallel between the reaction against Starchitects, and the reaction against establishment politicians. There are criticisms of intellectual elitism, of aiding and abetting a reckless power grab and money grab by the top 1%, of collaborating with amoral corporations and oligarchs instead of standing up to them, and of being in a bubble of academic and political elites in big prosperous cities who are detached from reality.
Rem is certainly mired in the same elite world of Charlie Rose guests that Hillary and Trump are part of. But what I do appreciate about him is that more than any other high-level architect he will openly discuss the failings of his class of high level influencers. He rarely puts the blame on himself alone, but he does speak about the problems and flaws of outdated thinking. Norman Foster, on the other hand, will never openly factor in the current global chaos into his architectural/urban philosophy. Maybe he will chat about it in private, but he'll never pull it into his work. Most firms don't have an AMO-like branch that continually pulls sociological observation into the work. If I had to pair up politicians and Architects, I would say that Rem is more similar to how Obama operates. And Foster is more similar to how Hillary operates. Obama is more intellectually resilient and more willing to discuss regrets, failings and criticism of him. He uses those "misses" as opportunities to grow. He seeks out teachable moments. In his last press conference he called current the shift in political power a "clarifying moment".
Interesting observation davvid, which architect would you compare with Trump or Bernie?
blah blah blah
randomized,
Trump : Andres Duany
Highly capitalistic and developer-oriented, promoter of specious faux populist/progressive arguments founded on dubious theories (peak oil) and nostalgia. Just as much of an elite, but somehow able to avoid the label
Bernie : Alejandro Aravena
Genuinely concerned with the needs and economic conditions of marginalized people and looming crises that are affecting them.
davvid, I like that.
Andres is kind of a schmoe, but at least he's engaging the development community that is responsible for the desecration. Promoting environmentally sensitive, transit oriented, and dense development to combat this is better than designing another 'jewel' for a limited few, dare I say elite media/academic group. If you can't get over the traditional styles and picket fences, you're even more superficial, and definitely nostalgic for modernism's heroic age when burning fossil fuel was considered the epitome of progress. As for Trump, he's a con artist 100% as he would say. On that note, REM or BIG come to mind.
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