Comments on: MICHELANGELO’S WAR

By: Gio

Gio — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 01:40:06 +0000

I do read them as anatomical drawings as well.
Bones…the human pelvic etc..

By: Skeuomorphism 2: Authenticity

Skeuomorphism 2: Authenticity — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 20:46:39 +0000

[...] new criteria of judgment if we look beyond digital interface design. Recently, Lebbeus Woods wrote a blog post about Michelangelo’s designs for fortifying the walls around Florence that speaks to this [...]

By: Pedro Esteban

Pedro Esteban — Wed, 30 May 2012 23:15:28 +0000

Can you say what was the reason then, to draw the plan on top of the human figures? What is the relation between both elements in that specific illustration?
Can you elaborate more what do you mean, thank you.

Are these drawings just sketches or they are final in someway?

By: Sotirios

Sotirios — Wed, 30 May 2012 23:01:49 +0000

I doubt Michelangelo drew a fortification on top of bodies muscles skin and bones simply because paper was expensive or scarce. Michelangelo drew architecture ‘disegno’ from the nude human flesh. He was not interested in mathematical abstractions or the preservation of ‘accurate’ proportions. Michelangelo believed fragments of immortality, God, beauty and the infinite were embedded in the mortal flesh: in the muscles, bones and desires of the body. His plans read like bones with sinews and skins. Some of the drawings look like an anatomical vivisection of Vesalius. Michelangelo’s drawings are rooted in a design theory that is based on the anatomy of a living body rather than a dead body. He observes naked bodies and draws their parts in union or all cut up. They are not allegorical drawings since they present us with the charged reality of the flesh. These anatomical plans vibrate with lines of life; unstable in vice and love, never static they move tear bend and flex.

By: Skeuomorphism 2: Authenticity

Skeuomorphism 2: Authenticity — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:20:53 +0000

By: Seriously

Seriously — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:41:54 +0000

Merely wanted to stress I’m happy that i came upon your website page!

By: wildoo

wildoo — Sun, 27 May 2012 16:08:46 +0000

I’m certain economics ‘figured’ into this layered result, though I would wager, based on personal experience, that at some point in the execution of the latter dwg.s, that composition, on ‘some level’, was considered…
design is after all, an “additive process” [imho]

By: wildoo

wildoo — Sun, 27 May 2012 15:48:57 +0000

Thank you Lebbeus for the seeds you germinate; the garden you grow.

By: Stratis Mort

Stratis Mort — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:17:27 +0000

Really interesting how Da Vinci and Michelangelo became and proved they are great artists through constructing war machines, and actually supporting war and its effects. Architects probably have to be always related to their time.
And in the same way how the architecture of the Roman Empire creates an environment that the human is lost inside the enormous and gigantic buildings, making as feel ‘nothing’ inside their society, the importance is on the Empire and that was done successfully.

By: Firat

Firat — Fri, 25 May 2012 02:13:02 +0000

These are some of my favorite drawings, of all time. Looking at them again, in this context, I see it as an architecture of urgency. It is really meant to anticipate one moment, of severe trauma to the city, but the walls will be around long after the war, and what is it to inhabit them in the aftermath? In this sense, I see a link here to the earlier four ideal houses posting. Great way to follow-up that wonderful work.

By: Individuos opacos

Individuos opacos — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:45:18 +0000

Hello,

The spaces created as a necessity born of concentrating on repel the outer limits. From outside to inside shows impenetrable but porous inside out, almost panopticon. Guard against a threat is one of the most exciting architectural themes.

Thank you for your revealing posts.

By: rafaeloshouldbe

rafaeloshouldbe — Wed, 23 May 2012 22:36:44 +0000

I have been looking-staring- at these drawings, and I still don’t know what they are.
I am debating myself to define them just as formal expressions or architecture of vanguard, disruptive architecture.
We cannot deny the extreme formalism of these configurations, but they are challenging so many things in architecture that you don’t know at the end.
It is the same sensation I felt when I was in his built spaces, that in between masses, volumes, or space.

By: Mikey

Mikey — Wed, 23 May 2012 22:04:48 +0000

This is so empowering and inspiring! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

How’s the “Illustrated Man” idea going?

By: oletto

oletto — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:24:18 +0000

Hello Lebbeus,

it seems to recognize alternatively natural and science-fiction inspirations

definitely a promising contemporary Italian architect.

By: gerri davis

gerri davis — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:01:48 +0000

Rom while there is clearly a parallel formal investigation, the juxtaposition of the human figure with these fortification studies likely has to do with the scarcity and cost of paper. It would be incredible to find M’s thoughts about the relationship of his sculptural, painting, and architecture practices. I wonder if those notes still exist…