Reactions to Context: The Duality of the Circumstantial and the Willed.

MVDR. Glass Skyscraper Project. 1922. and Lake Shore Drive Apts. 1951.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” -George Bernard Shaw

In this context heavy era it is easy for architects to become mastered by their site.  The question is; do we create place or do we let place emerge? The word “organic” has permeated all facets of architecture from form to site context.  Architects like to use the word to justify the conclusions they’ve drawn.  It can be a pragmatic, almost scientific, matrix laced over the will of the architect.  If not done masterfully, justifying a building in this way can lead to reduced potency or muddled ideas.

Mies Van Der Rohe and his evolution of contextual reactions is a good lesson for architects today.  In examining his early skyscrapers and comparing them to his later work we can see an architecture that goes from circumstantial place to willed place.

Glass Skyscraper project site plan.

The Glass Skyscraper proposals of 1922 by MVDR is an example of a buildings formed by its site.  It is a shape that emerges from the edges of its site like a liquid pouring into and conforming to the contours of a glass.  The shape of the site is a wedge, thus it emerges roughly as a wedge.  He justifies this shape in publications as a reaction to the materiality and reflectivity of glass. Similarly, the Friedrichstrasse glass skyscraper project is a wedged shape building on a wedge shaped site.  This is almost a complete extrusion of the site parameters.

Friedrichstrasse collage.

Nevertheless,some interesting deviations from site extrusion are made in these projects. Both projects seem to pinch in at the midpoints and create wells that catch light and permit a maximum amount of views.  These pinched wells are the precursors to the plaza obsessions found in his later high-rise work.

In the context of their time, before the widespread emergence of Modernism, (more specifically before the clinical pragmatic strain of modernism emerged triumphant), these projects are expressionist and daring.  They fly in the face of convention.  By flaunting classical notions of symmetry and orthogonal, geometrically derived form, these projects have a revolutionary looseness.  Only with hindsight and comparison to his later work do we see the flaws of these projects.  Mies would learn to master site in a more potent yet subtle way.

Friedrichstrasse plan.

Lake Shore Drive Apts. Plan

The apartments at 860-880 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, built from 1948-51, are perhaps the best examples of Mies’ approach to site context in his later American work. Mies is dealing with a wedge shaped site similar to the earlier glass skyscraper projects, the result, however, is completely different.  Instead of a building that rigidly reacts to the edge of the site, Lake Shore Drive Apartments are broken up into two buildings that are orthogonal and symmetrical.  The two high rises hug the edges of the site furthest from the lake and are arranged asymmetrically, sliding past one another like volumes in a Modernist painting.  This maximizes views of the lake and creates a grassy space for repose.  This open space is a direct break from the traditional wall of skyscrapers that skirt the edge of Lake Shore Drive.  By not conforming rigidly to the shape of the site, Mies creates a point of interest and a break in the monotony of the Lake Shore Wall.  Not to mention the revolutionary use of an all steel and glass facade shorn of all traditional decoration!  At the Lake Shore Apartments we see a building where place is willfully created as opposed to being an organic result of site conditions.

Lake Shore Dr. Apts. showing well the site.

This approach to site would inform all of Mies skyscraper work in America.  Famous examples of the stepped away plaza include the Seagram Building, the IBM building in Chicago (Which has a very demanding site), and the Chicago Federal Center.  All of these buildings are symmetrical, classically inspired but distilled volumes that are arranged in an asymmetrical fashion (Except for Seagram’s single tower). All of these works break the regularity of their immediate urban condition creating modern piazzas that are very popular.  MVDR evolved his approach to site to create better solutions to urban problems.  A novice to his work may assume that because he was a “minimalist” his work was unsympathetic to its surroundings but this could not be further from the truth.  Simply look at the countless models he worked through for the Chicago Federal Center to see that his volumes were very carefully situated and proportioned.

MVDR. IBM, Chicago. 1971. Model.

IBM. A difficult site.

