Steven Holl – Ideas on Architecture

Steven score Thoughts and Ideas on Architecture As I sit and listen to the rainf all(prenominal), I cant answer but wonder about the changing of seasons. Winter to spring, Spring to summer, summer to fall, fall back to winter. While each droplet of rain must have Journeyed bulky and far before it descended upon me, now its Just a pool of droplets. The best part about spring is the rain showers. Without the spring rain we would have no summer flowers, no gardens, non leaves or grass. Spring marks the direction of a new change. One with more life, a new beginning of sorts.A preceding(prenominal) for the spare-time activity months a metamorphosis from en season to the next. Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclites found fascination with change in its most simple form. He believed that all is flux, and nothing stays still. But what if he was wrong? If flux could be stopped what would happen? I could walk out into this storm and not be wet, for the droplets of rain atomic number 18 sti ll and the clouds stationary. In the moment, I find tranquility in the storm. Peacefulness balance wheels among the stillness of res publica. Not a splash of water made, not a scour in the trees, not even a whistle to the wind.I think to myself, The serenity of nature is unlike anything else in this world. All of a sudden, concussion Lightning strikes followed by a violent boom of thunder. A nearby tree creaks like an old door opening as it falls to the ground by luck I became drenched by the rainfall. I sought shelter under a roof, but it seemed as if the world was at ease. Almost as if earth made a treaty with itself to remain motionless for the rest of magazine. Nevertheless, it wasnt because if nothing changed then storms wouldnt occur, seasons couldnt transpire, and life would be lifeless.This earth we live on is matchless of a kind and distinct from anything else. Earth speaks for itself and Heraclites states this excellently, Not l, but the world says it all All is one. And yet everything comes in season. In comparison to the precedent of spring to the rest of the seasons, a persons early life can shape the following years in their life. Steven Hollys career was foreshadowed by his earliest years when he and his brother make a 3-story tree house and also an underground clubhouse. This was not only outlined in his childhood, but also in his years of education.While growing up in Beaverton, Washington, he developed the desire to make things, sculpt, draw, and build. After high school, donjon went to study architecture at the University of Washington. His Junior year he left-hand(a) the states and engulfed himself in the great city of Rome, moving from Beaverton, a shipyard city with little architectural density, to Rome, the pinnacle of architectural history. 5 While in Rome, the Vietnam War was pickings place so, let in, instead of developing his thoughts and ideas on architecture, wrote a conscientious objection on philosophical rather religio us grounds.After receiving a reply, he was dismissed collect to physical deformity and never had an actual physical examination. Hold obsessed over his objection because he didnt want them to falsify his opposition, and consequently left Rome with no projects. Upon returning to Washington, he had difficulties finding a firm to hire him. After a year at a small firm outside of Seattle, Hold left to go to San Francisco, where he formed a union with William Stout and Bill Zimmerman they called themselves Opus 411 . Together they entered competitions and wrote declarations of architecture, but all ended too soon, for Hold was broke and needed a job.In search of a Job and possible graduate school, Hold was accepted at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, and on top of that hired at Louis Khans office in Philadelphia. He made the decision to take the Job and decline the schools. Confusion descended once Hold received word of Khans death. He declined borrowing to graduate schools for a Job tha t was no longer possible. Fortunately in 1976, Hold was offered to study, tuition free, at the Architectural Association in London by a man named Alvin Boyar. 5 For that reason, Hold made another life-changing decision and packed his bags to go to London.During that time he traveled to every possible build to experience them first hand and to sketch hem. Living as a vagabond in the streets of London, by some meaner, Hold managed to find a client from Paris. His new client was up circumstances with his noisy and crowded vacation home so Hold made large pencil drawings of a new draw back house offset from the shore. In one of the drawings he sketched a man on a boat headed to his refuge home, his back to the home and face to the shore. Hold comments, The character in the rowboat illustrates the way that all of us must work. He cannot see where he is going, only where he has been.Progress is tempered by a sense of mystery, of doubt. 5 A couple years later, Hold made more elaborate p encil drawings of a project for the South Bronx called Gymnasium-Bridge. This project won a Progressive Architecture Award in 1978. Upset by the way his work was presented in Progressive Architecture, he called his colleague Bill Stout, who had loose a bookstore back in San Francisco to make a publication of manifestos and single projects. This was the inception of what would be known as Pamphlet Architecture. Hold set specific guidelines for him and his colleagues to follow for this publication.This was an avian-garden idea at the mime and gave new and unusual ways of looking at architecture. These anthologies feature groundbreaking works by before thinkers of todays most well-known architects, including Steven Hold, Living Timidity, Lubbers Woods, and Gaza Had. 6/7 Hollys excerpts from Pamphlet Architecture are very much concerned with typology and morphology, that is, a study based on classification and also a study on building forms. Pamphlet Architecture 5 The Alphabetical City speaks on the nature of urban buildings during the first one-half of the 20th century.Hold inscribes, The notorious portions of cities that evolved on gridiron plans certain letter-like buildings recurred. The L, or the l type depend on their adjoining structures for meaning. They become dead letter when left stranded as free- standing buildings. 6 You can see here Hold had been analyzing buildings and then classifying certain buildings by the letter in the rudiment they resembled. The forms of these buildings from the generation before him caused him to questions the idea of architecture from that time.Hollys current language of architecture wasnt uncovered until he came across the arks of French philosopher Maurice Merle-Pointy in 1984. 