theory news
Bridges over the railway
Stumbled upon this 1979 proposal by Steven Holl to span over the Melbourne rail yards with a series of Ponte Vecchio inspired buildings-as-bridges. Kind of nice, post Federation Square, to remember the nature of the rail yards then, though half his bridges span from nowhere to nowhere in particular. The proposal is shown here together with another similar one for New York’s Highline – since made schmick by Diller, Scofio and Renfro.
01.08.10 in architects theory
Bling vs. Giving a Damn
Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity , gets huffy in the Huffington Post about being stood up by Zaha Hadid at a debate on the Ethics of Architecture. Sinclair found it to be a debate more about personal morals than group ethics – there was apparently little talk about how the profession might adapt to the current economic climate.
10.04.09 in theory
Robert Hughes on Modernism
The UK Guardian had a large feature section on Modernism in 2006, on the occasion of a major exhibition opeing at the V&A. It included this article by Robert Hughes.
13.09.06 in theory
Architectural theory and war
I wrote this article for arch-peace last month during the Lebanon incursion/invasion/whatever you want to call it. It’s about Eyal Weizman’s investigations of the use of architectural theory in modern war planning in Israel. Very spooky. It was written for architects for peace. Worth scanning some of the others too if you have a moment or ten.
31.08.06 in theory
'Soft Modernism': The World of the Post-Theoretical Designer
Mike Grimshaw locates comfortable ‘wallpaper’ modernism on the ism timeline, with references to whiteness, ornament, Loos, Sullivan and Johnson: “…what is happening is a modernism without theory, without context, that exists as style alone”.
15.04.04 in theory
Modern and Postmodern, the Bickering Twins
New York Times – “Now that this is a po-pomo world, how is Modernism to be understood? Artistic progress has proved to be an illusion. Manifestoes have become impossible.”
15.04.04 in theory
Radio National: Charles Jencks
Interviewed while in Australia in 2001 (transcript).
13.09.01 in architects theory
Architect / protaganist: