Architecture Now
Excerpt from the introduction of the book 'Architecture Now, Volume II', by Philip Jodidio
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
The Dutch have proven to be very open to the development of new archetypes both in virtual and in built forms. Lars Spuybroek, who was born in 1959 in Rotterdam, and Maurice Nio created NOX, a firm dedicated to the use of computers. Together with another colleague (Kas Oosterhuis), in 1997, they created one of the first truly innovative buildings of the computer era on the artificial island of Neeltje Jans, to the southwest of Rotterdam near the "Delta Project" seawalls. Spuybroek aptly describes this remarkable building as "A turbulent alloy of the hard and the weak, of human flesh, concrete and metal, interactive electronics and water. A complete fusion of body, environment and technology." "The design," he goes on to say, "was based on the metastable aggregation of architecture and information. The form itself is shaped by the fluid deformation of fourteen ellipses spaced out over a length of more than 65 meters. Inside the building, which has no horizontal floors and no external relation to the horizon, walking becomes akin to falling. The deformation of the object extends to the constant metamorphosis of the environment that responds interactively to the visitors to the water pavilion via a variety of sensors that register this constant reshaping of the human body called action."
California has been another of the sources of creativity in the search for new architectural paradigms. Greg Lynn, who is based in Venice, California, has worked on the concept of what he calls an "Embryological House." Sensitive to the need for the architect to be "practical" in his designs, he writes, "The Embryological House can be described as a strategy for the invention of domestic space that engages contemporary issues of brand identity and variation, customization and continuity, flexible manufacturing and assembly, and most importantly an unapologetic investment in the contemporary beauty and voluptuous aesthetics of undulating surfaces rendered vividly in iridescent and opalescent colors. The Embryological House employs a rigorous system of geometrical limits that liberate an exfoliation of endless variations. This provides a generic sensibility common to any Embryological House at the same time that no two houses are ever identical."
Some of Lynn's contemporaries do not see an acute need to be closely involved with the practical aspects of building. The most radical of these designers may be Marcos Novak, seen by many as the "pioneer of the architecture of virtuality." His concepts of "liquid architecture" or "transarchitecture" exist exclusively on computer screens, though his thinking clearly extends to the possibility of work that exists in the "real" world. "Cyberspace itself was never limited to virtual reality," he says, "but had more to do with our invention of a pervasive and inescapable information space completely enmeshed with culture."
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
The Dutch have proven to be very open to the development of new archetypes both in virtual and in built forms. Lars Spuybroek, who was born in 1959 in Rotterdam, and Maurice Nio created NOX, a firm dedicated to the use of computers. Together with another colleague (Kas Oosterhuis), in 1997, they created one of the first truly innovative buildings of the computer era on the artificial island of Neeltje Jans, to the southwest of Rotterdam near the "Delta Project" seawalls. Spuybroek aptly describes this remarkable building as "A turbulent alloy of the hard and the weak, of human flesh, concrete and metal, interactive electronics and water. A complete fusion of body, environment and technology." "The design," he goes on to say, "was based on the metastable aggregation of architecture and information. The form itself is shaped by the fluid deformation of fourteen ellipses spaced out over a length of more than 65 meters. Inside the building, which has no horizontal floors and no external relation to the horizon, walking becomes akin to falling. The deformation of the object extends to the constant metamorphosis of the environment that responds interactively to the visitors to the water pavilion via a variety of sensors that register this constant reshaping of the human body called action."
California has been another of the sources of creativity in the search for new architectural paradigms. Greg Lynn, who is based in Venice, California, has worked on the concept of what he calls an "Embryological House." Sensitive to the need for the architect to be "practical" in his designs, he writes, "The Embryological House can be described as a strategy for the invention of domestic space that engages contemporary issues of brand identity and variation, customization and continuity, flexible manufacturing and assembly, and most importantly an unapologetic investment in the contemporary beauty and voluptuous aesthetics of undulating surfaces rendered vividly in iridescent and opalescent colors. The Embryological House employs a rigorous system of geometrical limits that liberate an exfoliation of endless variations. This provides a generic sensibility common to any Embryological House at the same time that no two houses are ever identical."
Some of Lynn's contemporaries do not see an acute need to be closely involved with the practical aspects of building. The most radical of these designers may be Marcos Novak, seen by many as the "pioneer of the architecture of virtuality." His concepts of "liquid architecture" or "transarchitecture" exist exclusively on computer screens, though his thinking clearly extends to the possibility of work that exists in the "real" world. "Cyberspace itself was never limited to virtual reality," he says, "but had more to do with our invention of a pervasive and inescapable information space completely enmeshed with culture."
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Marcos Novak, United States: AlloBio (2001)