Comments for LEBBEUS WOODS

Comment on THE REALITY OF THEORY by Electroprivreda | reconstruction and “freespace” designed by Lebbeus Woods « dpr-barcelona

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:50:41 +0000

[...] for the reconstruction of the Electrical Management Building is a case study in the application of this theory. Most of the building would be restored to accommodate corporate offices of the known kind. [...]

Comment on THE QUESTION OF SPACE by lebbeuswoods

lebbeuswoods — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:45:55 +0000

Pedro: Anthony Vidler wrote a book not long ago called "Warped Space," which is quite readable and up-to-date conceptually.

Comment on THE QUESTION OF SPACE by lebbeuswoods

lebbeuswoods — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:42:38 +0000

Chris: No doubt it is underdeveloped, limited for now to dimensional qualities—vast, cramped, continuous, fragmented, and so on. The qualities you mention belong to the objects defining the boundaries of particular spaces or to be found in them. The point I make is that because space is non-physical, its qualities can only belong to the mental. We might speak, then, of “paranoid” space, or “free” space, or even “hierarchical” space, and the like—qualities of mind. However, this is not a very common practice among architects.

Comment on THE QUESTION OF SPACE by Christopher Otterbine

Christopher Otterbine — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:40:08 +0000

Leb do you suppose the vocabulary we have to consider space may be underdeveloped?
Do you suppose a discussion of quality of space is possible, or would it become a discussion of surface, scale, color, texture, temperature…

Comment on THE QUESTION OF SPACE by Pedro Esteban Galindo Landeira

Pedro Esteban Galindo Landeira — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:52:53 +0000

Please LW, I’m working now with the concept itself of space, could you tell me some contemporary authors who work with it, because here in Cuba I only can find greats books but olders, the most recient is Giedion whit “Arquitectura: Fenomeno de transicion” an espectacular book but it was written in the 60’s and I will like to read the contemporary conception. Thanks.

Comment on THE QUESTION OF SPACE by Daily Digest for November 19th « blomstereng.org

Daily Digest for November 19th « blomstereng.org — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:27:19 +0000

[...] THE QUESTION OF SPACE. — 1:53am via Google shared items THE QUESTION OF [...]

Comment on THE QUESTION OF SPACE by Jordan

Jordan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:55:02 +0000

Space is not something that is entirely physical, definatly maybe. Without experiencing a space in a physical way, does it exist. One thought behind Deja vu is that it occurs because we are not consiously paying attention to our surroundings and when we do consiously pay attention Deja vu occurs. Would this not also be true of the space we see in movies. The feeling of actually being there. Perhaps we have been there, but fail to notice it consciously. Or even notice consciously and have an even stronger feeling of being there. This applies to buildings also. We cannot remember being born, yet we have many experiences that are etched in our mind. By the time we reach adulthood we have experienced one thing or another almost entirely. Perhaps this leads to our favorite spaces being memories that are buried so deep we cannot remember them

Comment on THE QUESTION OF SPACE by we could build a large wooden badger… « laurence turner

we could build a large wooden badger… « laurence turner — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:25:23 +0000

[...] a large wooden badger… How Google can guess what you are thinking, guardian.co.uk / the question of space, lebbeuswoods.wordpress.com / the OS opportunity, daringfireball.net / Bah, humbug! Postal Service [...]

Comment on THE QUESTION OF SPACE by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:18:40 +0000

Perception of space is a relative thing as you mentioned. I think that you need to throw the concept of time in there as well. How we move through space effects the space itself. Time enhances the sense of space, allowing us to move within it and thus giving it more reality. Time feeds memory. Memory helps with the perception of space as well in both positive and negative ways.
In film, time and movement are very important and is what gives the medium such power in relation to still art.
For me, this is the sublime part of making architecture. Yes, we need to meet programmatic, technical and budgetary requirements but the creation of meaningful space is my ultimate goal.
We know when we are moved by a space and can sometimes explain why (easier for those of us trained to see it) and sometimes we can’t. It is magic when it all comes together.