In this age of organic contextually, we need to look at the work of Mies Van Der Rohe and learn how to master a site.  The duality between organic and willed architecture will be a constant point of debate in the field. I believe in the end architecture can’t truly work without the other.  One is lying to themselves if they believe their decisions are complete organic outgrowths of constraints. Conversely, problem solving inevitably goes a long way towards informing the forceful will of the architect.  Architecture is both of these things.  The question is what side you lean towards.

Final note:  Apologies for the long delay.  I’ve been rehired at my old firm (Murphy/Jahn) and moved back to Chicago in the last two months so it’s been pretty hectic.  From now on I hope to keep up my old pace!

The Digital Art Museum Part III: Dualities

The DAM. Annex Lobby. (ARG. 2010)

Well, now that you know the motivations behind the Digital Art Museum, I will go ahead and mention several dualities found in the D.A.M. that give it additional bearing in terms of the topics of interest I’ve been exploring on this blog.

1. Light Vs. Dark:  Perhaps the most important duality in the DAM is the gradual transition from light and dark space.  In our subconscious, the light space feels extroverted.  In the light space we feel the discomfort of potential voyeurism but also the comfort caused by almost immediate understanding of the space. In other words, there is little mystery.   The dark space is introverted and more comforting, but at the same time scary because the dark is the container for the unknown.  Depending on what type of disposition you are, you will probably enjoy one space over the other more.

2. The Old in the New: The DAM is a building meant to look modern but is not ignorant of the past.  There are several precedents that inform the structure and give it a richness of character, without being superficial homage.  Precedent should be evocative, never blatant.

-Ancient Egyptian Temples informed the planning of the DAM in terms of the transition from light to dark.  In the Egyptian Temple this light to dark is a hierarchy that leads up to the most holy place.  The hierarchical element is diffused in the DAM because the flow is on a loop not a line.  Instead of going from light to dark, the DAM goes from light to dark to light.  The DAM plan is also aesthetically evocative of the Egyptian temple plan.  They share a similar quality I like to call linear transformative symmetry.

KF Schinkel. Altes Museum. The Portico and ingress in the DAM are evocative of this museum.

- Altes Museum by Friedrich Schinkel: The frontality and niche-like quality of the entrance was partially inspired by the entrance of the Altes Museum. It is an intimate and gradual way to bring someone into the space.

FLLW. Darwin D. Martin House. Axial games.

-Frank Lloyd Wright:  The axial relationship between the gallery, the annex and the sculpture garden is partially inspired by the shifting axial games played by Frank Lloyd Wright.  FLLW was interested in constantly rotating main axis’ to engage a person more immersively into his buildings.  I believe all of my projects are informed by this axial shiftiness.

- Mies Van Der Rohe:  Of course the aesthetic thrust, the belief in the distillation of building, the use of order, the use of glass and steel detailing are all informed by the later work of Mies Van Der Rohe.   I believe MVDR created an architecture that was the logical conclusion of Modernism.  He took it as far as it could go before it was no longer practical or able to stand.  I believe buildings should be free of all unnecessary elements.  Nothing need be added and nothing can be taken away.

- Renzo Piano Museum Designs:  The new addition to the Chicago Art Museum and several other works by Renzo Piano has definitely played a part in my approach to this museum design.  The greatest lesson I learned from the Chicago Art Museum addition is that paintings are much better in daylight than artificial light.  Pianos complex screened and shaded daylight creates a diffuse glow that keeps the paintings positively vibrant!  I want this in the DAM too.

DAM. The art changes the whole temperature of the museum. (ARG. 2010)

3. Content Vs. Container:  Another important duality is found in the relationship between the building (container) and the art (contents).  There is a striking contrast between the unfussy neutral colored building and the loud, busy and bold artwork that houses it.  The acknowledgment and aggrandizement of this contrast creates a dialogue related to the decorum between art and architecture: The art in a museum is meant to be viewed, the architecture is meant to create the best possible and least intrusive environment in which to view the artwork. Too much competition between these fields results in a diminished quality to both.  When this occurs art and architecture are no longer helping each other; they are at war.  The building is the frame for the artwork; it should not be fussed over or distracting from the art.

