Liberating Urban Architecture (The Merging of the Virtual and the Real)

ctbuh.org/papers Title: Liberating Urban Architecture (The Merging of the Virtual and the Real) Author: Peter Paul Hoogendoorn, Peter Pran + H Architects LLC Subject: Urban Design Keywords: Technology Urbanization Publication Date: 2001 Original Publication: CTBUH 2001 6th World Congress, Melbourne Paper Type: 1. Book chapter/Part chapter 2. Journal paper 3. Conference proceeding 4. Unpublished conference paper 5. Magazine article 6. Unpublished © Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat / Peter Paul Hoogendoorn PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE Liberating Urban Architecture (The Merging of the Virtual and the Real) Peter Pran Visionary creativity and innovative thinking in architecture and engineering are liberating us and allowing us to develop outstanding new solutions for buildings and urban design. Our close architect-engineer-developer collaboration and trust makes everything possible. Our work and design visions are on the edge, celebrating complexity, layered meanings and instability ushered in by the 21st century. Today, the real and virtual worlds are rapidly crossing paths, exploding our perceptions of where and how we live and work. Boundaries of all kinds are breaking down, providing opportunities for change in a tectonic realization of existentialist architecture. The job of predicting and charting a course for the future while striving to re-invent reality is destined to become a global struggle. Our goal should be to move aside whatever stands in the way of innovative thought, to articulate liberated buildings and spaces that make lives richer and more mean- ingful, and to define a vision for everyone as individuals. Based on progressive social, cultural and political ideals, we are in a position to take advantage of interaction across all media, and to express the full complexity and equality of all people. This kind of creative collaboration, viewed on a universal scale, reflects the marvelous potential we have available to us through the integration of our professions. As the mind is liberated by the computer’s borderless realm of possibil- ities, all things tangible will also begin to reflect an increasingly open world of opportunity. Architecture will soon outgrow its dependency on the rules and regulations that historically have driven the creation of form and space, and will be able to address a demand for more sensual and multi-faceted environments. During the 21st century, the greatest freedom and the greatest dilemma of human existence are likely to unfold. How will society evolve to accommodate global electronic connectivity while maintaining a physical sense of place and belonging? What kind of environment will incorporate transient communication nodes, marking only moments in space and time, into settings of geological and cultural permanence? Architecture will begin to reflect the influence of these forces, along with digital technology, to introduce a new spectrum of places for living and working beyond the current boundaries of design. 426 Plannning and Architecture LIBERATED DESIGNS REINVENT CITIES The last two decades have benefited from progressive urban developments initi- ated by political leaders in notable cities. Specifically, such as in the work of Mayor Pasqual Maragall in Barcelona, and President Francois Mitterand in Paris. At the same time, the support of many private institutions and clients has helped to sanction and spread modern architecture – establishing progressive architectural and democratic socio-political thought as integral parts of the same trend into the future. The effect has been to start to awaken people to a new perspective, providing opportunities to live better lives through innovative and compassionate design. A society’s worth must be measured by how it treats those that are worse off. Our society needs more such public figures and leaders in private business that stand up for architecture and advanced urban living, recognizing and promoting the potential of architecture to revitalize our cities. Contemporary modern designers have decisively won the 20-year battle of modern architecture versus repeated traditionalism. This is important to our society, as we continue to reinvent ourselves and provide an authentic architecture for now and for the future. One exploration of what a specific new urban habitat can be and what life it can achieve is the Seoul Dome in Seoul, Korea by NBBJ and SWMB (Fig. 1). This project shows how a mixed-use sport/entertainment/cultural program trans- formed a collection of separate functions into a coherent interlocking, pulsating whole. A new entity was created that allows for dialogue between its uses, emerging as a profound new urban statement that reaches out and proclaims a change to the city forever. In this way, the Seoul Dome provides a focal point for people from all walks of the city to come together and infuse their community with new energy and purpose. It is intriguing to compare the spirit of this building with one from three decades ago – the National Gallery in Berlin, Germany, (Fig. 2) – which this author worked on as the project designer for and with Mies van der Rohe. As if looking to the future, or perhaps recognizing a constant universal theme, the floating, minimalist, endless planes of the roof and the podium extend out and give an architectural and cultural coherency to an otherwise idiosyncratic, partly broken and traditional city plan. This project and the Seoul Dome explore move- ment and stillness; equally needed human/urban values that rarely have the chance to co-exist. But architecture makes it possible. The new center and expansion for the City of Lille, France (Fig. 3) in its thoroughly modern concept, is another successful major urban design. This project recalls the modern authenticity of the Weissenhofsiedlung Building Exhibit that was held seventy years ago. Moving away from stagnant, rule-rigid urban development, it acknowledges the many overlapping aspects of human existence and demonstrates the power of 100 percent modern design to endure as successful architecture. Pran – Liberating Urban Architecture 427 Figure 1 Seoul Dome, Seoul, Korea. Figure 2 National Gallery, Berlin, Germany by Mies van der Rohe. 428 Plannning and Architecture COURAGEOUS BUILDING STATEMENTS PRESERVE A PIONEERING SPIRIT IN CITIES In New York City over 40 years ago, three authentic modern architectural mas- terworks were created: the UN Headquarters along the East River by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer; the Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright; and the Seagram Building by Mies (Fig. 4). Ironically, New York City’s two largest recent urban developments, the Battery Park Residential Area, and the large Westside Development (Fig. 5), show a regression back to a traditional design formula from the 1930s. Obviously the city and we cannot rest on the laurels of past great achievements. Always we must renew our thinking and strive to move forward, finding ways to address the restrictions that recent developments have had to confront, such as strict zoning laws, input from conservative community groups, and the city’s prohibitive involvement – while keeping a commitment to a renewed modern architecture. Even before design had begun on the Westside Development, every shaped massing step had been pre-determined in a traditional style. At this rate, the only freedom left to the architects was to select the color of the glass and the stone for the façades. Figure 3 Lille, France. Pran – Liberating Urban Architecture 429 This year, Ada Louise Huxtable, brilliant long time architectural critic for the New York Times, pointed out that restrictive new zoning laws proposed this year 2000 present a clear further danger to the creation of spirited high-rise addi- tions in New York. This is very much in contrast to the earlier and middle parts of the last century when New York was recognized as a birthplace for visionary high-rise design concepts. Similar restrictions can be seen in new, higher buildings in downtown San Francisco and other major cities where zoning laws and regulations dictate the overall design. Contextual often becomes a catch phrase for copying the buildings next door, leading to a serious misconception about the value of new contemporary design for enhancing and enlivening the environment. Figure 4 Guggenheim Museum by F. L. Wright; UN Headquarters by Le Corbusier and Niemeyer; Seagram Building by Mies van der Rohe. 430 Plannning and Architecture With a longer perspective, Berlin serves as an example of what could happen in New York. Ten years ago, the building director and the building com- mittees for a new city plan laid down rules to make new construction look ‘like the old Berlin,’ and set the city back substantially in its overall urban approach. Despite this severe hurdle, though, a few leading architects have succeeded in breaking away and have introduced important architecture; the work of Jean Nouvel, Daniel Libeskind and Frank Gehry, along with certain architectural work of the new Potzdammer Platz, have provided superb buildings that help to lead the way to new concepts. They are a reminder to us of the need to promote visionary thinking. SOARING TOWERS ARE THE MODERN CITIES’ WAY OF PROCLAIMING HOPE FOR THE FUTURE Towers have the distinction of allowing people to experience cities from above. In a majority of the largest European cities, however, this is not an option because high-rises are unfortunately considered inappropriate in most areas. Similarly, many major cities in the US have in recent times put into law certain height limita- tions of 30, 40, or 50-stories. These regulations are not reasonable for the most part and need to be changed or partly eliminated. But it is possible to look to Asia for inspiration where one notices relaxed rules with new buildings. In Hong Kong and Singapore (Fig. 6), for example, the cities and the clients are very open to new innovative architecture in high-rises, with very few height restrictions. The con- stantly emerging skylines that can be seen are vigorous and fresh.

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