DOCSLIB.ORG

Veiled Sustainability: the Screen in the Work of Fumihiko Maki

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Veiled Sustainability: the Screen in the Work of Fumihiko Maki Speaking of Places Veiled Sustainability: The Screen in the Work of Fumihiko Maki Brendon Levitt Recent articles have applauded the consequently reduce the need for air populated valley. The two pieces of into an architecture that is also cultur- adds and subtracts such sources in an sustainability of Fumihiko Maki’s conditioning, he does not conceive monumental architecture form a poi- ally resonant and aesthetically refined. expedient fashion until he is satisfied. architecture due primarily to his use them as purely energy-saving devices. gnant dichotomy between the old and It is only when the work is done that of screens.1 Ultimately, however, such Rather, they derive from concepts that the new. Traditional Sources one can rationalize this inherently arguments represent a misreading of embody cultural, religious, social, spa- The GEC rests on a heavy, brick Maki’s intellectual flexibility irrational process. intent. In this age of “green-wash- tial, material, artistic, technological, base, up which a series of public spaces allows him to reference various Fundamental to Maki’s notion of ing,” architects often rationalize economic and humanistic ideas. step steeply and extend out to a court- sources during his process of design. space is the Japanese concept oku. screens or sunshades as evidence of To illustrate the complexity of yard. But seeming to float above, its Some concepts such as inner space, There is no completely analogous their buildings’ sustainability. But Maki’s thinking, this article refers to fourth and fifth floors are enclosed veiled space, and relational space word term in English. Oku connotes Maki’s buildings could rarely be con- a number of his designs. His use of by a delicate screen of aluminum and are uniquely Japanese, and were the a mysterious depth or symbolic, Top: View to the Gender Equality Center (GEC) sidered sustainable by such measures screens on the exterior of the Gender wood louvers. The vertical louvers conceptual starting point for Maki’s unattainable center; it refers less to a from Nihonmatsu Castle. as energy consumption, carbon emis- Equality Center (GEC) in Nihon- cloak a variety of functions, from sem- explorations with screens dating back measurable distance than to a meta- Bottom: Ukiyoe print of a village at the base of a sions, or waste reduction. matsu will serve as a particularly inar rooms and research labs to guest to the 1970s. Others, such as atmo- physical dimension, and can apply on mountain with a Shinto Shrine in the distance. Instead, Maki’s buildings embody important touchstone, however. The rooms. Apart from their material sphere, symbolism and composition many scales, from city to shrine. To a different kind of sustainability—one GEC is a multiuse community center presence and technical performance, derive from Maki’s Modernist train- describe the concept, Maki’s 1979 Opposite Left: Entrance into the brick base with the that lies not in their technical perfor- in a small town 250 km. north of the louvers reflect deeper meanings ing. For the sake of clarity—and at the book Miegakure Suru Toshi referred screen above. mance, but in the conceptual overlays Tokyo. Set on the northern slope of a rooted in traditional Japanese concep- risk of oversimplification—I will try to to the paradigmatic Japanese village Opposite Right: The GEC cascades up the hill, beck- that imbue them with meaning. While forested hill, it faces the distant ruins tions of space. They show how “sus- separate these strands. In reality, while located along a river valley at the base 2 oning the visitor ever deeper into the building. Maki’s screens do block the sun, and of a fifteenth-century castle across a tainable” elements can be integrated he is designing, Maki superimposes, of a forested mountain. For the vil- 76 Levitt / The Screen in the Work of Fumihiko Maki Places 17.2 77 Speaking of Places Veiled Sustainability: The Screen in the Work of Fumihiko Maki Brendon Levitt Recent articles have applauded the consequently reduce the need for air populated valley. The two pieces of into an architecture that is also cultur- adds and subtracts such sources in an sustainability of Fumihiko Maki’s conditioning, he does not conceive monumental architecture form a poi- ally resonant and aesthetically refined. expedient fashion until he is satisfied. architecture due primarily to his use them as purely energy-saving devices. gnant dichotomy between the old and It is only when the work is done that of screens.1 Ultimately, however, such Rather, they derive from concepts that the new. Traditional Sources one can rationalize this inherently arguments represent a misreading of embody cultural, religious, social, spa- The GEC rests on a heavy, brick Maki’s intellectual flexibility irrational process. intent. In this age of “green-wash- tial, material, artistic, technological, base, up which a series of public spaces allows him to reference various Fundamental to Maki’s notion of ing,” architects often rationalize economic and humanistic ideas. step