Postmodern parallax

The parallax is perceptional change of our temporal experience when one's entering the building. The shift between the exterior perception and programmatic infill. In this occasion we can think about Postmodernism that often is becoming desperate in its attempt to combine two or more historical structures within the same building. Facade eclecticism or superimposed parametric system under-represents programmatic potential of the building. The most famous example is Michael Grave's Portland building. Another case I will bring from Frank Gehry's houses. He brings traditional house and wraps in alienated modernity - concrete, corrugated iron, glass. He attempts to mediate traditional old structures and fashionable,shiny contemporary present. The result is a complete lobotomy and structural dishonesty between interior and exterior. I think it fully represents the gap on the political arena as well as a representation of the Capitalism segregated environment - advanced technological, shiny achievement (the envelope) and poverty (the inside).

Frank Gehry, Santa Monica house 1970s

So far, the thinnest of all completed buildings is 432 Park Ave apartment tower. The stark white pillar is 1,396 feet tall, with each side width of 93 feet wide.This building is famous for the smallest footprint. With the development of the new technology, now we can go thinner and taller than before (The base of the Empire State Building, for example, occupies an entire city block). But what strikes me is that In this tower there is not such difference on the facade and inside with the program. The envelope provides equal opportunities to express secondary spaces (bathroom, toilets, kitchen, corridor, etc.) as primary ones (living room, bedroom) on the facade of the building.

Leidy Churchman presented new art piece during Whitney are biennale 2017, the interior of 432 Park Ave apartment tower. The cosmic cost of each living unit draws even more visible line between uber rich and middle class residents of Manhattan. The facade is simple, structure is technologically advanced, the building became a new statement about the socio-political discourse in the city. The art piece is the political, desirable environment that blurs the gap between exterior and interior. Manhattan now is represented in every bathroom of the new skinny tower. For me it is a throwback to the Torsten Vebler' theory of the "conspicuous consumption".