When art & Architecture becomes hostile
#16 An opinionated article about the horror in architecture and a relaxing video
From the Curator 😎💻
Yo, What's up! Joseph here
This week is probably the most headbanging, stressful, nerve-racking, week in America because of the presidential election BUT we must continue to move forward! This week started out with me getting to hop on a zoom call and be a lecturer for an hour! I got to tell my story of how I first picked up a camera and uploaded my first Youtube video until 5 years later where I’m working in a practice and doing what I love. I’ll be sharing what I can through video soon so if you’re interested, stay tuned!
If you enjoyed this issue of Life of a Designer, consider buying me a coffee to show your support!👇
Video of the Week 🎥
I stumbled across this video during my lunch break and it left me feeling some type of way.. It’s a quick video but the shots, the architect, the sounds, they all tell a really good story about the architecture. What does a Roman ruin wrapped around a concrete house really look like? I wish there could have been more to this video but what was produced is a great story about architecture.
Article of the Week 📚
“Make It Right” Goes Wrong in New Orleans
We all know who Brad Pitt is, the award-winning American actor who has stared in over 45 different films. It's safe to say he's rich enough to help those in need and that's what he did. Brad Pitt is also the founder of the Make It Right Foundation. The foundation was established to aid in the environmentally friendly rebuilding of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward after Hurricane Katrina. With its efforts to do good in the world, Brad Pitt hired various Starchitects like Frank Gehry, David Adjaye, and Thom Mayne to design homes for those displaced due to Hurricane Katrina.
These Starchitects don't have the time to build petty little homes so a local architect was hired and tasked to get these designs built with the stipulation that they use the best sustainable materials available. The use of "sustainable" materials for some reason in this case meant the cheapest and probably the worst products available. On top of them being "specialty" products, the crew was probably hired because they were the cheapest to save the foundation some money after presumably paying the exuberant starchitect design fees.
Some of the homes that were built have dramatically failed, including those materials, to the point of demolition. Others are abandoned, lawsuits are in play for others. Williams (the local architect) has been fired and sued.
In this case, art and architecture have become hostile, threatening the residents of New Orleans with rot and toxic living conditions.
The failure of these homes is not stylistic. The ones that ceased to protect were simply designed more like art and less as architecture. One fundamental misfit in all buildings is a connection to their context. “Make It Right” homes clearly ignore New Orleans in their aesthetics, to the point of making cheap thrills "statements", but that is not why they failed. They ignored the physical context of the environment. So they degraded. Many (many) homes, everywhere, have that fate, designed or undesigned, in any location.
The failure of these homes is not stylistic. The ones that ceased to protect were simply designed more like art and less as architecture. One fundamental misfit in all buildings is a connection to their context. “Make It Right” homes clearly ignore New Orleans in their aesthetics, to the point of making cheap thrills "statements", but that is not why they failed. They ignored the physical context of the environment. So they degraded. Many (many) homes, everywhere, have that fate, designed or undesigned, in any location.
That's all for this week, follow me on Twitter & Instagram 📲
I'll be back next week, same time, same place! 💪🏽