Specifically to the DAM as well is the increased amount of robustly whimsical artwork.   This contrasts wildly with the sober building around it.

DAM. Major Axis Diagram. (ARG. 2010.)

4. Symmetry vs. Asymmetry:  There are several games played with symmetry in the DAM.  The museum proper clearly has a linear symmetry, but this is contrasted with the asymmetrical placement of the annex.  The annex itself has symmetry within individual parts, but is not itself wholly symmetrical.  The sculpture court at the entrance of the two buildings creates axis’ that tie the museum and annex together.  Shifting axis create symmetrical experiences, even within spaces that are not wholly symmetrical.  The building engages itself with the symmetry/asymmetry debate.  It is both these things at different times.

DAM. Dual Densities in the museum and in the relationship btw the museum and the annex. (ARG. 2010)

5. Duality of Density: The duality of density is the acknowledgment and distillation of what Louis Kahn calls the servant and served space.  In buildings that use a large amount of glass, unsightly utilitarian needs such as bathrooms and mechanical spaces become concentrated into cores.  These cores are a marked contrast to the free and open public spaces that deal regularly with people, light and culture.  Cores spaces deal with specific functionality.  This frees up the rest of the building and allows it the freedom to adapt to ambiguous use.  To clarify this:  The lobby is an ambiguous space that can be used for any number of things including buying tickets, checking coats, or having a rendezvous, whereas the furnace room has a specific functionality and task.

To take it one step further we can look at dual density in relation to the museum and the annex.  The museum has a free program that is adaptable to changing art.  It is glass clad and filled with light.  In contrast, the annex deals with more specific functionality, including the archives, auditorium and administrative offices.  Appropriately then, the annex space is clad in concrete.  It can be thought of as an externalized core in service to the museum.

The fritted glass creates and ambiguous relationship between protection and connection.

6. Protection and Connection:  The job of a building is twofold: to protect its contents and people from the adversity of weather, and to give one a relationship with the outside world so they do not feel stifled and isolated from nature.  The DAM attempts to have a dialogue with nature while at the same time reassuring its inhabitants they are protected from the nature’s wrath. Connections come in several forms:  The front portico is an introduction to the envelope of the building before one actually enters the building. It is a transition from outside to inside.  It provides a transitional amount of protection from the weather by providing shade and relief from the rain. Once inside, the glass creates a visual connection to nature, but keeps the wind and temperature out.  Glass is both protection and connection. The inner courtyard, which is also visible from the front portico, is another device for connecting the inside with the outside.   In terms of protection:  the most potent symbol of protection is the ceiling plane.  It is the looming object that buffers us from the ravages of sun, wind and rain.  The abstraction and overarching quality of the roof provides contrast with the connection of the glass facade.   The solid floor and utility cores also ground the building.  As one makes their way further into the museum the fritted glass and media theatres provide more and more protection from nature, which is demanded by the type of artwork presented.  In the annex, protection and connection are contrasted between the solidity of the functional spaces and the glass encased linear hallway.  In general, the museum has more connection devices with nature, while the annex is more about protection from nature.  This speaks to the sensibilities of introverted and extroverted functionality.

7.  Grounding/ Flotation: While not deliberately done in this project there are still certain aspects of the DAM that tie in to the grounding/flotation duality.  Grounding/Flotation is the manifestation of an architect’s contradictory needs in terms of his/her relationship with gravity.  An architect wants to ground a building and give it heaviness to reassure its inhabitants that it will not fall down.  They also want to alleviate the oppressive effects of gravity by using aesthetic devices that give a building a sense of flotation.   Flotation is achieved in the DAM using several devices.  The base course around the museum and annex is inset and painted black. This is to give the building the illusion that it is slightly hovering. White painted slender columns in the interior hold up a darker roof, which also reinforces the effect that one is hovering between a plane of ground and ceiling. The use of glass on the facade is the separation between ceiling and floor.  It also reinforces the effect that the roof is a floating plane.  The shifted placement of the annex next to the museum gives the effect that it has potentially slid out of place furthering the illusion that the building is hovering.  Grounding elements include the utility cores in the museum. These solid elements help to visually tie the building into the ground.  The solid concrete facade of the annex also gives an illusion of extra weight.  These elements are balanced with each other in the attempt to assure the sound nature of the building while at the same time alleviating the oppressive effects of gravity.

