Excess & Emptiness: The Future of Architecture?

 

 

“The return to language is a proof of failure,” asserts Tafuri; but

that return is not so much chosen by the architect as it is imposed by the regressive

conditions of present consumer society, “bored and in need of sedatives.” ….. The result is an architecture of excess and emptiness” - Tafuri L'Architecture dans le Boudoir

 

The REN building proposal is an excellent example of what I believe this quote is saying. What Bjarke Ingels’ did with the Ren building proposal, we can see a case where this is an extremely shallow use of architecture and view of Chinese culture. Creating a proposal for a building in a shape that the physics could only work in Minecraft based on the chine character “person” is almost the equivalent of getting a poorly mistranslated Chinese character tattoo. Bjarke Ingels’ knows how to market his work and is known as a very hip and innovative designer, but with designs like this, he misses the mark and lacks critical analysis and awareness of context.