:: summer 2012 reading

One thing I love about summer is having the opportunity to read.  Didn't read as much as I would have liked to, but did read several that were quite interesting.

1.    Architecture of the Absurd: How “Genius” Disfigured a Practical Art.  John Silber

A quick, simple read, but also worthwhile.  I appreciated how this book challenged the validity of buildings that are notable simply because they are new or “modern”. 

In architecture, the architect’s relationships to his client and to the intended occupants of his building define the boundaries of his profession.  This is in part what distinguishes an architect from a sculptor.  The aesthetics of a building, in contrast to the aethetics of a piece of sculpture, are judged according to how well a building fulfills a client’s goals and the requirements of those who live and work within it.  No one lives and works in a sculpture; unlike a work of architecture, it is an aesthetic object and is observed from without  (pg 16).

Silber looks at Gaudi’s work as an example of what is playful and organic, but not absurd.  Gaudi’s buildings are integrated into the context of the city, adding to it, not detracting from it.  And the form comes from reason: “The canting of supporting columns was not absurd but the result of creative engineering that met the load demands of the buildings structure” (20).

Absurdity:

o    Muchamp argued in favor of designs that stand a chance of ‘kicking up a storm’ (26)

o    John Rockwell, the Times chief art critic, recently celebrated an award-winning work of art that featured ‘inflatable sex toys performing unprintable acts’ and sculpture of ‘a decomposed human corpse and other animal parts hanging from a tress.’ The work, Rockwell admitted, was ‘truly disturbing’ but, he asserted, ‘great art is always shocking.’ (26)

A couple case studies that I particularly disappointed by---

Case study 1: John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company.  I.M. Pei

         They designed the façade to be this gorgeous mosaic of the city, reflecting the city onto its panels. In fact, there would be no windows, but walls of glass. However, the intended six-by-twelve-foot panes of glass proved to be unreliable for a high-rise tower: the panels cracked and fell to the ground so often that soon it became known as the largest building in the world.  (google John Hancock tower under repair, 1973)

         To solve the problem, Arthur Metcalf, a scientist and engineer and the CEO of Electronics Corporation of American advised that the six-by-twelve-foot panels of glass be replaced with three panes four by six.  The mullions, Metcalf argued, would not detract from the average adults view, the mullions being placed at four and eight feet.  The Hancock Company did not take this simple and inexpensive solution.  Instead, they spent millions of dollars to replace all the panes with heavier glass designed to set off an alarm before shattering. 

         Correcting the flaws in Pei’s design ended up costing the Hancock Company $34 million: about one quarter of the building’s original cost.  Unbelievable.

Case study 2: Walt Disney Concert Hall.  Frank Gehry.

         The design itself of the Disney Hall isn’t absurd, necessarily.  But Gehry’s neglect of the surrounding neighbors certainly is.  Neighbors complained that the reflecting light from the concert hall exterior was blinding and enough to raise their homes’ temperature by 15 degrees.  Los Angeles Philharmonic was forced to cover Gehry’s stainless steel shapes with matte-finished cloth.  A cheap looking exterior replaced the original glamour of the shimmering metal.  “It reminds me of an evening gown made of burlap” (73). 

Silber ends with this:

Theoryspeak, celebrity, and self-proclaimed Genius cannot cover the naked absurdity of much contemporary architecture (91).

           

2.    designing.   Ivan Chermayeff, Tom Geismar, Steff Geissbuhler

A wonderful visual book I checked out of the library to get some ideas for my portfolio.  Very stimulating to flip through this fantastic collection of articulate graphics.

3.    The Looming Tower.  Lawrence Wright.

I listened to part of this book on “tape”.  I don’t know if I absorbed enough of it to be able to regurgitate much back.  The premise of the book, though, is giving a narrative of the events leading up to 9/11.  I believe it started in the 1980s.  Truly fascinating.  Most of it was information that I had never heard before—or at least details that were new to me.  Definitely a book I want to pick up again at some point.

 

4.    Glass House.  Margaret Morton. 

An oral history written about a squatter community in New York: the Glass House.  A whole world that I am ignorant of.  The Glass House Community was highly organized, even having tiers of leadership and weekly house meetings.  You had to be voted into the community, and you built your own space when you joined.  Highly recommend this to anyone looking for a personable read on unconventional community. 

I’d rather have adventures than things, because once the adventure is over, nobody can ever take it away from me.  -Donny

What I haven’t seen in any other squats is that Glass House would take people who were not wanted by other buildings…At Glass House, if someone was sleeping on the sidewalk, we took them in. -Scott

I moved into this guy’s room before I built my own room, and he’d built his whole wall out of trash.  He didn’t even use studs or Sheetrock, nothing.  He had car parts and doors and windows for walls.  Radios and typewriters made a wall.  It was pretty fully.  It was the energy.  Everyday was an adventure. –Chad

“I didn’t know about squatting and I had lived in the city for five years.  I think that’s probably true for a lot of people on the Lower East Side.  That’s what was unique about Glass House.  It was a viable community, but unless you were part of it you didn’t know about it.  I thought it was a beautiful idea, recycling buildings.” –Heidi

5.    The Queen’s Coronation.  James Wilkinson

England loves their Queen and the whole royal family at large.  While I was visiting my aunt in Yorkshire, the Queen’s jubilee was going on.  The entire country was celebrating.  I, of course, had to purchase this lovely little book about the Queen’s coronation sixty years ago.  The details that go into that ceremony are incredible.  Like, all the women in waiting who carried the Queen’s train had their heels specially made so they would be the same height as the adjacent woman.  Incredible. 

6.    The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture of the Senses.  Juhani Pallasmaa.

I love this sort of Architectural theory: how do our bodies and architecture relate?

Written in a magazine format--short, lively essays and vivid pictures--this book was a pleasure to flip through.  Talks about adult obsessions with Legos and all these crazy things people have done with it.

7.    The Cult of Lego. John Baichtal, Joe Meno
 
Written in a magazine format--short, lively essays and vivid pictures--this book was a pleasure to flip through.  Talks about adult obsessions with Legos and all these crazy things people have done with it. The Book of Daniel is a wonderful book of the Bible.  Full of spiritual wonders and miracles. 

8.    Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Listened to this one "on tape" before bed once.  We all know the story, and it was really enjoyable to hear it in full.  I've only seen the Disney version before.  

 

9.    The book of Daniel.  (The Bible)

Loved reading about the wonderful ways God was working in Daniel's life and around him.  Like when Daniel was thrown into the lion's den and wasn't even scratched, whereas others were torn to pieces before even hitting the floor.  Or when a hand mysteriously appeared and wrote on the wall.  Craziness.  The power of God.  

10.  September 11: An Oral History.  Dean E. Murphy

Truly moving.  Stories are told from survivors who were in the towers, surrounding buildings, rescuers and heros, on the outside, and in the Pentagon.  Read this throughout August.  I highly recommend it as a very personal history of 9/11. 

11.  Living in the Endless City.  Ricky Burdett. 

I really only read a few pages of this.  But I'm including this as a recommendation for all those interested in urban studies.  Worth checking out from the library!