8.  Rationalist vs. Spiritualist:  Last but not least is the central idea of this blog, which happens to be the reconciliation between pragmatic concerns and aesthetic ideologies.  How do we as architects balance these opposing demands into cohesive design?  We are fundamentally torn between our aspiration for honesty and our aspiration for looking good.  We should embrace our hypocrisy, not hide from it, because in the end we can’t be one or the other.  We have to be both.  Our best intentions are betrayed by opposing demands.  A functionalist will inevitably be biased by the desire for aesthetic delight no matter how much this is suppressed.  A pure aesthete will constantly be hounded by the practical demands of a building. We can’t help but be influenced by opposition.   The master architect will acknowledge this and weave the contradiction into a supplementary whole.  They will use the dual demands of architecture in their favor.   Duality no longer becomes about opposition, but about balance.

I’m not going to analyze the Digital Art Museum in terms of this fundamental duality.  It is spoken for in all the previous dualities mentioned.

The Digital Art Museum Part II.: On Context

The D.A.M. from above: A building without a place.

Some interesting points have been raised about the Digital Art Museum in terms of context and environment.  I will address these points directly after I discuss some pertinent general ideas on architecture:

Real architecture, built buildings, are born of constraints.  They are the sum total of the architects ability to compromise.  The major constraints all strangely seem to start with the letter C so I guess I will call them the 6C’s:  Client, Climate, Context, Construction, Contractors and Codes.  These outside factors inform a building beyond any idealized notion the architect may have.  It is the architect’s job to synthesize these constraints, to adapt to them in a way that appears effortless.  The artistry and creativity of an architect is more rigidly restricted than any of the other arts.

Having said that, I am not personally a fan of architecture that bends over backwards to accommodate its environment.  I believe in the assertive will of the architect to create a place.  An architecture that twists and turns and aligns with all aspects of its context can be compromised to the point of losing its identity or force.  I believe a building should have the ability to stand on its own two feet when completely removed from its context.  This is a test that I think many new buildings would fail.  I am not a functionalist that believes a building is only the sum total of its compromises.  I believe it is the architects will adapted to these compromises.  Context is very important, and should be meticulously considered in the design of a building.  It is the architect’s responsibility to be conscious of his/her impact on the urban or rural environment. But this does not mean that an architect should lose his/her focus in service to the constraints.  There are also degrees of context.  In a dense and historical urban site context has much more importance than in an open flat plot of land out in a developing suburb.  Sometimes buildings are expected to blend, but sometimes they create a sense of place.

I tend towards Mies Van Der Rohe’s notion of universal space as opposed to specific space.  Program should be fluid and adaptable to change.  It should be ambiguous in order that the tenants can adapt it to their needs.   Organic architecture, which is born out of specific functionality, is rigid in what it accommodates.  For example, let’s say 10 years ago a gallery installed niches into a wall to allow for large tube televisions to be inserted flush into the wall.   After ten years the gallery purchases new televisions; all flat screens.  What are they to do with a wall they want to be flat but now has a bunch of niches in it?   Specific functionality is not fluid, it does not adapt to changing technology or the needs of the clients.  The same can be said for context.  Too much contextual acrobatics can become confusing if at some point a building nearby that has informed the design is torn down.  Now without the contextual cue, the building looks absurd and strange.  A building should be able to stand on its own and adapt to its environment.

