So you think Bjarke Ingels is Cool?
From Hot to Cold. Critical to Projective. As we discussed
the values and the differences of critical vs. projective architecture in
class, the concept of architecture being defined as either “hot” or “cold”
really stuck with me. Talking about Daniels Libeskin being a critical and “hot”
designer makes sense to me. But on of his contemporary counterparts, a projective
architect, Bjarkes Ingels, seems to be missing this cool factor.
An heir to the world
of “projective architecture”, known for his diagrammatic concepts, I often find
the translation of the work to sometimes lean more towards critical. I keep
thinking about the delineation Somol and Whiting use that the difference
between cool and hot is performance. While cool architecture is supposed be low
definition, requiring a context and a viewer to complete it I find some
projects of the BIG office to but the building over the context, putting on a
show broadcasted in high-definition. BIG projects may be diagrammatic and
influenced by the “doppler effect”, but I would categorize these projects below
as hot based on the definition given in our reading. “Critical architecture is
hot in the sense that it is preoccupied with separating itself from normative,
background or anonymous conditions for the production, and with articulating
difference.”
The work he does may be coooool,
but cool (as in temperature) I’m
not so sure about.
I agree, but there is a little bit of cool performance in my opinion. I love his diagrams because they answer the "why" to his "hot" exterior appearance. He often makes calculated moves based on context and existing organizational urban lines. Without those diagrams or answers to the "why" you just see end result which epitomizes critical architecture.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching his talk at Harvard, I do think he tries to be cool. But we all know that if you're trying, it's not going to happen. At this point, he is so much of an icon as well that certain designs are expected from him, which probably only hurts him in his pursuits.
ReplyDeleteNot cool anymore!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a younger student that surprised me. After their crazy showoff. The whole story changed to me. The cool diagrams are not their tool to explain the idea anymore. It is the tool the sale their design.
I don't think he's cool in the Somol and Whiting sense. I think that BIG is all about form making. If you've seen the Abstract on Netflix episode about him. You see that behind the scenes he's very much concerned with the form of the final product. He's very much about aggregation and building forms with the aggregate. The diagram may create the aggregate, but Hot architecture creates the form.
ReplyDelete