#thaddeus lenk

[ha213-section2-blog]

I'm a factory

    Peter Behrens AEG Turbine Factory seems to be able to fit into Venturi's categorization and research of signs in Las Vegas portraying a buildings functions. Venturi was basically saying that any ordinary building or shed could be turned into a monument, or specific form of architecture simply by stating its function on a sign somewhere on or near the building. This sign effectively transforms an unmarked building into a five star restaurant or world class casino. We can draw a parallel between this theory and the AEG Turbine Factory. The AEG Turbine Factory isn't designed like a factory, without prior knowledge of the building or the sign carved into the front, most people would have no idea what the buildings function was. However, with the carving of the buildings name on the front, a large building becomes a factory.

[ha213-section2-blog]

The Movable House

Buckminster Fuller's designs for lightweight, portable housing struck me as an interesting idea. The main reason for this is that his idea of a portable home almost goes completely against the culture and ideology of many modern cultures. While most architects are focusing on these massive, monumental like projects, new forms of urban planning, and new type of urban housing and self-contained communities Fuller is looking at the individual, nuclear family as a sort of nomad, in need of the ability to easily pack up and leave for a new destination. His portable home design's remind me of the lifestyle of numerous Native Americans, who were nomadic and usually didn't stay in one place for long periods of time. Its funny that for a time this lifestyle was seen as barbaric, yet in the midst of a movement reaching for ever more advanced technologies and designs, this same type of lifestyle makes an appearance through Fuller's design. While his mobile house never gained popularity, this idea of a mobile home or city was carried on through people like Ron Herron and Peter Cook. It is interesting to see ideas from the past re-occur in more "modern" times.

[ha213-section2-blog]

Ghost Town

The one thing I've always found as a note of concern is the emptiness of Detroit. It might just be my own personal opinion, but almost no matter where you go in Detroit, it feels empty. As if a giant, elaborate stage has been built and there aren't enough actors to fill out all the roles for the play. While some people focus on the buildings and ruins of Detroit and point to these as an indicator of Detroit's current situation, I feel that this is a very inaccurate way of describing Detroit. Yes a fair portion of Detroit's buildings are crumbling or in disrepair, but this happens in almost any large city or town. There is also a serene beauty to these ruins, almost like looking at the remnants of a previous era. However, pointing out these ruins isn't truly how to describe Detroit's situation. Take for example the Renaissance Center. A huge structure meant to be a hub for business and a way to revitalize Detroit. While the Ren Center does house a vast expense of office space and a multitude of businesses, when we toured the building it seemed somewhat empty and vacant. For such a massive building and hub of business, I had expected it to be crawling with workers, employees and customers. Yet during the tour I couldn't help but note the lack of people. It seemed to be such a massive structure, and yet housed only a fraction of its maximum occupancy. 

So maybe instead of all this focus on Detroit's ruins and crumbling buildings, we should be focusing on the communities (or lack of) behind the buildings. A couple abandoned factories or a run down block can be overcome, but only if there is a strong sense of community in that area to overcome difficulty and rebuild. To have this community there is one essential ingredient, people. Detroit's ruins should be celebrated because of their serene and somewhat perverse beauty, what we should really worry about and mourn is lack of community and people in a number of these areas who are able to rebuild and fight this adversity.

[ha213-section2-blog]

Another Round of Globalization

I think it is very interesting that we are currently looking at the globalization of architecture in the mid 1900s especially with our current communication technology. When looking at the CIAM Cohen also talks about how architects were beginning to come together and collaborate on an international scale through congresses, conferences, and the circulation of periodicals, on of the first written by the De Stijl movement. I believe that we are experiencing another period of international collaboration of architecture through the use of the internet. The internet allows architects to create amazingly life like models of buildings and easily share them not only with other architects, but also the general masses. This can be seen when we were looking at the building model for 56 leonard through Tronic Studio's website. This ability to instantly and easily communicate with architects almost anywhere on Earth resembles the CIAM's ability to create international standards and regulations for architecture. Both allow architects to collaborate together and write up general rules and/or standards for the industry. The internet also allows multiple architects to easily blend their styles on one diagram or layout for a building, allowing it to be easier for innovation and new ideas and styles to appear. Overall very interesting how there are parallels between our current time and the past.

[ha213-section2-blog]

Buildings and Montage

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/4470/architectural-montage-art-by-fillip-dujardin.html

I really thought the above url led to a very interesting weblink that is a modern portrayal of a type of art that I absolutely love (the art in question being building plans for buildings that are very unique and interesting, yet would be impossible to build). This weblink features a modern type of impossible architecture. They are photographs of different buildings that have been combined to create a photographic art. These building remind me of a number of sketches we have looked at in class of fantastical building plans, yet where never built due to their impracticality. I feel that these imaginative buildings are also a way in which architecture and art can be combined and also incorporate montage. While we have discussed and read that there has always been a struggle to incorporate art into architecture, I believe this is a cool and unique way to incorporate the montage and combination of different structures into one piece of artwork. Just thought it was an interesting way that art can go in a full circle; from individual buildings, combined together to create a building montage, that can then be photographed and become a piece of art. An interesting little concept.

[ha213-section2-blog]

A dystopian Utopia

For me personally, whenever I hear the word utopia I instantly think of not a place of peacefulness and serenity, but more of a close gated community that has one set of ideologies and morals that are unbending. Along with this comes the uniform architecture. Perfectly planned urban housing alongside public amenities and stores that are planned to perfect the daily rituals of the day. Yet under this 'perfection' is the uneasiness that follows being in a regimented, small, close gated community. If the daily life is perfect with no trouble, then what is to distinguish pleasure from pain? How can you tell if you are truly happy if you live in a 'perfect' society were nothing goes wrong. Maybe we shouldn't try to reach a utopian society, where everything is perfect and balanced. In every life we need a little bit of disappointment, pain, and hardship. Otherwise our successes and joys would mean little. Finally, would there truly be art and architecture in a utopian society? If every building constructed was aimed at creating a perfect society, would this truly be architecture or just a very futuristic and fancy bike shed? Art, like architecture, should never be completely uniform and confined. There must be variation, successes and failures to make architecture and art truly deserving of appreciation.

[ha213-section2-blog]

Corbett's Future of New York

I can honestly say that I am completely in love with Harvey Wiley Corbett's drawing of his vision for the urban planning and development of New York City. I think that Corbett's focus on the automobile and transportation as the central focus for the urban plan was both ingenious and extremely unique. This drawing honestly reminds me of the various sic fi movies were the city has become this utilitarian instrument for work and everything has been streamlined to create a more efficient transportation system. I feel like this type of focus on efficiency also goes along with the rise of the factory and skyscraper, two buildings which are focused on production or utilizing space efficiently. While this type of city planning will probably never come into existence as it is portrayed in Corbett's drawing, I would still like to think that a number of our current metro and subway systems somewhat mirror this idea of having multiple levels of transportation and access to buildings. We can even see this idea of having two separate building connected by walkways here in Ann Arbor with the Dentistry building. I would love to see more of this type of interconnectedness between buildings played out in the future of architecture.