Iconography and Electronics Upon a Generic Architecture
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Friday Architects, Calcutta House (Philadelphia: 1996), images: 2002.02.03.
As we were all focusing on the house that is now Mount Sharon Baptist Church, my eyes wandered to look at the other buildings on the block, and what is obviously a newer building caught my eye. I said, "Look that that building over there." To which Denise Scott Brown replied, "That must be by Friday [Architects]." Upon later investigations, Scott Brown was indeed correct in her assessment.
Friday Architects, established in Philadelphia in 1970, is the first architectural firm that in its origins can be referred to as a "spin-off" of Venturi and Rauch Architects.
In calling Friday Architects to find out more about Calcutta House I spoke with Arlene Matzkin. Calcutta House was founded in 1986, by Mother Teresa's Missionary Brothers of Charity and is now operated without Church affiliation. The building itself was completed Summer 1996. During design presentations, Mount Sharon Baptist Church was used to exemplify how a distinct architectural façade can fit comfortably within a row of individual buildings, thus making a case for the distinctive façade of Calcutta House as an appropriately fine design response. Matzkin also mentioned that with Saint Joseph's Hospital across the street and the destitute nature of the area in general, there was virtually no local opposition to an AIDS hospice coming into the neighborhood, a condition that would unlikely occur in most other neighborhoods.
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Michael Graves & Associates, Delaware River Port Authority Headquarters (Camden, NJ: 1996), images: 2001.10.20.
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The Charlie Rose Show (Cincinnati, OH: Aronoff Center for Design and Art, 1996).
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Frank Gehry, Nationale-Nedelanden Building (Prague, 1992-96).
OMA, Hyperbuilding (Bangkok: 1996).
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