Is Bjarke a Critical Regionalist?
While reading "Towards a Critical Regionalism," one gets the sense that this idea of universal architecture, or international architecture, is more of a curse than it is a blessing. Through time, we have began to lose the local vernacular and traded it for simple, more efficient and universally-serving modernism.
Frampton warns that this is not the direction that architecture needs to be headed. That statement reminded me of another book I am reading: BIG's "Hot and Cold."
When first opening the book, Bjarke Ingels shows you a spread: on one page - large modernist skyscrapers located in all sorts of different locations, all with different climates, cultures, and geographies. On the other pages, the vernacular architecture of regions around the world. Bjarke seems the ask the question, "Why have we forgotten about the importance of vernacular, or the climate, or the geography? Architecture is not one-size-fits-all." An encyclopedia of BIG's work, "Hot and Cold" goes on to organize every project from the hottest climate to the coldest climate, and how the design was solved through every aspect of geography, culture, and vernacular.
As I read "Towards a Critical Regionalism," I began to wonder if Bjarke Ingels is a critical regionalist, or like Frampton warns, if he just "simple-minded[ly] attempts to revive hypothetical forms of lost vernacular." While many people criticize that BIG's work is all "kitchy" and looks cheap, (which I actually believe was the point in the beginning), I argue that Bjarke Ingels purposely designs to the place, where in every location his design would be something different. One of the first examples given is his media headquarters in Doha, Qatar. In a very hot climate, he creates terracing programs which allows for a screen to drape between the two towers, creating an oasis inside. He wraps the buildings and the screen in a pattern very meaningful to Arabic culture. This is all in comparison to the modernist towers nearby, which pay no attention to orientation, geography, or cultural significance.
The theory behind many of his designs, in my opinion, align with that of Critical Regionalism. His close attention to the vernacular, the climate, and the geography shows that his buildings could not fit anywhere else. Like him or hate him, Bjarke proves the power of critical regionalism.
Frampton warns that this is not the direction that architecture needs to be headed. That statement reminded me of another book I am reading: BIG's "Hot and Cold."
When first opening the book, Bjarke Ingels shows you a spread: on one page - large modernist skyscrapers located in all sorts of different locations, all with different climates, cultures, and geographies. On the other pages, the vernacular architecture of regions around the world. Bjarke seems the ask the question, "Why have we forgotten about the importance of vernacular, or the climate, or the geography? Architecture is not one-size-fits-all." An encyclopedia of BIG's work, "Hot and Cold" goes on to organize every project from the hottest climate to the coldest climate, and how the design was solved through every aspect of geography, culture, and vernacular.
As I read "Towards a Critical Regionalism," I began to wonder if Bjarke Ingels is a critical regionalist, or like Frampton warns, if he just "simple-minded[ly] attempts to revive hypothetical forms of lost vernacular." While many people criticize that BIG's work is all "kitchy" and looks cheap, (which I actually believe was the point in the beginning), I argue that Bjarke Ingels purposely designs to the place, where in every location his design would be something different. One of the first examples given is his media headquarters in Doha, Qatar. In a very hot climate, he creates terracing programs which allows for a screen to drape between the two towers, creating an oasis inside. He wraps the buildings and the screen in a pattern very meaningful to Arabic culture. This is all in comparison to the modernist towers nearby, which pay no attention to orientation, geography, or cultural significance.
The theory behind many of his designs, in my opinion, align with that of Critical Regionalism. His close attention to the vernacular, the climate, and the geography shows that his buildings could not fit anywhere else. Like him or hate him, Bjarke proves the power of critical regionalism.
While I agree that BIG creates architecture that attempts to adapt to each site's particular location; I don't particularly agree that the buildings themselves reflect their "regional" inspirations. An example would be W57 in New York City. Yes that building conforms well to it's site, but to me it looks like it could go into any major city in the western hemisphere.
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ReplyDeleteI think we cannot define "vernacular" like we always have. The meaning has adapted as we have continued to adapt to an ever changing built environment. I can see both points of argument here, but I think we have to admit that things are not the same as they used to be, so with that, I don't think that it is bad or wrong to change the way we perceive vernacular or regionalism.
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