steeply and extend out to a court- sources during his process of design. space is the Japanese concept oku. screens or sunshades as evidence of To illustrate the complexity of yard. But seeming to float above, its Some concepts such as inner space, There is no completely analogous their buildings’ sustainability. But Maki’s thinking, this article refers to fourth and fifth floors are enclosed veiled space, and relational space word term in English. Oku connotes Maki’s buildings could rarely be con- a number of his designs. His use of by a delicate screen of aluminum and are uniquely Japanese, and were the a mysterious depth or symbolic, Top: View to the Gender Equality Center (GEC) sidered sustainable by such measures screens on the exterior of the Gender wood louvers. The vertical louvers conceptual starting point for Maki’s unattainable center; it refers less to a from Nihonmatsu Castle. as energy consumption, carbon emis- Equality Center (GEC) in Nihon- cloak a variety of functions, from sem- explorations with screens dating back measurable distance than to a meta- Bottom: Ukiyoe print of a village at the base of a sions, or waste reduction. matsu will serve as a particularly inar rooms and research labs to guest to the 1970s. Others, such as atmo- physical dimension, and can apply on mountain with a Shinto Shrine in the distance. Instead, Maki’s buildings embody important touchstone, however. The rooms. Apart from their material sphere, symbolism and composition many scales, from city to shrine. To a different kind of sustainability—one GEC is a multiuse community center presence and technical performance, derive from Maki’s Modernist train- describe the concept, Maki’s 1979 Opposite Left: Entrance into the brick base with the that lies not in their technical perfor- in a small town 250 km. north of the louvers reflect deeper meanings ing. For the sake of clarity—and at the book Miegakure Suru Toshi referred screen above. mance, but in the conceptual overlays Tokyo. Set on the northern slope of a rooted in traditional Japanese concep- risk of oversimplification—I will try to to the paradigmatic Japanese village Opposite Right: The GEC cascades up the hill, beck- that imbue them with meaning. While forested hill, it faces the distant ruins tions of space. They show how “sus- separate these strands. In reality, while located along a river valley at the base 2 oning the visitor ever deeper into the building. Maki’s screens do block the sun, and of a fifteenth-century castle across a tainable” elements can be integrated he is designing, Maki superimposes, of a forested mountain. For the vil- 76 Levitt / The Screen in the Work of Fumihiko Maki Places 17.2 77 Speaking of Places the interior of a store while preserv- ing the privacy of the patrons therein. Meanwhile, inside, the visitor finds refuge from the chaotic city while still being connected to it through the slits in the louvers. The GEC is designed to produce a similar effect. Especially as one walks parallel to the facade, the 24-cm. openings between louvers veil the private, interior realm. Maki’s design for the foyer of TEPIA, an exhibition pavilion for new technology, also explores this traditional Japanese notion of veiled space. Here, finely perforated metal panels are suspended from stainless steel cables to form an updated kind of shoji screen that filters views to the city from the interior, and views to the foyer from the exterior. lating its parts.”4 For Maki, the key A third Japanese concept that has to a humane urban environment is influenced Maki’s architecture is ma. not just the quality of the individual This is best understood as relational buildings, but the quality of the spaces space, or the space between things. between. A The New York Times article once Such concern permeates Maki’s reported that when researchers asked architecture at all scales. For example, schoolchildren from America and in his competition entry for the Sal- Japan to describe the contents of a fish zburg Congress Hall, he used mesh tank, the American children described screens to enclose discrete elements, the individual fish, whereas the Japa- but the elements were amalgamated nese children described the relation- to produce coherently figural intersti- lagers, the mountain is imbued with a no-Oka Crematorium guides visi- Japanese expression, miegakure. ships between them.3 This propensity tial spaces. These transitional spaces overall L-shaped design—its admin- spiritual life, but it is not a place or a tors along a prescribed route where Literally “to glimpse something is the basis of ma. extended the public network of streets istrative and residential wings—while spirit that can be known.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
