Context of the Region
I believe that good design starts with a thorough
understanding of the site. The social, economic and physical context in which
we are working become the DNA of our projects, and just like the human body, if
it recognizes something that shouldn’t be there it will do everything within
its natural capability to rid itself of the abnormality. I suppose in this instance
the human body is the community that or projects are nested in, and if our
projects fail to work with and contribute to their surroundings there will
inevitably be friction and rejection. I do say this with full awareness that they are some projects where the relation to context is less obvious causing them to become "iconic" some are more elegant while others could be considered sore thumbs, it would be interesting to get inside of the mind of the architect to understand how they came to their solutions in these cases.
With the projects you provided, it is interesting that the relationship to the site is less obvious. I think that when going for a design as wild as the Sydney Opera House or like anything by Frank Gehry, the context doesn't become irrelevant, but certainly takes a backseat to the building itself. It's almost as is if the building makes its own context and forces itself into the site, but in such a bold way that it works.
ReplyDeleteGood comment Luke, but Utzon and Gehry work in very different universes regarding context and human scale. Just need to se the diversity of forms, technologies, organizations that Utzon used in projects throughout his career, and compare it with Gehry's (limited?) formal world.
ReplyDeleteI am feeling like there are three kinds of architects in the world. One is designing the building belong to the site, one is designing the building can be put in anywhere, one is designing the building not belong anywhere.
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