Do
opposites attract?
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Even
the great masters have been known to create uneasy partnerships of materials
and styles.
Article
by Jackie Craven
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An adobe skyscraper? A steel castle? A log cabin with Corinthian columns?
Not very likely.
Buildings begin not with a blueprint, but an expectation. The architect
who bucks tradition is often ridiculed... and no wonder. Odd mixtures of
materials and mismatching of ornamental details have produced some of the
ugliest buildings on our planet.
First, there are those terrible "remuddlings," where efforts
to modernize have gone haywire. Examples from Old-House Journal:
And then there are the unhappy marriages arranged by muddle-headed designers.
Examples from architecture critic and social commentator James Howard Kunstler:
Even the great masters have been known to create uneasy partnerships
of materials and styles. For example, look at Alvar Aalto's Institute
of Technology in Otaniemi, Finland. Gleaming steel rests uncomfortably
on a brick foundation. Squat rectangular forms clash with huge curved shapes.
Critics have called the Otaniemi Institute muddled, confused, and disharmonious.
But if harmony is the music of architecture, difference is the soul.
Aalto's genius as an architect was in his ability to combine surprise with
inevitability. He did it in the Finlandia
Hall, in Helsinki. On a smaller scale, he did it in the Villa
Mairea. Buildings like these push past our expectations, yet, unlike
the Otaniemi Institute, they are pleasing to the eye and the spirit.
Now, let's look at a small, contemporary project: a
cabin in the Catskill Mountains designed by Pierre Levesque, AIA of connections
architectural. The cabin is a country escape for city dwellers, so
Levesque incorporated city/country polarities in the design.
catskill
cabin
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country
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city
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Side wings resemble rustic "lean-to"
sheds
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Central element symbolizes a construction
crane
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Rough-hewn lumber
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Polished steel
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Olive green shingle roofing
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Metal roofing
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Wood siding
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Red metal cladding
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Roll-up door invites nature inside
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Interior includes pulleys, plywood
paneling, and other industrial details
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"Opposites attract," says Levesque. After all, it takes nuts
and bolts, walls and doors, foundations and roofs, to give a structure
form. And it takes a rich mixture of emotions and ideas to give a
building meaning.
Some critics say that opposing design elements create a tension and
a sense of powerful attraction. Viewed this way, grand structures such
as Alvar Aalto's Finlandia Hall, and smaller structures such as Pierre
Levesque's Catskill cabin, might
be called "sexy" or "sexual". What do you think?
Tell
me your views!
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vive la
différence!
In recent features we've looked at several
buildings that defied expectations. Here are a couple:
- The
Loos House. Emperor Franz Josef was outraged when Adolf Loos built
the austere Goldman and Salatsch building... directly across from Vienna's
elaborate Imperial Palace.
- The
Esplanade. This oddly-shaped arts center is being hatched in a nest
of Singapore skyscrapers.
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Text copyright
© Jackie Craven
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