The world is the stage, and our buildings are performers!

 

The space on the ground floor in the Seattle Library

 

In my opinion, it is vital to know the ‘behind the scenes!’ (the stories, ideas, and theories about the architecture).

I like that I am learning the stories behind the idea and concept of the forms, planning, etc. of the building in the history class. For instance, I have studied the Contemporary Jewish Museum, however, I did not know how Daniel Libeskind came up with the zig-zag plan! It was a very interesting story! He studied the significant incidents that happened with Jews on a map and marked the areas. He then drew lines connecting the locations and the intersection of the lines was the basic idea of the plan. Fascinating, isn’t it?

Also, it makes sense that it is not always purely the idea or concept in the architect's mind. But sometimes it’s the economic, political, or other such external circumstances that inspire and shape the design in a certain way.

Autonomous architecture was a new concept for me, but I don’t agree with the idea. Why should we design something that has no function? The construction industry is one of the major energy consumption sectors and, unlike Peter Eisenman,  in my opinion, we definitely can't afford and should not construct anything that has no function. I am not opposed to experimenting with architecture, but it can be done in functional spaces. 

 I am glad that I am learning about concepts like, Critical Architecture and critical theory. But I would really like to learn more about the Critical theories, post-critical, etc. in depth and with examples. I would like to know what it means, who came up with it, what effect it had on architecture, etc. I understand it may be too vast and difficult to study in one semester, however, the clarity of the terms is very important to me.

We studied the work of Rem Koolhaas, who inspires me a lot! I visited the Seattle Public Library and felt the difference in the quality of the space. I follow him because my theory is to experiment with architecture to create unique, feel-good, and fun spaces that I experience in his buildings. I am sharing an interesting image during the visit.

 

The red floor has meeting rooms and computer labs