It's hard to describe the state of architecture today. It's a field that's always undergoing technological innovation that may or may not interact with concurrent changes in artistic intent and architectural schools of thought.
However, I think that Richard Serra very accurately describes one of the biggest issues in architecture today. Serra is world-renown artist specializing in large iron structures. He makes his architectural observation in an interview conducted by Hal Foster (a professor at Princeton) in his book The Art-Architecture Complex (New York: Verso, 2011).
In the past, "industrial space was largely defined by the frame and the grid" says Serra. This comment may allude to Mies Van der Rohe, his disciples, and their use of a strong structural grid as the fundamental visual characteristic of their designs. However, as Serra observes, "contemporary space is much looser, smoother, faster - about a movement rather than framing." He adds "it's more related to skin, to surface to extension. Our first relation to architecture is to its skin. That's a big difference." (Foster, 226).
I think Serra could be alluding to any number of architects. Zaha Hadid, whose work is all about surface, visual representation, and doesn't focus on context. Or perhaps the "folded paper" architecture of Frank Gehry, where his building's sculptural surfaces are detached from their interiors.
So can surface and structure be reconciled in contemporary architecture? This question got me thinking about Thom Mayne (of Morphosis Architecture) and his firm's 009 building at 41 Cooper Square. Housing a variety of Cooper Union classrooms, the building wears its surface and its structure on its sleeves. While the ground floor is highly structural in its appearance, the main body also features a metallic skin draped over a semi-visible steel frame. It's a building whose exterior established a clear relationship between surface and structure. The latter shapes and supports the former. This relationship is turn creates a unique sense of space and character that extends beyond the unconventional forms for which Morphosis is known.
However, I think that Richard Serra very accurately describes one of the biggest issues in architecture today. Serra is world-renown artist specializing in large iron structures. He makes his architectural observation in an interview conducted by Hal Foster (a professor at Princeton) in his book The Art-Architecture Complex (New York: Verso, 2011).
In the past, "industrial space was largely defined by the frame and the grid" says Serra. This comment may allude to Mies Van der Rohe, his disciples, and their use of a strong structural grid as the fundamental visual characteristic of their designs. However, as Serra observes, "contemporary space is much looser, smoother, faster - about a movement rather than framing." He adds "it's more related to skin, to surface to extension. Our first relation to architecture is to its skin. That's a big difference." (Foster, 226).
I think Serra could be alluding to any number of architects. Zaha Hadid, whose work is all about surface, visual representation, and doesn't focus on context. Or perhaps the "folded paper" architecture of Frank Gehry, where his building's sculptural surfaces are detached from their interiors.
So can surface and structure be reconciled in contemporary architecture? This question got me thinking about Thom Mayne (of Morphosis Architecture) and his firm's 009 building at 41 Cooper Square. Housing a variety of Cooper Union classrooms, the building wears its surface and its structure on its sleeves. While the ground floor is highly structural in its appearance, the main body also features a metallic skin draped over a semi-visible steel frame. It's a building whose exterior established a clear relationship between surface and structure. The latter shapes and supports the former. This relationship is turn creates a unique sense of space and character that extends beyond the unconventional forms for which Morphosis is known.
Photo Study: 41 Cooper Square 1
Photo Study: 41 Cooper Square 2
Photo Study: 41 Cooper Square 3
Photo Study: 41 Cooper Square 4
Photo Study: 41 Cooper Square 5