The D.A.M:

The Digital Art Museum is a building with minimal constraints.  They include; the acknowledgement of gravity, a serious response to program, my personal taste, and the breadth of my creativity.   The building is not meant to respond to a context because it does not have one.   If it did, I would imagine it in some sort of business park surrounded by trees similar to the location of the John Deere Headquarters by Eero Saarinen in Moline, Illinois.  The building does not even have a solar orientation.  (Solar considerations would be accommodated by the placement of trees and the amount of frit on the glass facade.)  That is because this building is an idealized version of what the DAM is to me.  This is the distilled intent of the building, shorn of all major constraints.    If this building were taken to the next step and translated to the real world constraints would inevitably inform the project to the point that it could change drastically.  However, the germinal of the design would remain intact.  The distilled idea would survive the barrage of constraints because I searched for the idea of the building before I was mired by limitations.   Thus, for me, architecture is born of constraints but is given force by the creative will of the architect.

I am fundamentally torn between pragmatic and spiritual concerns.  I am an architect, and thus a hypocrite towards my own desires.

The next post will explore various dualities investigated in the Digital Art Museum.

The Digital Art Museum. Part I. Introduction

D.A.M.: Front Facade. Andrew Ryan Gleeson

The Digital Art Museum is my attempt to design a museum that houses media art spanning roughly the last 30 years, and doing it in a logical progression that is sympathetic to the patrons.  The D.A.M. is also a chance to put a number of the dualities I’ve written about in this blog to practical use.  I’ve also come up with a couple new dualities in the process.

This museum arises from my general frustration with the flow of a museum as one is experiencing art.  I can’t remember how many times I’ve walked through a museum and felt lost, confused, and had to backtrack several times to find something new.  This can be a positive thing if your objective is to get lost, but I find myself being more frustrated than excited by it.   The museum in general is poorly planned in terms of flow.  The only museum that comes to my mind that solves these problems is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim in Manhattan.

DAM:Ground Floor Plan ARG

DAM: Light and Flow Diagram. ARG

Another problem I’ve found in museums is the way that sound utilizing Media art is integrated with the other strictly visual arts.   Media art pieces like this are very isolating and alienating to the museumgoer.   A patron walking around the sculptures and paintings at their own pace is suddenly expected to go into a dark room and immerse themselves in a piece that has a different pace than the art around it.  People find this sudden extreme shift in the artist’s expectations to be jarring and unpleasant. They rebel against the work.  They shuffle in, see a video that looks like it takes commitment, and walk right out.  I firmly believe that a gradual transition from the purely visual art towards the more immersive media arts will allow patrons to ease into the more demanding work and accept it more readily:  It’s a transition from light to dark, as well as freedom and constraint.

DAM: Exaggerated Frit Glass Facade Demonstration. ARG

The building achieves this goal most persuasively with the use of a fritted glass facade.  At the entrance and lobby the glass is almost completely transparent.  There is a small frit that does nothing more than to frame the outside world. This frit is made up of little squares: the glass wall is itself pixilated! As one progresses further into the museum, at the location of the fine art gallery, the frit gradually becomes thicker, to provide shading for the paintings, but to still allow a relationship with the outside world.  As one moves farther into the space the frits gradually become larger and larger.  At the midpoint of the building the frit is at 50% and looks like a small checkerboard pattern.  A little beyond this is the digital art gallery. This houses the digital art that does not have sound.  It is a mostly dark space, the frit is heavy, and outside light shines only through tiny spots in the windows.  In the very back of the museum there are the immersive media art galleries that require  soundproofing and
no daylight .  Here the glass is almost totally opaque, in a reverse of the transparent lobby.

DAM: Fine Art Gallery. Note the "Pixilated" Ceiling Panels. ARG

DAM: Media Theatre with light adjustable ceiling panels. ARG

Once the museum patron has progressed gradually from light to dark, their expectations of how to approach the art adapt gradually.  This makes the various manifestations of art easier to accept. As the person reaches the apex with the media theatres, they loop around to the other side and gradually work back towards less committal artwork (and more daylight).  Ones eyes are allowed to dilate in a non-jarring fashion.  The initial concern people may have is that the various arts are given a hierarchy with the immersive media art being at the top, but because the system works on a loop and not a termination, all art is given equal credence.  One goes from light to dark, and then from dark to light, ending up in the lobby again.

