Schwarz
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the pan am building
There has long been a tendency in architecture to erect straw figures only to knock them down. In his article “'Criticality' and its Discontents,” published in the Fall 2004/Winter 2005 issue of Harvard Design Magazine dedicated to “Realism and Utopianism,” George Baird admirably—and, I think, accurately—summarizes recent efforts to do just that.(1) These entail the identification of and subsequent assault on something called “the critical” or “critical architecture,” usually accompanied by a collateral assault on something called “theory.” At the risk of erecting yet another straw figure that tramples on the subtleties of Baird's analysis, it might be fair to characterize such practices, variously named “post-critical” or “projective,” as sharing a commitment to an affect-driven, nonoppositional, nonresistant, nondissenting, and therefore nonutopian form of architectural production. But as Baird notes, these efforts have thus far failed to deliver an actual, affirmative project, settling instead for vague adjectives like “easy,” “relaxed,” and—perish the thought—“cool.” Baird therefore concludes his article by asking (with critical overtones?) what they expect to yield in the form of discourse or what he calls “critical assessment.” In other words, by what criteria is the “post-critical” asking to be judged, beyond mere acceptance and accommodation of existing societal, economic, or cultural norms?
hdm spr/sum 2005
kevin landers bicycle and signpost at elizabeth dee
lipstick and dynamite
dymaxion passenger
via zoller
the importance of being ernst, max ernst
EVERYWHERE=CITY DESIGN=HOPE
mau vs the people of torronto
lake michigan shipping container cottage
all time worst nyt style magazine low points include AZ quoted here in it's entirety:
Andrea Zittel | Artist: ''I love that design, as opposed to art, can get at the fundamental issues of being alive in this culture,'' says Andrea Zittel, whose work redefines conventional notions of home. She turned a 1940's cabin in Joshua Tree, Calif., into her own Case Study-style house, designing everything, including the living room's carved foam furniture. She also created transportable living pods (like the one here, customized by the designer Jonas Hauptman). For her coming show at the Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York, she is doing more hand-rendered work, like crocheted wall hangings. ''I am getting tired of clean modernism,'' she says. ''I love this whole baroque thing happening in design.''philip johnson thought that was a good idea too. he was also wrong.
why i hate venturi (sucks) and other shit about sheds