    For publication on or after Monday, March 29, 2010 Media Kit announcing the 2010 PritzKer architecture Prize Laureate This media kit consists of two booklets: one with text providing details of the laureate announcement, and a second booklet of photographs that are linked to downloadable high resolution images that may be used for printing in connection with the announcement of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The photos of the Laureates and their works provided do not rep- resent a complete catalogue of their work, but rather a small sampling. Contents Previous Laureates of the Pritzker Prize ....................................................2 Media Release Announcing the 2010 Laureate ......................................3-5 Citation from Pritzker Jury ........................................................................6 Members of the Pritzker Jury ....................................................................7 About the Works of SANAA ...............................................................8-10 Fact Summary .....................................................................................11-17 About the Pritzker Medal ........................................................................18 2010 Ceremony Venue ......................................................................19-21 History of the Pritzker Prize ...............................................................22-24 Media contact The Hyatt Foundation phone: 310-273-8696 or Media Information Office 310-278-7372 Attn: Keith H. Walker fax: 310-273-6134 8802 Ashcroft Avenue e-mail: [email protected] Los Angeles, CA 90048-2402 http:/www.pritzkerprize.com 1 P r e v i o u s L a u r e a t e s 1979 1995 Philip Johnson of the United States of America Tadao Ando of Japan presented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. presented at the Grand Trianon and the Palace of Versailles, France 1996 1980 Luis Barragán of Mexico Rafael Moneo of Spain presented at the construction site of The Getty Center, presented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
    [Show full text]
  • Open Source Architecture, Began in Much the Same Way As the Domus Article
    About the Authors Carlo Ratti is an architect and engineer by training. He practices in Italy and teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he directs the Senseable City Lab. His work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale and MoMA in New York. Two of his projects were hailed by Time Magazine as ‘Best Invention of the Year’. He has been included in Blueprint Magazine’s ‘25 People who will Change the World of Design’ and Wired’s ‘Smart List 2012: 50 people who will change the world’. Matthew Claudel is a researcher at MIT’s Senseable City Lab. He studied architecture at Yale University, where he was awarded the 2013 Sudler Prize, Yale’s highest award for the arts. He has taught at MIT, is on the curatorial board of the Media Architecture Biennale, is an active protagonist of Hans Ulrich Obrist’s 89plus, and has presented widely as a critic, speaker, and artist in-residence. Adjunct Editors The authorship of this book was a collective endeavor. The text was developed by a team of contributing editors from the worlds of art, architecture, literature, and theory. Assaf Biderman Michele Bonino Ricky Burdett Pierre-Alain Croset Keller Easterling Giuliano da Empoli Joseph Grima N. John Habraken Alex Haw Hans Ulrich Obrist Alastair Parvin Ethel Baraona Pohl Tamar Shafrir Other titles of interest published by Thames & Hudson include: The Elements of Modern Architecture The New Autonomous House World Architecture: The Masterworks Mediterranean Modern See our websites www.thamesandhudson.com www.thamesandhudsonusa.com Contents
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Download Palladios Children : Essays on Everyday Environment
    PALLADIOS CHILDREN : ESSAYS ON EVERYDAY ENVIRONMENT AND THE ARCHITECT PDF, EPUB, EBOOK N.J. Habraken | 224 pages | 30 Dec 2005 | Taylor & Francis Ltd | 9780415357913 | English | London, United Kingdom Palladios Children : Essays on Everyday Environment and the Architect PDF Book Her area of expertise is the development of civic spaces serving communities whose needs reside at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and performance. He lectures in architecture and is a former American Institute of Architects bureaucrat. B25 He is the author of seven books, the subject of two recent ones and his recent publication of The Structure of the Ordinary MIT was widely reviewed internationally. He bellowed something about poodles sawing wood and women drawing - no woman, he said, could possibly be an architect. Nearly every important development in the modern architectural movement began with the proclamation of these convictions in the form of a program or manifesto. There is an entirely new chapter on the Danish architect Jorn Utzon, whose work, as exemplified in his design for the Sydney Opera House, Mr. She had the keenest eye, a gift like her brother's, for the design of space. They are able to measure the amount of order that is necessary for understanding and fascination to prevail even when chaotic actions take place and random objects appear on stage. Habraken studied architecture at Delft Technical University, the Netherlands from This must lead to a reassessment of architects' identities, values and education, and the contribution of the architect in the shaping of the built environment. O69 Radhika Khurana reading aloud to 20 odd year olds in the initial section, and some absorbed older students and teachers reading silently in a subsequent, better-daylit section.
