1999.03.11
Jencks/labeling
In all honestly, I meant what I said in exactly the way I said it, and the key points are that the word metabolic stands for a creative-destructive duality, and thus the word metabolic is a valid term to use when describing (design) situations that exhibit constructive-destructive attributes. (I did not say that all cities are outright metabolic.) Furthermore, I can well see how the notion of destruction should seem anathema relative to "design," nonetheless, destruction is a major factor of much of today's built environment. If the notion of "metabolic operation" has an affinity with the broader notions of deconstruction, so be it. That's not where I was coming from, however, because I arrived at the metabolic through an analysis of our corporal physiology, which in turn I believe relates directly to the operations of (our) human imaginations. My research involves fairly basic biological science, and if there is any "danger" in my thinking, it is in the notion that the human mind (imagination) works in exactly the same way that the human body (physiology) works. (Maybe, just maybe, the age old separation of mind and body is the greater falsehood.)
I did read Jencks' book (something like two years ago, so there may be a revised edition I haven't read), and he never uses the word metabolic, however I remember passages where he notes the interplay of creative and destructive forces at work within some of the design phenomena (and/or sciences?) he was describing.
1999.03.11
Jencks/labeling
Elliot,
I can't help but think that you did not read Re: city making and city breaking because my point about Berlin involves its entire history over the last 100 years, where it would be hard to argue against a pervasive (and mostly unique) creative-destructive pattern that even includes a spliting in two! You seem to be missing the point that Berlin's "growth" (as you put it) throughout the 20th century was/is both creative and destructive. The best way to describe Berlin over the last 100 years is to call it metabolic. Just because one city manifests a metabolic pattern, doesn't mean all cities have to exhibit the same pattern, however, over the next 100 years there may indeed be many more cities that are metabolic--Beirut and Kosovo, and maybe even Kobe, to name a few, already seem to have a head start.
I feel my "argument" is sound, especially if you read all my content. And, for the record, I say that Berlin of the 20th century presents a (or is it the?) prime example of metabolic [growth], that is, creative-destructive urbanism.
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2000.03.11
ideas
17. ...elevating the Bye House over the Mayor's House with the undulating ground plane of the Bye House becoming the roof of the palazzo section of the Mayor's House.
18. ...changing the wall of the Bye House into a digital terrain, and turning the access bridge of the house into a meander.
2002.03.11 12:32
the Cathedral of Ice
The Cathedral of Ice, 1936: NSDAP Rally, Nuremberg, 1936
Temporary stands and decor by Albert Speer. This virtual space, created by searchlights, was Speer's foremost light arena, called by Sir Neville Henderson, a "cathedral of ice." It is clear that Speer's approach to the mass pageant was indebted to the French revolutionary festivals. These had been documented by Gilly during his stay in France in 1792.
Kenneth Frampton, "A Synoptic View of the Architecture of the Third Reich" in Oppositions 12 (1979), p. 64.
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2007.03.11 13:54
...and speaking of random tangents
So there I was, sometime in the January summer of 1987, walking through the deserted Capitol Building. The new Capitol was almost ready, but they still have to straighten the giant slanting flagpole erected the day before. Went through both Houses, and even sat in the Monarch's chair. And then, while looking at all the Prime Minister portraits hanging in the Central Hall, I leaned against this vitrine back in the corner. So what's this big, old document? "Hey guys, get a load of this. It's the Magna Carta!"
Australia's a trip.
Is the Athenaeum an unacknowledged(?) precursor of Deconstructionist architecture? Walked through every inch of that place sometime the middle of July summer of 1978. It was a Friday, construction almost done, and the place was deserted. Very attractive building. Gorgeous blue sky day.
Guess who wrote "Bizarre experiments are now a commonplace of scientific research."
[And speaking of commonplace bizarre experiments:]
"Only if virtual evolution can be used to explore a space rich enough so that all the possibilities cannot be considered in advance by the designer, only if what results shocks or at least surprises, can genetic algorithms be considered useful visualization tools."
--de Landa
You know, if a client came to me an asked for a rich space that would shock or at least surprise them, I certainly wouldn't need a genetic algorithm to accomplish the task.
Do you think I should donate my genetic code to science? I mean, what if they find it's totally random and completely tangential?!?
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2007.03.11 14:35
...and speaking of random tangents
Getting something other than light to travel faster than light, there's the real challenge.
It sounds to me like they stretched a light pulse, rather than make it go faster. But, by all means, forget what I say before I even finish saying it.
Maybe now they'll start tearing down buildings before they're even finished construction. Hey, it's only a theory.
2013.03.11 22:30
11 March
Really liking some of Niemeyer's plans in Papadaki's 1950 book, especially 1943 Resort Hotel at Pampulha, 1947 House Tremaine at Santa Barbara, and 1949 Hotel Regente Gavea in Rio de Janerio. It seems they influenced the late style of Le Corbusier and even Koolhaas. Reminded of "Back to school" in Content, pp. 266-7.
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