Tectonic systems:

DAM: Exploded Isometric. ARG

DAM: Detail Section Sketches. ARG

The architecture of the space is fundamentally meant to take a backseat to the artwork it houses.  It is a blank canvas to be filled by the work. It does not compete with the art or steal ones attention away.  Clarity of plan and structure allow a patron to immediately understand the space and not be tricked by it.  I believe architecture should be understood quickly so one can breath easier in the space.  The columns are on a 20 foot by 30 foot grid and do not deviate from that framework. The windows and panels on the facade measure 5 feet wide by 8 feet high, which is close to the golden section. This 5X8 grid is used everywhere in elevation, including the concrete panels in the annex.  In plan the system is on a 5 foot by 5-foot grid.  The ceiling and roof panels follow this grid.  The roof system is a sandwich. The ceiling panels are hung under the sloped glass skylight roof.  The roof is held up by a long truss system.  The sloped skylight roof is concealed on the top by roof panels similar to the ceiling panels. These roof panels also can accommodate solar panels or “greenroof” patches.  Both panel systems have room for projectors to shine light or image onto them. The roof plane becomes a canvas for pixel art.  I would propose that the museum hires various media artists to create works of art for this roof.

ARG: Aerial Isometric View of Entrance. ARG

This post is just an introduction to the Digital Art Museum.  The next post will explore several dualities found in the DAM.  And the post after that will talk about the building in terms of context and environment.

DAM: Exterior Front View With Annex in Foreground. ARG

Pixel Museum Teaser

 

Some of these images remind me of Frank Lloyd Wright textile work.

 

The Pixel Art Museum will be presented very soon on this blog, but until then I would like to share something interesting.  While working on the  museum renders I discovered that I was able to save the image before it had actually finished rendering which causes the images to turn out very blurry and abstract.  They are basically half baked.  As a conceptual tie-in to what this museum is supposed to house I thought it was appropriate to share these images which have a beautiful rhythmic pixel quality to them.  They also leave plenty to the imagination in terms of what this thing will actually look like. The best way to experience these images is to click on them, zoom in real far, and  journey around the pixelated landscape.  Enjoy!

(All images by Argitect)

Happy One Year!

 

The New Palace of Congress at the E.U.R. in Rome by Fuksas is a perfect distillation of the Rationalist and Spiritualist battle in architecture.

 

This is my one year anniversary of starting my architecture blog.  It has been a blast getting my ideas out into the open, and I hope you have enjoyed them.  In celebration of one year, and about 35,00o words, I am posting some highlights from the past year.  These are a few of my favorite quotes from the blog.  Enjoy!

-An architect is a hypocrite towards his own desires. No other professional works in a field that so boldly skirts the line between the rational and the spiritual.

-Architecture must be beautiful and have a conveniently placed toilet!

-Hide the truth to heighten the truth.

-The International Style:  What they attempted to do here was destroy the boundaries of spoken language and nationalism and unite all countries towards a worldwide community: A Reverse Diaspora, which is contrary to the Tower of Babel: One building pulls us apart, and a new philosophy brings us together!  But alas, just like any utopian aspiration, (like Communism for example), other complex forces in the world (like greed {nay}, and free will {yay}) diminish lofty overarching visions and keep the world in a constant state of paradox: order and chaos….

-The modern and the ancient collided in Le Corbusier’s conception of a new Modern Architecture.

-Mies Van Der Rohe had do to so much to create Less. He had to hide utilities, he had to arrange program to fit in cores, he had to develop better facade technology.  He used industrialized ornamentation to articulate the parts of a building. Honesty was not his goal, but a concept of honesty.

-Walking around the Trump Tower I was depressed to find so many tourists pointing at it, and taking pictures of it, unconscious of the truly great buildings right around including, IBM, Marina Towers and the Wrigley Building. I’ve been compelled several times to go right up to the tourists and tell them they are taking pictures of the wrong buildings. For now, I will let the bully be king of the mountain. I’m confident the novelty will wear off soon.

-The question that plagues all artists, sculptors and architects in search for ideas of truth: How does one express an idea of the spiritual with physical means?