Comment on MOSS IS MORE by chris teeter

chris teeter — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:55:23 +0000

Thanks to this post I know what book to get a client for the holidays.

I appreciate this post about Moss, so don’t get me wrong when I say “its about damn time a conceptual edge pushing theoreticial building stararchitect understood practice”.

What I’d like to see happen in academia, and I believe I have now theoretical basis for making this point, a lot less conceptualizing and thinking about thinking outside the box and a lot more real world building technology studio scenarios. Clearly practice is complex enough to put you in a position for necessary invention. Try restoration.

In the book death of architecture, LW and moss were at this conference in viena with other greats discussing the early 90s and lack of architecture with a capital A in the world… One of the only statements I thought worth remembering was made by Moss, something like
- Architecture is like chocolate, you want it, and when you grab it it melts in your hands…

And then I spend the rest of my day trying to rebuild that,

Comment on WALL GAMES by gsidari

gsidari — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:02:25 +0000

equal and opposite forces on opposite sides of a level playing field, so to speak. incredible. tension and compression acting though a plane. could be furthered by a provision for materials found at sites, as relics of their physical realities transformed into components of the game’s construction. at a time when the negotiations on both sides could use some fresh input, perhaps those living the daily slog could help in this scenario.

Comment on SANT’ELIA’S WORDS by Mark Primack

Mark Primack — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:47:18 +0000

Atlatl2,
Sant’Elias was not mown down in a senseless war, not according to Reyner Banham. Rather, he and his Futurists buddies gleefully celebrated war as an instrument of unabashed, unapologetic progress. They enlisted in a bicycle corps, with the heroically ridiculous notion of pedaling nimbly through hostile fire to overwhelm a shocked and awed enemy by dint of their sheer audacity.
It’s been nearly forty years since I was awed and inspired by the sheer audacity of Sant’Elias’ drawings. But now that I look at them through a more polished lens – thank you Lebbeus for posting them here- I find it very difficult to connect them to the words of the manifesto. It makes more sense that the drawings were appropriated to the Futurist cause. Studying them now without wonderment, they offer a vision far too rational for the likes of Marinetti, who once ‘modernized’ his car by racing it into a ditch. Sans headlights, sans fender, sans ornament. I’m sure he expected his friends to emerge from war similarly streamlined and unencumbered.
No, Sant’Elias drawings bypassed the middlemen of Futurism on the Italian road to Fascism. His buildings would guarantee that Mussolini’s trains ran on time.
But, as ever, we give too much credit to the conceit of ‘-isms’. In architecture they are most often merely catalysts, excuses or coattails. As hard as it is to admit that a chicken might only be an egg’s way of making another egg, so is it painful to admit the possibility that any rhetorical stance (futurism, fascism, minimalism, critical regionalism) might just be a drawing’s way of making another drawing.

Comment on UTOPIA? by David J

David J — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:44:11 +0000

I still find it very difficult to envisage society today as a utopia,

i may be a cynic but my understanding of a utopia is of a society that functions correctly. in other words the Garden of Eden scenario.

the only way a utopia can exist, is if as individuals we give up some of our ‘freedoms’. but as can be seen throughout society there are too many people who will take advantage of weaker mmbers of society it is a trait that we as humans have and until this trait is irradicated then there can never be a utopia

Comment on SANT’ELIA’S WORDS by atlatl2

atlatl2 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:02:08 +0000

great post, thanks for that. Finding a book on Sant’Elia’s work when I was in high school was one of the most radical things I remember hitting me. There it was, equivalent to Malevich’s black square, from the same time. Sixty years later “contemporary” art and architecture were congratulating themselves over their cleverness and I was struck by a young Italian mowed down in a senseless war.

Comment on THE LIGHT, THE DARK by Quick Reading « CMU 2nd Year Studio

Quick Reading « CMU 2nd Year Studio — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:20:42 +0000

[...] Woods’s “The Light, The Dark” Geoff Manaugh’s “Editing the Shadow [...]