quondam @ archinect/79/7910r.htm
Columbia GSAPP, AMO and Archis Mag Join forces?
Rita Novel 2005.03.01 09:47
To: design-l
Subject: "there's never been a design that proved something"
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 13:09:33 -0500
One of the last events of my trip to Brussels, Belgium was a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night, 27 November, hosted by Elia Zenghelis and Eleni Gigantes. About half of the guests were some of the participants of INSIDE DENSITY. During dinner I sat next to Mark Wigley (Princeton University, author of THE ARCHITECTURE OF DECONSTRUCTION, keynote speaker at INSIDE DENSITY), and across from Mark sat Hilde Heynen (Katholic University Leuven, author of ARCHITECTURE AND MODERNITY- a Critique, scientific committee member of INSIDE DENSITY), and across from me sat Eleni Kostika (one of the two Elenis).
At one point I head Mark Wigley say to Hilde Heynen that "there's never been a design that proved something." My immediate reaction was that that didn't sound right, so I jumped in and said that Le Corbusier's design of the unexecuted Palais des Congres proves Le Corbusier's 'promenade architecturale' formula. [What I should have said is that the Palais des Congres, when compared with the Villa Savoye, proves that Le Corbusier followed a promenade architecturale formula.] Wigley quickly retorted that the Palais des Congres design only demonstrates the promenade architecturale, it doesn't prove it. I think at that point it was time to get dessert, so the conversation ended there.
So, my question to design-l is: is there a design (somewhere, anywhere) that proves something?
lauf-s
=====
To: design-l
Subject: he ain't heavy
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 13:10:48 -0500
One of the most unexpected things for me at INSIDE DENSITY occurred right in the beginning of the lengthy conversation I had with Mark Wigley during lunch on the second day of the colloquium. I first off told Mark that I was very happy to be at the colloquium, especially since I wasn't going to attend because of my schizophrenic brother at home. That's when Mark told me he had a schizophrenic brother as well. Of all the things that Mark Wigley and I were per chance to have in common, I never imagined that it would be our brothers.
Mark actually told me a lot about his brother, and it came to the point where I had to ask him to stop. They say that sleep deprivation makes one susceptible to crying. I know I hadn't had much sleep during the prior 72 hours, and I also know I almost started to cry while Mark Wigley relayed his schizophrenic stories.
lauf-s
|