    [Show full text]
  • Me Tabolis Ts House S Under Cons Truction
    Metabolists houses under construction ESSAYS PREVI: The Metabolists’ First, Last and Only Project BY EUI-SUNG YI With the special assistance by Bridget Ackeifi Cities in the sky, superhighways over the seas, floating layers of techno-villages. These utopic proposals for Japan were generated by a passionate and extraordinary group of young Japa- nese architects fueled by the futuristic vision to rebuild their nation. Parallel to their idealism, was the path of Peter Land, an Englishman by way of Yale and South America, tasked to plan housing for the poor. Incredibly, their idealism would cross and the Metabolists’ first and only project would be for a United Nations social housing development in a place very far from Japan: Peru. Eui-Sung Yi sat down with the group’s last living member, Fumihiko Maki, and the organizer of the project, Peter Land, to discuss this project and its place in modern urban design (read the interviews in pg. 65 and 68, respectively). Nearly 50 years ago, architect Peter Land initiated an The competition was an immense undertaking. In the end, architectural competition for the Peruvian capital of Lima. there were 86 different designs, 467 built homes housing 50 - 2014/1 The humble British architect did not devise a competition over 2.800 occupants, a school and a nursery, all within meant for the design of an avant-garde form for a museum 12,3 hectares of property, located only 7 km west of Lima’s or civic monument. Instead, Land, with the support of center. Land asked a total of 26 architectural firms to submit 1 2 his friend and President Fernando Belaúnde Terry and designs: 13 international teams and 13 Peruvian groups both docomomo prestigious members of the Peruvian academia, asked the composed of emerging and progressive architects.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pritzker Architecture Prize1998[1]. RENZO PIANO 2
    Photo by M. Denancé Reconstruction of the Atelier Brancusi, Paris, France — 1997 Photo by C. Richters Photo by M. Denancé The Beyeler Foundation Museum Basel, Switzerland 1997 Ushibuka Bridge linking three islands of the Amakusa Archipelago, Japan — 1997 Photo by Paul Hester The Menil Collection Museum Houston, Texas — 1987 Photo by Paul Hester Drawing illustrating the roof system of “leaves” for adjusting the amount of light admitted to the galleries. Photo by Hickey Robertson The Cy Twombly Gallery at the Menil Collection Museum Houston, Texas — 1995 Photo by Hickey Robertson THE ARCHITECTURE OF RENZO PIANO — A T RIUMPH OF CONTINUING CREATIVITY BY COLIN AMERY AUTHOR AND ARCHITECTURAL CRITIC, THE FINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE WORLD MONUMENTS FUND It was modern architecture itself that was honored at the White House in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1998. The twentieth anniversary of the Pritzker Prize and the presentation of the prestigious award to Renzo Piano made for an extraordinary event. Piano’s quiet character and almost solemn, bearded appearance brought an atmosphere of serious, contemporary creativity to the glamorous event. The great gardens and the classical salons of the White House were filled with the flower of the world’s architectural talent including the majority of the laureates of the previous twenty years. But perhaps the most significant aspect of the splendid event was the opportunity it gave for an overview of the recent past of architecture at the very heart of the capital of the world’s most powerful country. It was rather as though King Louis XIV had invited all the greatest creative architects of the day to a grand dinner at Versailles.
