Projective Architecture is...?
"A projective architecture does not shy away from reinstating architectural definition, but that definition stems from design and its effects rather than a language of means and materials". - Somol + Whiting
WW's IntraCenter
"Notes about the Doppler effect and other Moods of Modernism" left me with more questions than answers about projective architecture. I don't know if i am just overthinking it because I had the opportunity to meet Sarah Whiting and the paper literally sounds exactly how she speaks or what but it seems to me that projective architecture could be defined more arbitrarily than the quote above. Yes, it does have some sort of guidelines "non-critical, diagramatic, dopplery and cool" but how can we identify them correctly to create a projective design? According to the quote, we would have to measure the effects of the design in order to see it. I love the idea of overlapping program to create interaction (which BTW's... Rice all the way right there) but isn't that done in other buildings not classified as projective architecture too? Is that why BIG (more iconic), Libeskind (geometry driven), Eisenman (which is Postfunctionalism really) and others could be sort of classified as such? In my mind it is still a little blurry on what exactly projective architecture is.. maybe is all of the above..
The IntraCenter is projective rather than critical in that it very deliberately sets into motion the possibility of multiple engagements rather than a single articulation of program, technology or form (contemporary architecture's commodity, firmness and delight)."
In my understanding, it is impossible to draw a line. This is only my perception, but I do not believe in juxtaposition and categories. Creating "labels" is an easy way of thinking/describing and "building" a theory - I am always using this myself, but it is just not realistic.
ReplyDeleteI understood projective architecture to be a reflection of that past with an eye for the future- just as the literal meaning of the doppler effect.
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