Questions of the moment. During two long years struggling to find meaning while living with the Covid-19 pandemic, so much happened beyond confinement, social distancing, washing one’s hands, and wearing masks. While we lived in a homebound microcosm, we were simultaneously made aware of the very same problem striking across the globe, and of the inequality of our ability to respond to the crisis.
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Both the practice and the teaching of architecture have led me to appreciate the idea of type; type as in building type (e.g. circular temple such as the Pantheon in Rome) or enfilade as space type. However, I will admit that this was not always the case. As a student at the EPF-Lausanne, I abhorred any thought about designing architecture that had anything to do with the idea of type. This was for two reasons.
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While rekindling an idea for one of the numerous designs of a courtyard house I am working on, I wanted to use a model sketching technique ( that involves folding paper to rapidly create an object in three dimensions.
Continue reading Why Model Sketching? Part 5
Model sketching, Part 4. After rereading my blog Architectural Education: A question of section. Part 2, I located drawings of that undergraduate project, as well as a collaborative sketch between one of the students and myself created during a desk critique. The three drawings (Image 1, below) show a progression by the student following my suggestion to focus on a detail, which pushed the project forward with more precision and clarity.
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Architecture techniques. As an architect, I have always cherished designing a project. Over the years, I’ve come to understand that making a project is more about projecting a model of life than designing, which comes from the Italian designare, meaning to draw.
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Carlo Scarpa Gavina Showroom in Bologna, Part 2. When I wrote my initial three blogs (1, 2, 3) on the work of Italian architect Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978), in the back of my mind I had planned a sequel to the earlier Gavina Showroom blog which would analyze how its façade was conceived and erected. The topic might seem obvious or redundant since Scarpa’s oeuvre has been studied from so many perspectives.
“The material, detail and structure of a building is an absolute condition. Architecture’s potential is to deliver authentic meanings in what we see, touch and smell; the tectonic is ultimately central to what we feel…”
Steven Holl
Le Corbusier and the horizon. Regardless of the pedagogy surrounding how history and theory is taught in architecture schools, Le Corbusier’s (1886-1965) oeuvre can rarely be avoided because it is central to the experience of modernity; especially when talking about the innovative and revolutionary architectural ideas conceived by him during the early part of the 20th century.
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John Hejduk and Jose Oubrerie. During my studies at Cooper Union, I remember Dean John Hejduk (1929-2000) claiming that he had read and digested the entire Oeuvre Complete of Le Corbusier, thus suggesting that he no longer needed to refer to this seminal set of books. This blunt statement suggested that Hejduk fully understood the master’s work. And yet, I was a student, Hejduk’s proclamation perplexed me because I wasn’t sure if he was serious, or simply posturing in front of students.
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Le Baron Tavernier: a cafe. There is a myth that Switzerland is one of the most beautiful countries on earth. Indeed, its picturesque landscape, pristine cities, orderly society, and unconditional belief in a constitution that engages each citizen through direct representation—often to a fault—are all accurate descriptions of the place and culture. While the country of my youth is truly magnificent, there is a mundane reality that mitigates the perfection. Throughout the project that I will describe of Le Baron Tavernier Hotel Restaurant, there is a sense of craftsmanship that accompanies the entire design.
Question of Pedagogy, Part 6. During my over thirty years in architectural education, I have taught at every undergraduate level, always with a specific focus on design studios, and with punctual forays into graduate instruction both in Switzerland and in the US.