    [Show full text]
  • Introducing Tokyo Page 10 Panorama Views
    Introducing Tokyo page 10 Panorama views: Tokyo from above 10 A Wonderful Catastrophe Ulf Meyer 34 The Informational World City Botond Bognar 42 Bunkyo-ku page 50 001 Saint Mary's Cathedral Kenzo Tange 002 Memorial Park for the Tokyo War Dead Takefumi Aida 003 Century Tower Norman Foster 004 Tokyo Dome Nikken Sekkei/Takenaka Corporation 005 Headquarters Building of the University of Tokyo Kenzo Tange 006 Technica House Takenaka Corporation 007 Tokyo Dome Hotel Kenzo Tange Chiyoda-ku page 56 008 DN Tower 21 Kevin Roche/John Dinkebo 009 Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka Kenzo Tange 010 Metro Tour/Edoken Office Building Atsushi Kitagawara 011 Athénée Français Takamasa Yoshizaka 012 National Theatre Hiroyuki Iwamoto 013 Imperial Theatre Yoshiro Taniguchi/Mitsubishi Architectural Office 014 National Showa Memorial Museum/Showa-kan Kiyonori Kikutake 015 Tokyo Marine and Fire Insurance Company Building Kunio Maekawa 016 Wacoal Building Kisho Kurokawa 017 Pacific Century Place Nikken Sekkei 018 National Museum for Modern Art Yoshiro Taniguchi 019 National Diet Library and Annex Kunio Maekawa 020 Mizuho Corporate Bank Building Togo Murano 021 AKS Building Takenaka Corporation 022 Nippon Budokan Mamoru Yamada 023 Nikken Sekkei Tokyo Building Nikken Sekkei 024 Koizumi Building Peter Eisenman/Kojiro Kitayama 025 Supreme Court Shinichi Okada 026 Iidabashi Subway Station Makoto Sei Watanabe 027 Mizuho Bank Head Office Building Yoshinobu Ashihara 028 Tokyo Sankei Building Takenaka Corporation 029 Palace Side Building Nikken Sekkei 030 Nissei Theatre and Administration Building for the Nihon Seimei-Insurance Co. Murano & Mori 031 55 Building, Hosei University Hiroshi Oe 032 Kasumigaseki Building Yamashita Sekkei 033 Mitsui Marine and Fire Insurance Building Nikken Sekkei 034 Tajima Building Michael Graves Bibliografische Informationen digitalisiert durch http://d-nb.info/1010431374 Chuo-ku page 74 035 Louis Vuitton Ginza Namiki Store Jun Aoki 036 Gucci Ginza James Carpenter 037 Daigaku Megane Building Atsushi Kitagawara 038 Yaesu Bookshop Kajima Design 039 The Japan P.E.N.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tragedy of the Megastructure
    105 Megastructures 3 | 2018 | 1 The Tragedy of the Megastructure Valentin Bourdon PhD Candidate École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne [email protected] Valentin Bourdon is a PhD student at the Laboratory of Construction and Conservation (LCC) EPFL since 2017. His research explores the architectural challenges of the common space. In support of significant historical experiences, and contemporary subjects, such a project aims to help overcome the delay taken by architecture comparing to other disciplines in the appropriation of the notion of ‘common’. ABSTRACT Relating the megastructure to the issue of the commons is a useful exercise to understand the success and the disappearance of what Peter Reyner Banham called the “dinosaurs of the Modern Movement”. All these large-scale constructions suffered the same fate: a conflict between the promise of a large shared space and the temptation of its fragmentation. This quantitative quandary is also raised in another field by Garrett Hardin in 1968 as the ‘enclosure dilemma’. The publication of his article “The Tragedy of the Commons” sparked a broad controversy coinciding with the megastructure’s momentum. By assessing a number of theoretical correspondences, the article reexamines the impact of megastructures on the interdisciplinary debates of the time. It also considers the relationship between architecture and property as one of the possible–and tragically coincident–reasons for their success and dissolution. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-0075/8523 ISSN 2611-0075 Copyright © 2018 Valentin Bourdon 4.0 KEYWORDS Megastructure; Commons; Ownership; Enclosure; Anti-enclosure. Valentin Bourdon The Tragedy of the Megastructure 106 When the American ecologist Garrett Hardin publishes his famous article entitled “The Tragedy of the Commons”1 in Science, the architectural 1.
