quondam @ archinect/79/7918n.htm
whatcha reading?
Rita Novel 2005.06.16 15:31
I'm reading the manuscript of A Quondam Banquet of Virtual Sachlichkeit: Part II. Here's an excerpt:
That Kahn also had a son and a second mistress is all news to me. I imagine most of my teachers at college knew of the situation, but it was never a topic I heard discussed. Anyway, 'great' architects are mostly portrayed as gods throughout architectural education, you know, the ones we should emulate. I guess it would kind of be illegal to portray polygamy as one more 'architectural' aspect to emulate.
What really bothers me though is the notion that Kahn's architecture being inspired by his youthful surroundings is now seen as some new insight. The truth of the matter is that North Philadelphia was jam packed with an incredible collection of late-19th/early-20th century industrial architecture. Sadly, a lot of it is now gone, and virtually none of it was ever appreciated. For me, it was riding the old Reading train line into town through North Philadelphia that provided one of Philadelphia's best architectural tours. (This train route is now called the R8, and it still runs regularly, but many of the old factories are gone.) I guess what I'm trying to say is that apparently there were and still are great buildings in North Philadelphia (like Exeter Library, no less), but because they are not designed by someone famous, they are not noticed. Why isn't this architectural greatness recognized all along? Is it perhaps architectural education itself that somehow makes us less observant? Or has it always been that nothing is worth it until some article or book says it is?
|