Friday, October 30, 2009

Sculpture Center Architectural Themed Exhibit Tonight and Tomorrow


Friday, October 30, 5-10 PM
Saturday, October 31, noon – 5 PM
Roundtable Conversation on Saturday at 3 PM

Labeled "All You Can Eat" by the people that name such things, an exhibition hits the shoulder season of the Cleveland Sculpture Center offering a large and varied selection of exhibits based upon the architectural vacuum that is Cleveland.

Having already stolen a completely unwarranted preview (I had no warrant) I will admit I am pleasantly surprised at the turnout in both scale and quality. Caveat: I have not really looked all that much into the exhibition, I just hung around causing trouble when it was being installed.

However the mere fact that it is being pulled off is impressive enough. I hope you come, take a gander, make your snarky remarks and then go home and think on what you really saw and thought.

Saturday includes a round table discussion hosted by some people who are probably listed on the web site.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Roadtrip (9)! - Bowling Green State University


BGSU School of Architecture and Environmental Design has posted their 2009/2010 Lecture series (probably a while ago but Google and the BGSU main page points to old architecture department pages) so I am posting them here because it is closer than Buffalo and UofMich, both of which I have already trekked out to for recent lectures.

Wednesday, Oct. 28th (tonight!)
Perry Kulper
6.30 pm in the Sky Bank Room

Ulrike Passe
Monday, Nov. 16th, 2009
121 West Hall
6pm

Leah Ray
Wednesday, Dec. 3rd, 2009
Student Union Theater
6pm

Katerina Ruedi Ray
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Student Union Theater
6.30pm

Jose Oubrerie
TBD

Monica Ponce De Leon
Monday, March 19th, 2010
Student Union Theater OR BGSU Ballroom
6.30pm

I would love to post all the info that is on the site regarding the speakers but for some reason it is a swf and I can't copy and paste the text. So go to the lecture website yourself for more info.

Monday, October 26, 2009

The Aesthetics of Equity: Craig L. Wilkins


Not since Ian Borden's Skateboarding, Space and the City have I wanted to notate and dog ear pages like I have in Craig L. Wilkins The Aesthetics of Equity, a 200+ page romp through the tragic pitfalls and failures of current architecture practice in education and understanding exactly who the client or even the practitioner really is. I admit that the idea of racial disparity within the architectural profession is not a new argument but Wilkins manages to approach it in a much more logical manner than simply the marginalization of difference for difference sake and instead concentrates on the cultural shift in ideals that has admittedly hamstrung the profession, taken us from the field and the love of craft to becoming paper pushers behind desks in cubicles.

It is the ideals of the social contract, of wanting to do good that has brought so many students into the profession (the emulation of Michael Brady or Howard Roark cannot be enough of a reason) but it is the propagation of the profession as a profession that can only exist in social stratification that hinders our ability to make the changes or to accept the differing views that could allow real physical good to occur. Granted props are given to groups such as Architecture for Humanity, for attempting to bridge this chasm but it is the existence of those very groups that identify just how broken the system is. Wilkins argues that is the exclusion of minority/marginalized groups that has forced the architecture profession to become too self referential for its own good, relying on outdated information and standards to legally force the public acceptance. Art(architecture) in a vacuum does nothing to further the social good and who can the client be if not those affected by what is shaping the spaces?

Wilkins does a very fine job of championing his arguments with diagrams, copious notations and quotes as well as a relying on what are referred to as "remixes", recaps of the previous chapter written in "conventional" tone that is more plain spoken than the academic parsing of the previous pages. While much of the work centers on racial discrimination in architectural education and practice it isn't hard to see/understand the much of the current problem stems much deeper, necessitating what could be no less than a formal revolution of architectural thought, not from the form based perspective as much as a use/creation one.

The introduction of "hip hop architecture" in the book can be confusing to those not entirely open to understanding the impetus of the hip hop movement or to those who currently are only exposed to the misogynistic, racist, homophobic, shallow and boisterous nature of "gangsta rap", especially as Wilkins, in order to accentuate the need for understanding the intent behind the thought, refuses to simply explain what hip hop architecture looks like. For those requiring the visual interpretation to validate the idea, it doesn't exist simply because it cannot easily be categorized (and attempting to catalog the idea would devalue the exercise of its execution). While I do not claim to fully understand the many facets of Wilkins interpretation of hip hop architecture it could be argued that what Wilkins is referring to is simply architecture that is aware of the place and people in which it exists and interacts with. A simple notion that is all too often forgotten in broad stroke misapplication of misnamed solutions (Green, new urbanism, etc.) and fails to take the community (physically, mentally, historically) into context when developing (in concert) a physical intervention, usually in left over or fringe/forgotten.

For those teaching or working on public projects I recommend this read if only to further reinforce that new ideas can come from anywhere and valid opinions exist outside of the regulated schools of thought so it is our job to listen as much (if not more) than teach. For general practitioners of architecture interested in the philosophical means behind modern movements I would also offer this book as a primer on Lockean theory and a fine intro to Lefebvre's work (as well as others, did I mention all the notations?). For those who feel that the work they do focuses too little on the people affected or who wondered why most architects look the same this book is also for you. For those only interested in the form and theory behind shape making this book is mostly words so having it on your bookshelf will make you appear smarter and obviously appearances are important.

It was a good read, I am looking forward to going through it again with a pen and post-its in hand as I am sure to be using this book as a resource in further research.