1 This was a time when Hold radically changed his method actings for making and understanding architecture. Subsequent to the discovery of Merle-Pointy, Hold brought start to the idea of deriving projects from concepts outside of architect ure. Over the years, he harnessed this method and played with it as a departure for his work. From there on out, Hold became preoccupied with the idea of experience.Merle-Pointy expresses, We know not through our intellect but through our experience. 3 The phenomenology that Merle-Pointy writes about is what Hold achieves in his architecture. While most architects work outside-in, Hold takes an opposite stance and works inside-out because he affirms that, space is the unthinkable media of architecture. 8 It is an extraordinary responsibility to be an architect because the buildings we make are for people to use. Hold understands this and attempts to make people perceive space differently, to make something gross that they normally wouldnt.A work of his that exemplifies this is the Chapel of SST. Igniting in Seattle, Washington. In this project, Hold starts with the concept, Seven Bottles of Light in a Stone Box. Each of the openings for light allow the sunlight to reflect off c olored walls in a way that causes a conversion to colored-light. You can imagine being in the space that funnels colors at you making light ever more noticeable. This making of architecture relates building, site, and situation with body, space, time, light, and movement. 4 Hollys buildings really execute the interaction between architecture and phenomenology.It doesnt come as a surprise that Hollys major preoccupation is the phenomena of light. We live in a world that we know through vision, which can only be possible with the athletic supporter of light. The dynamic of light defines several of Hollys works including Writing With Light House, Porosity House, Sun Slice House, Kinsman Museum of Contemporary Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Addition, Chapel of SST. Igniting, Museum of the City, and NYU School of Philosophy. 2 However, these projects stand for his thoughts on light, all of his works constitute and deal with light.Specifically in Writing with Light House, Hold inscrib es light in such a way that celebrates light and, its counterpart, shadow. Strips of white light coat the interior in accord with the time of day and season. Shadows then become the strokes on the reface causing an ornament of pattern. This outline shapes light that really gives it meaning and insight. Its not only the approach on light that makes his architecture original, but also his ability to take familiar ideas and transfigure them into something new. It wasnt until the asss when Hold started consistently getting things built.Part of the struggle in his career was becoming famous. This can be challenging because of cruel criticisms or lack of forethought towards your work. For Hold, it wasnt until subsequently his Pace Collection Showroom in New York, that he received a world-known status. He was given a huge amount of critical attention in New York, Europe, and Asia for his new and fresh take on modernism. It took a couple decades but he now has work in Italy, Germany, F rance, Japan, Finland, Switzerland, Norway, The Netherlands, Denmark, and China.Hollys originality that is known throughout the world is, in part, due to his way of thinking and developing ideas. It is not necessarily theories of architecture that shaped this, but phenomenology and science that have shaped his beliefs and ideas. Ideas are very important to Hold and this is where he derives his inspiration. He is fearless when it comes to addressing the world at large for inspiration in his projects. Many shy away because of the criticisms one will face for fear of comparison to larger ideas, nevertheless Hold is audacious.Audacity is exactly what Hold advocates. He encourages students to question everything and this is one reason he, himself, has become such a success. 8 One part of being an architect is that you must be able to fluently articulate your personal thoughts and ideas, rather than simply following the ideas of someone else. It then becomes a push for what you think shou ld happen. Hollys character is tested when working with clients because he must be uncompromising and demanding if he wants to pursue the credit of his concepts. His self-assurance comes from the knowledge of himself.He has never had any doubts on who he is and what he wants to accomplish, and this has lead to his triumph. Even though he must be adamant and resolute, he has sought criticism from respected colleagues and peers of his designs over the years. 2 Hold discusses their commentary and evaluation with them after overcoming his incredulity. This is a testament of his respect for other peoples opinions and ideas. It also reveals his perception in seeking out honest and tough critiques. This may be the reason he is able to keep his knife so sharp.Without the help of others, he would become dull, thereby making his architecture banal. This essay ends with a glimpse of the way Steven Hold sees architecture for the 21st Century. Hold was born in 1947. He lived in latter half of the 20th Century he saw and helped change the way architecture is defined today. He truly sees how architecture has been grounded by the physical aspects of having limited resources in the past, to the increasing technological ways in which we can now build. The constructive ramification into modern life and new ways of seeing are vital traits he believes todays architects must have.Hold elaborates, Any architect caught up with the current speed of globalization of todays architecture realizes that this is an unprecedented time in the history of architecture requiring an unprecedented philosophical commitment. He continues, The challenge of extremely diverse lands, cultures, and climates and their urban conditions set unparalleled obligations for architecture today A surmisal reversing specific to universal a black swan theory suggests an aim for larger, more complex building types.A twenty-first century position that strives to airframe the inherited dualism of the uttermost( a) centurys suffixes might spark a new paradigm shift toward a new focus on architectures potential to shape experience, interrelating body, brain and world. 3 A new generation will emerge after the passing of Steven Hold, one inspired by the books and buildings he bequeathed to humanity. For now, Hold will continue to be a leading architect in the world. Its a great field to be apart of with myriad possibilities, and it is my hope to one day be given the jeopardy to make a richer environment and Join the field of architecture.