MacKay-Lyons

1 | Do you find value in Lyons’ “Three F’s for an Architecture of Regionalism: fitting, framing, and forming”?

Not particularly.  To me, it’s just another guy coming out with a list, convinced that he’s breaking some sort of new ground in architecture.  I don’t believe he is, he’s just condensing a bunch of wildly complicated architectural ideas into an impossibly short list.  It reminds me of Mitt Romney on the campaign trail this past fall, talking about his five points to fix the economy.  You can’t just condense something as complicated as the U.S. economy into a few short bullet points and pretend that you can just execute those points and magically fix the economy.  It doesn’t work like that.  If it did, the economy would have been fixed long ago.  Likewise, if design were as easy as these three short bullet points, then every building would be a work of art, and I wouldn’t scoff at the sea of vinyl-clad McMansions I see creeping closer and closer to my parent’s house every time I visit them.  Architecture is a life-long learning experience – you’re never done learning and you never fully understand it, and I think it’s a little arrogant to claim otherwise.  I realize that MacKay-Lyons doesn’t claim these to be the end-all aspects of design, but even as a basic approach to design they are weak ideas.  “Fitting” is fancy-speak for site orientation, and that is dictated by an endless number of things, ranging from building ordinances to wind patterns, and from soil conditions to the preferences of the client.  Every architect struggles with site orientation, this is nothing new.  As far as I’m concerned, all MacKay-Lyons did to address this in his projects was to face the bigger window towards the water.  I’m failing to see the innovation in his ideas.  This applies to framing, as well.  I did some work a few years back on a restoration project for a 100 year old home.  When I broke open the walls, behind the lath and plaster, guess what I found?  Framing.  The same as we do today.  The sizes of the studs were different than we use today, as was the spacing of the studs, but framing was still framing.  MacKay-Lyons’ treatment of the exposed ceiling framing in the Howard house is nothing short of exceptional, I’ll give him that – the framing creates a space that I genuinely fell I would be very comfortable occupying.  He seems to think he’s celebrating the framing in his buildings, but I’m not convinced of that.  He uses an awful lot of corrugated metal paneling for someone supposedly so committed to celebrating the framing.  I’m not going to keep bashing him – the fact remains that he is a successful architect, and I’m still very much a student with a great deal to learn.  There are things he does well and there is a great deal to be learned from him, but I do not believe that his three F’s are one of them.

2 | 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, 100% without any hesitation.  I have been a proponent of the importance of hands-on experience in architectural education from day one at the technical college I attended two years before I even began my undergraduate studies.  I don’t think you can be a successful designer if you don’t understand the properties of the materials you’re working with, much less what happens when you assemble these materials together in an infinite number of ways.  The technical school was terrific at this, well, because it was a technical school.  We had an extensive materials library, we had projects to help us explore material properties (including the design and construction of a concrete chair,) and we were required to spend a certain number of hours working with Habitat for Humanity before we graduated.  I greatly enjoyed it, and carried that attitude with me to Minnesota for my undergraduate education, spending a great deal of time working on projects for Habitat all across the country.  Additionally, I created a student organization at the University of Minnesota responsible for starting and maintaining a materials library for the architecture students, and geared towards the technical education of students, helping them to become engaged in hands-on construction events and activities.  Even after I moved to Portland a couple months ago, I found and volunteered for the local Habitat affiliate here a few times.  I don’t mean to be arrogant or self-promoting, and I’m realizing that I’ve been coming off that way in this post, but I’m trying to convey just how important I feel that hands-on experience is in architecture.  If I had the opportunity to participate in Ghosts, I absolutely would, but we don’t have to wait for an opportunity like this to come along to reap the benefits it provides.  To any of my classmates reading this, there are plenty of opportunities available to gain experience – that’s why I talked up my experiences with Habitat so much – they are so easy and readily available (and free,) do a Google search or ask me if you’re interested.  Additionally, various schools have design/build projects – I know my undergrad architecture program is working right now on a project, having the students design and build a home for a family in need in the Minneapolis suburbs.  I don’t know that the University of Oregon has anything like that going on at the moment, but it’s worth checking into, and it’s worth bringing up to Nancy or somebody who might be able to make that happen.  Experience is very important and any student who has had the opportunity to participate in a hands-on activity is very fortunate, indeed.

-J. Maternoski