-What Mies did was assimilate the residual effects of minimalist architecture into a more subtle and sublime whole. The effects and illusions of materials were framed within order for maximum viewing of their mystical qualities.

-Glass is a material that on the surface appears to clarify the nature of a building: The more glass used, the more we understand about its program and structural diagram. However, an overabundance of glass can undermine this purpose and create major ambiguities with reflectivity.

-Farnsworth house–The architecture is nature’s frame. It is not overtly decorative in order that it does not compete with nature.  At a museum if a painting is framed in an overtly ornate gilded frame the power of the painting is attenuated. A conspicuous frame will make one forget the frame and focus on what is important; the painting!

-This is the paradox of the architect: to design within gravity to create a building that reassures its inhabitants that it will not topple and crush them, and yet to design against gravity so the inhabitants do not feel stifled by the constant force that keeps them grounded.

-The closer one comes to floating, the closer one comes to perfection!

-This tension between heaviness and lightness is what makes Frank Lloyd Wright’s facades so effective aesthetically, and psychologically. A person living in an FLLW house would simultaneously feel the stability and comfort of a grounded building, but not be overburdened by the effects of gravity.

-As Alvar Aalto’s works progressed, the duality between aesthetics and function  became clearer. In the Villa Mairea we see a logical orthogonal plan skirted with elements of pure aesthetic delight.

-On Mullet Architecture–In order to “blend” more clearly with the surrounding neighborhood, Wright played all of his fun games with architecture on the back facade of the (Winslow) house while keeping the front relatively subdued and orderly. It was strictly business in the front, while the party stayed in the back!

-A further distilled Mullet House can be seen in the second Herbert Jacobs house by Frank Lloyd Wright. This so called “Solar Hemicycle” is an arch shaped wedge that derives its shapes according to the movement of the sun. The south, and private, concave facade is all glass and the north convex facade is brutal stonework that resembles a medieval castle. Nowhere is privacy driven Mullet Architecture more clearly articulated. The duality of domestic architecture is found in the need for freedom and privacy.

-Architecture will always need to protect its inhabitants from the rain and the wind and whatever else Mother Nature decides to throw at us. Because of this I do not believe that the spiritual desire for a connection with nature will ever completely conquer the pragmatic need for protection from it.

-The demands of architecture by the people are the same as they have always been: a building that protects one from nature, but done in such a way as to not cut one off from nature. What a defiant and comforting feeling we have when witnessing a thunderstorm from behind glass!

-This is the dual nature of the architect. By our very nature we are conflicted individuals. We are unsatisfied with total logic. We are unsatisfied with the complete freedom awarded to the fine artist. We are hypocrites towards our own desires. Long live the dual natured architect!

Andy Warhol and the Deep Surface

 

Warhol-Self Portrait

 

“I am a deeply superficial person”- Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol (like Mies Van Der Rohe in architecture) is perhaps the most misunderstood and complex artist in history even though statements he made about his own work invoked a naive simplicity.  This is perhaps why he is so misunderstood. Andy Warhol did not make it easy for the people of his time.  He did not explain his work in emotional or historical terms.  He was deliberately coy and naive.  He made one think that perhaps his work was as vapid as he said it was.  But in the corner of his blank stare was faint evidence that everything about this man was mired in sarcasm and irony.  This irony was so thick it clouded the truth of what he was doing.

Andy Warhol was also hated and considered a threat because he seemingly broke the most important covenants of what made an artist: talent, originality, passion and preciousness.  By undermining these sacred truths and throwing them into question he essentially pulled the rug out from under “fine art.”  But, his work is much much more than merely iconoclastic.  It brings up several layers of dual meanings. By breaking the rules he gave artists and patrons a whole new set of topics to explore.

