Since Phenomenology
From: James Wine, Green Architecture @ 2000
Are you able to design an ecologically inspired art of building in the Age of Ecology in your present studio?
In my current studio, the notions of ecologically based architecture have not been strongly emphasized. From a particular point of view one may stress that good design will be regarded as something to preserve, and in that case, the ideas that we have explored concerning those concepts are substantially valid, granted the building will not be replaced in diminutive time. Although in contrary, the primary focus of our studio has been socially based, and lacks concentrations in climatic and biological consideration. The intent has clearly been directed towards an experientially qualitative design over one that is calculatedly performance based, yet I believe an open square and public building with ambitions towards community interaction is able to become sustainable if successfully embraced by the citizens that utilize it and care for it continuously.
From: Chris van Uffelen, Ecological Architecture @ 2009
Do you find his historical examples and attention to materials and use convincing?
In regards to historical examples and materials I don’t find his conclusions to be definitive. He displays a timeline of cause and effect, political accumulation for representational superiority, and then little baby steps slowly resolving the issues, influence by influence. His essay seems to be building up for the readers own inquiries rather than providing a distinctive conclusion.
Global warming= Paradigm shift towards setting sustainability as priority over style and structural function. Do you think this has happened in the United States?
The primary issue is that we’ve found ourselves at the precipice over the word “sustainability” which resonates to the accord of “the boy who cried wolf” story. In an effort to extrapolate, it appears that the term has been so oversaturated in our current epoch that the economic powers latch on while the environment and human aspects are left in the wake of negligence. [Insert hypothetically exaggerated example her] ‘My child-labor force across seas raises their own sustainable locally self-grown chickens that they eat, so our oil/plastic devouring company is sustainable.’ Sustainable has become that regurgitated word that you can spin with anything you are attempting to sale, so no, I feel that the esoteric group creating a genuine ecologically concentrated architecture still comprises a minimum influence relative to the over-all built environment. Hopefully that will change.
From: Rick Joy, Rooted Modernism
Do you think his use of material and building form are convincing?
Is the family convinced? That is the real question, because anyone can create their own opinions about the building, but the client must be captivated by the decision. Although from my opinion, Joy has considered the climate of place in regards to eve-less terminations of the structure for ice-wedging climate control. He has developed a regional design as far as materials and a very natural fluidity in relation to his elongated special decision.
Do you think his project is in any way compromised by his fundamental basis?
To be quite honest, absolutely not. This is a designer, who has developed a certain vernacular for arid desert environments, yet he was able to leave his own precedents aside and beckon the question; what does a Vermont woodlands house really mean? And I feel he created a successful reconciliation between his previous experience and this particular regionalist design.
From: Ricardo Legorreta, Interview
How would you define his architectural accomplishments for the two projects Solana and Camino Real Hotel, Ixtapa related to culture and climate?
The interiors of the Solana project are dazzling although the scale is out of proportion I believe they are still humanized in the way they create a dialogue between light and form. The exterior appears to still become very regimented, sterile, and non-emotional formally, so the vibrant paint job does strikes me as a motive of compensation. The centralized tower lacks windows subsequently displaying the impression that its sole purpose is monumental rather than experiential.
In regards to the Camino Real Hotel, the way that the landscape has been incorporated is phenomenal, although again I don’t believe there are enough porous breaks in the building, so it again exists as an enormous barrier to the sea. The form itself becomes reminiscent of an ancient Mexican temple and the contrast of colors with the natural environment is remarkable. As an antithesis to Legorreta’s philosophies about a building that is for the people, this particular hotel exhibits a bit of appeal to merely external tourism. The way that he has embraced the landscape through form and the natural climate via non-conditioned public spaces exhibits a strong regionalist experience.
From: Mackay-Lyons
Do you find value in Lyon’s “three F’s for an architecture of Regionalism; Fitting, Framing, Forming?”
Certainly there is value at the roots of these concepts. He has placed a hierarchical order on the sequencing of the 3 f’s. Fitting to the context programmatically is first then subsequently structure (framing) and overall form come into play. There is strong correlation between these particular elements of design, but there are also many more components to design which make this prescribed formula appear a bit restrictive. Conversely, the way he mirrors the landscapes with his forms provides a serine reciprocal relationship between ground and sky that exhibits truth and beauty.
Would you like to participate in building a ghost? (This implies, would you like to have a design build experience as it is expensive?)
I believe that a design build would be invaluable for anyone in the architectural academic realm. We focus very closely on the creation of form and human interaction, from an artistic perspective, but these forms do require connections and nominally dimensional materials, so I believe that this type of project would provide illuminating experiences that are advantageous for us in future endeavors.
H. Smith