MACKAY LYONS

Do you find value in Lyon’s “Three F’s for an Architecture of Regionalism: fitting, framing, and forming?”  Yes, fitting into a context/landscape is very important.  As Heidegger states this value is “fitting an idea to a site, the being of that idea realized its condition of dwelling in relation to a particular place.  I think a good example of this would be some of the projects by Rick Joy that we saw.  Each of his projects is specific to the site and context, and this is what makes his projects regional and have value.  The opposite of fitting is usually not a very nice building.  I would argue that some of Frank Gehry’s buildings are guilty of not fitting into their context.  His Walt Disney concert hall is one example I can think of.  He used the typical reflective steel skin he likes to use in a really sunny hot place.  This caused heat gains and glare problems in the apartment tower next door and they had to sand the Disney hall to reduce the amount of glare/heat gains on the surrounding buidlings.

The form and frame that he talks about are clearly delineated in his Messenger II house.  In an environment as harsh as Nova Scotia, the skin/edge of the building is very important.  He states that he “sees the building skins as alive and constantly moving.”  With changes in temperature/humidity materials expand and contract and can cause problems if these tolerances aren’t taken into account.  I think this is an important lesson in understanding the materials of construction and how they will weather over time.  I have had a similar experience when working with wood in furniture design.  I didn’t take into account how much a wood table top would expand and contract and the table ended up warping pretty bad because my design didn’t allow for the expansion and contraction of the solid wood top.

Would you like to participate in building the Ghosts? (This implies, “would you like to have that design/build experience?” as it is expensive.)

Yes, I would enjoy participating on a design build project.  I enjoy building just as much as I do designing.  I have been interested in furniture design because it is something that doesn’t cost a lot of money and you get to design and build something.  You also learn a lot about materials through furniture design which will make your architecture better.  One of my favorite architects Peter Zumthor was a cabinet maker before he was an architect.  What makes his architecture special is his attention to craft and materiality which I think he learned while making cabinets.  I also think the models we make in our studios can teach us a lot about materials.  There are so many different modeling materials and each one has its own application.  Architects like Herzog and De Meuron who are interested in materiality use study models as a way to experiment with materials at an early stage in the design process.

Brandon Cari