    [Show full text]
  • A Fresh Urban Model by Jean-Louis Cohen
    NEW YORK 99 A fresh urban model by Jean-Louis Cohen In the late 20th century, New York could, in more than one regard, The Liberty Tower that was planned to stand atop the ascending be considered a metropolis of the past, in which innovation had spiral was gradually reduced to a glass obelisk, a poor substitute dried up, and where commercial architecture reigned supreme. for the prisms of Minoru Yamasaki, and the ingenious façades Invention, which had been one of the city’s industries, whether and structures of the original Twin Towers. Meanwhile, Santiago of a technological variety – Fulton’s steamboats, Otis elevators, Calatrava’s transport centre ends up being of marginal importance Edison’s electric lighting – or in the sphere of urbanism – the 1811 compared to the main logistical platforms located downtown. grid plan, Central Park and the 1916 zoning regulation – seemed to have become a forgotten skill. The hegemony of commercial If we want to find real novelty in New York in the first decade of the companies, the mediocrity of public commissions, and the absence 21st century we should look elsewhere. No one expected Democrat of any vision for urban planning combined to give New York an defector, Michael Bloomberg, to jump-start the biggest urban image of conservatism, cynicism and boredom, while excitement transformation project since John Lindsay was mayor (1966-1973). seemed to be centred on younger cities, apparently less hidebound With his close-knit team, he encouraged the process of gentrification by regulations, like Los Angeles, Houston and even Atlanta. Twenty that had started in the 1970s, and took advantage of the drop in years after his magisterial Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas was crime levels resulting from the policies of his hard-line predecessor, to focus for a time on the Georgian metropolis, happy to see the Rudolph Giuliani.
    [Show full text]
  • 8Npvysfq 10Stories-Mov-En.Pdf
    Title 10 STORIES OF COLLECTIVE HOUSING Subtitle A graphical analysis of inspiring masterpieces by a+t research group ISBN 978-84-616-4136-9 Authors a+t research group: Aurora Fernández Per Javier Mozas Alex S. Ollero Layout and production: Aurora Fernández Per Alex S. Ollero Delia Argote Coordination: Idoia Esteban Communication and Press: Patricia García Editor English language version: Ken Mortimer Printing: Gráficas Dosbi SL VI 366-2013 Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2013 Published by: a+t architecture publishers General Álava 15, 2ºA. E-01005. Vitoria-Gasteiz. Spain www.aplust.net © Edition: a+t architecture publishers © Texts and drawings: a+t research group © Photos: their authors No part of this publication, including the cover, may be reproduced or transmitted without the express authorization in writing of the publisher. CONTENTS TIMELINE 08 01 THE STREET IN THE AIR JUSTUS VAN EFFEN COMPLEX. Michiel Brinkman. Rotterdam,1919-1922 12 02 THE SINKING OF THE SOCIAL CONDENSER NARKOMFIN DOM-KOMMUNA. Moisei Ginzburg, Ignaty Milinis. Moscow,1928-1930-1932 66 03 CHEAPER, FASTER, LIGHTER AND TALLER CITÉ DE LA MUETTE. Beaudouin, Lods, Mopin, Bodiansky. Paris, 1931-1934 116 04 THE ELEGANCE OF THE DISSIDENT HOUSING FOR BORSALINO EMPLOYEES. Ignazio Gardella. Alessandria,1948-1952 150 05 THE PROJECT AS SCRIPT MULTI-PURPOSE COMPLEX IN CORSO ITALIA. Luigi Moretti. Milan,1949-1956 176 06 AN EXQUISITE GHETTO BARBICAN. Peter Chamberlin, Geoffry Powell, Christof Bon, Arup. London, 1956-1976 216 07 CRISTAL LIQUIDE RÉSIDENCE DU POINT DU JOUR. Fernand Pouillon. Paris,1957-1963 278 08 SLOW CITY HILLSIDE TERRACE. Fumihiko Maki. Tokyo, 1967-1998 322 09 BUILDING MOODS BYKER REGENERATION.
