There is No Construction without Destruction
“There is no construction without destruction”
— Le Corbusier
I thought I read somewhere Corbu had this idea, but I was wrong. Mao said this.
But, I don’t think people like us (designers and architects)would have disagreed if I said that Corbu said that.
In order to start building something, anything, a shed for example, all living things on the existing soil needed to be removed and a layer of plastic needed to be laid down to prevent anything from growing. The bigger the project, the larger the disturbance will likely to occur.
I guess another question to be asked is that is it necessary to wipe out everything for something “good” to come next? It is a constant topic in literature and movies. The Flood in the Bible, Avengers Endgame….
Generally speaking, destruction is often associated with war, natural disasters. It is rather morbid to think our profession thrive off other people’s or plants or animal's misfortune, but I don’t see another way around it. Maybe start building on Mars?
In order to counter this view, perhaps something can be learned from more ancient ways of building.
Cob houses are a good example of using what is available nearby, it does not mean a cob house does not disturb anything during the process, but it seems whatever it takes from earth is not wasted. The only problem is that it can take years to build one. It sounds pretty fun though.
Zach,
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool way to think about architecture. Yes, it involves the destruction for building and materials but the construction is hopefully just as beautiful as what was there before. Thats how we need to think when we design. In order to build this building, we need to take away from the environment in order to do so which should make us think about how we can build something that gives back in the same way the natural site did. Its like that saying "leave it better than the way you found it" and that is how we need to approach the new age of environmentally friendly construction now-a-days.