 

Andy Warhol-Elvis Presley

 

Warhol negated the concept of  artistic talent with this Pop Art works of the 60s.  Instead of using the paintbrush, he blew up photographs stolen from newspapers or magazines and used the silkscreen process to make prints on canvas.  These prints were then sometimes washed over with rudimentary color that was bright and intentionally not meant to evoke reality in the color scheme.  Warhol said many times that this technique could be copied by any other person and repeated with similar results. In this vein of thought he called his art gallery the Factory and actually employed other people to manufacture his screen prints.  He removed the artist from the process, or in other words, he removed the artist from the romantic belief of what an artist is.  The romantic notion of the artist is that they are tortured souls that burst forth their creations in solitude and inner torment.  Vincent Van Gogh was a perfect example of the fierce individual, spiritual, and suffering nature of the artist.  People in general believe that true art can only come from such a personal place.  Warhol made the argument that this is not always true or necessary.  Warhol treated being an artist as if it was just a way to make money,  but  he was also making an ironic point about the glorification of talent and the aggressive individuality of the romantic artist.  In hindsight we see that Warhol was unique, original and incredibly talented. No one actually did end up recreating or copying his work, perhaps out of fear of being labeled unoriginal (something which Warhol would have been thrilled about) or the fact that Andy Warhol did have an aesthetic eye and was able to capture the zeitgeist of his time better than anyone else.   His delegation of his work to others shows that an artist is not just about individuality, but teamwork and oversight.

 

Warhol- 100 Soup Cans-1962

 

The use of repetition in the work of Andy Warhol is perhaps the most interesting and challenging components of his Pop Art. The use of the silkscreen negated the artistic covenant of talent, but the use of repetition negated the concept of preciousness.    The famous 100 Campbell’s soup cans were quite a challenge to art patrons of the time. They were faced with a painting that showed a verbatim depiction of an  object that they could see at the grocery store.  Not only was the subject matter profoundly banal and devoid of emotional resonance, it was repeated 100 times to further its mundanity.  When questioned about it, Warhol gave a typically vapid response that he simply loved the soup and ate it a lot.  If this is to be taken literally, then one would believe that the painting has no actual meaning or merit. It didn’t take artistic talent to paint it, it is not individual, and it has no meaning beyond it’s surface level.   Under the surface though, the very things that negate it give it special meaning. The personal story was very matter of fact.  Warhol stated that he had soup for lunch everyday for twenty years and that he loved it. This ritualistic life is evoked in the relentlessness of the painting. On a level of social commentary, his repetition of the cans immediately evokes the image of their display at a grocery store.  Perhaps Warhol was commenting that the popular Abstract Expressionism of the day was losing it’s meaning with it’s strict rules and homogeneous result.  Or, perhaps, he liked the red and gold label!  Any of these interpretations are possible and likely. His work is open to however many layers of meaning one wants to put onto it.  It was very popular because the surface was captivating with or without the subtext.

 

Many Many Marilyns

 

His endlessly repeated images of Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley commented on our hero worship.  They also seemed to contain a secret to the sadness of a superficial life.   The famous are our replacements for deities.  Warhol would say none of these more profound and troubling observations about these works were true. He would simply say that he liked Marilyn Monroe and Elvis.   He would have a harder time explaining away the obvious subtext of media desensitization with his series of repeated  car crashes, electric chairs, and wanted fugitives.  These more gruesome series point towards a clearer social comment that Warhol was making with his work.

 

Electric Chairs

 

The use of repetition had a dual purpose: it was meant to deflate the notion of fine art as well as elevate the mundane aesthetic experiences of our everyday lives.  The silkscreen technique negated the artist’s talent for painting but elevated the silk screen as something more than just a technique.  Andy Warhol wants us to question the prerequisites of art; talent, individuality, preciousness and passion.  By seemingly eliminating these elements he distills the art to its fundamental expression: technique.  This opens the work up to various interpretations.   One can look at his works and come to the conclusion that the guy was a hack or that he had a talent for making bold colorful images, or there was something else more profound and troubling in commentary to a consumerist culture that has replaced gods with product and hollow symbolism.  Or maybe he just likes boring things.  Andy Warhol took on the flavor of his time in an honest way, even if that meant that the world he lived in was increasingly devoid of a spiritual and emotional connection.

 

Warhol- Paint by Numbers

 

End Note:  This is the second post in a row not about architecture.  The next couple posts will explore the themes I’m exploring in fine art with architecture.