    [Show full text]
  • Fumihiko Maki 1993 Laureate Essay
    Fumihiko Maki 1993 Laureate Essay Thoughts On Fumihiko Maki By Kenneth Frampton Ware Professor of Architecture The Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation Columbia University, New York Profoundly influenced by Jose Lluis Sert and hence steeped in the ameliorative rationalism of the early modern movement, Fumihiko Maki enjoys the reputation of consistently creating an architecture that aside from responding to society’s needs, also comprises a constructional fabric which is durable and aesthetically vibrant. In this regard his practice may be fairly compared to that of Norman Foster, Gunter Benisch and Renzo Piano, all of whom, while expressively different, have displayed a similar penchant for efficient, lucid, lightweight form. Lightness, both in fact and in metaphor, has been an emerging theme in Maki’s architecture for some time and today his work invariably manifests a spatiality that derives in large measure from the immateriality of modern material. Like much of today’s production his work places a particular emphasis on the membrane irrespective of whether this is an atectonic layering of planes or a taut skin drawn over a vaulted superstructure. Either way Maki gravitates towards an architecture that is both present and absent at the same time, like the transitory illusions of the cinema screen for which he retains a particular passion. This last came to the fore in 1990, when he entered the competition for the Palazzo del Cinema in Venice. Of this he wrote: ”Our proposal for the Palazzo del Cinema attempts to express the spirit of Venice, both external and temporal, in one striking entity: a glass palace on the water, Changing from day to night; its solid mass is gradually transformed and dissolved into a glowing festive illusion.
    [Show full text]
  • Lecture Handouts, 2013
    Arch. 48-350 -- Postwar Modern Architecture, S’13 Prof. Gutschow, Classs #1 INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW Introductions Expectations Textbooks Assignments Electronic reserves Research Project Sources History-Theory-Criticism Methods & questions of Architectural History Assignments: Initial Paper Topic form Arch. 48-350 -- Postwar Modern Architecture, S’13 Prof. Gutschow, Classs #2 ARCHITECTURE OF WWII The World at War (1939-45) Nazi War Machine - Rearming Germany after WWI Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect & responsible for Nazi armaments Autobahn & Volkswagen Air-raid Bunkers, the “Atlantic Wall”, “Sigfried Line”, by Fritz Todt, 1941ff Concentration Camps, Labor Camps, POW Camps Luftwaffe Industrial Research London Blitz, 1940-41 by Germany Bombing of Japan, 1944-45 by US Bombing of Germany, 1941-45 by Allies Europe after WWII: Reconstruction, Memory, the “Blank Slate” The American Scene: Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 Pentagon, by Berman, DC, 1941-43 “German Village,” Utah, planned by US Army & Erich Mendelsohn Military production in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Akron, Cleveland, Gary, KC, etc. Albert Kahn, Detroit, “Producer of Production Lines” * Willow Run B-24 Bomber Plant (Ford; then Kaiser Autos, now GM), Ypsilanti, MI, 1941 Oak Ridge, TN, K-25 uranium enrichment factory; town by S.O.M., 1943 Midwest City, OK, near Midwest Airfield, laid out by Seward Mott, Fed. Housing Authortiy, 1942ff Wartime Housing by Vernon Demars, Louis Kahn, Oscar Stonorov, William Wurster, Richard Neutra, Walter Gropius, Skidmore-Owings-Merrill, et al * Aluminum Terrace, Gropius, Natrona Heights, PA, 1941 Women’s role in the war production, “Rosie the Riverter” War time production transitions to peacetime: new materials, new design, new products Plywod Splint, Charles Eames, 1941 / Saran Wrap / Fiberglass, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • Inside the MIT Media Lab - FT.Com
    Inside the MIT media lab - FT.com http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/49b501e0-b1e8-11e2-9315-00144feabdc0.html By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our cookie policy unless you have disabled them. You can change your cookie settings at any time but parts of our site will not function correctly without them. ft.com > life&arts > May 3, 2013 2:03 pm By Clive Cookson Inside an airy glass building in Boston, the future is being invented. Clive Cookson takes an exclusive look at one of the world’s most exciting laboratories ©Tony Luong MIT Media Lab has a strong ‘maker culture’, using old-fashioned tools as well as the latest 3D printers start to walk across a street in a city of the near future. An autonomous electric car is gliding silently towards me, driving itself to pick up a group of passengers. The vehicle slows down – but how do I know it will let me cross the road safely? The robotic car shows it has seen me by swivelling its mobile headlights in my direction. Then its speaker beams a highly directional message at me: “You may cross now.” This “vehicle-pedestrian interface” is a small but striking example of the wide-ranging City Science initiative under way at MIT Media Lab, the famous interdisciplinary research and design centre at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For 25 years or so after it opened in 1985, Media Lab focused on multimedia computing and communications – the interfaces between people and electronics – and it came up with important new technologies such as the electronic ink used in the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader.
    [Show full text]