Charlie Rose - The Future of Architecture

[frozenstrawbs]

very true and very good point, but i would add that sustainable technology in architecture is rapidly growing and becoming more of a factor in the pursuit of good architecture.

[hudohudo]

"Architecture is all about making it seem larger", strong simplification for such a well known theoretic..

[piliprd]

Is modern architecture only about building boxes?? come on!!! Thats such a terrible simplification of the work of the masters like Le Corbusier and Mies.

And... I would expect that a well-known architect like Eisenman would consider the facades just as important as any other part of a building. I think he should have researched a little more on Le Corbusier´s work, for he would have quickly figured out that architecture is not only about space and morphologic qualities.

[giuliooiluiggiulio]

Your post does not contribute to the debate, maybe you should watch again the video and you will understand that Peter Eisenman never said that architecture is only about space and morphologic qualities!

[neilzeil]

no it is true

[neilzeil]

yes it can!

[AmericanDemon7]

cheap and dirty here-just for a quick buck till the "deal" wears out with local govs. no architecture in the states.<<period

[blau18]

A bunch of megalomaniacs. The building sucks, the concept is redundant

[watawatan0w]

i think many people like it becaues allot of the Architecture community likes it and because it's this guys work.... Who knows, who cares

[mmontana]

Early in this piece, Eisenman makes these three comments about this building's facade:

"...Its less important than the interior"

"This building has no facade, but..."

"it looks like it was rattled around by an earthquake" (is this a desirable characteristic? It also reminds me of when my dog takes a massive pooh, and it topples over)

His notion that ANY part of a structure (especially the FACADE of his purported 'canonical' work) is not as important another part is reflected in the results.

[JetStrike13]

WTF?!

55 minutes?!?!??!

[nonchalant830]

Tschumi's face 34:15, full of anticipation and excitement.

[nonchalant830]

So..what the hell are they trying to do here?

[grovestreet8]

architecture should focus on self-erecting structure technologies... not just totally focus on how you want your buildings to be "unique". Going green is the future of architecture.

[gigerius2000]

Are this Interview guy and Esenman are in love withech other? Amazing how smattering and brown noser Eisenman is in this interview.

[schinkeltube]

amazing: eisenman still hasn´t figured out that his formalist, single-issue architecture has a half-life of about six months. (and an intellectual depth of about one centimetre.) maybe he´s been too busy playing avant-garde all these years to notice. (why do i have to think of fidel castro or the rolling stones: old men frozen in rebel-pose, long, long after the juice has dried up... sad, actually....)

[shrubhuntertran13578]

no point. no point to any of it

[gavranarh]

I'm probably underestimating the awesome gap between the American and various European schools and standards of architecture. this manifests as my unintentional revolt, and almost disgust and loathing toward the building peter eisenman is presenting. i find it as the epitome of bad_architecture in (almost) every conceivable way by the standards I've been taught by.

nhf, pls, just an observation.

[georgewu5]

Partly, I believed,is because most of the contempory architects in the U.S. I know of,are the people who cannot even sketch and went to college to get a degree to be a professional!--- dancewu(dot)net

[mattjostr]

Art "heightens one's sensibilities." Architecture must be functional--must make sense. I hope to experience this space in the future. Otherwise I can't say much about it, other than the hideous colors. And the auditorium doesn't really stun me either.

[georgewu5]

g: THOSE WHO COULD DRAW, ALREADY SKETCHED LIKE CRAZY WHEN THEY WERE YOUNG,WRIGHT,FOR EXAMPLE! THOSE WHO COULD NOT DRAW, TALKED EVEN MORE LOUDER AS THEY GREW OLDER!EISENMAN BELONGS TO WHICH GROUP? YOU WILL BE THE JUDGE!---DANCEWU(DOT)NET

[deedundone]

thank you it should be about you....your self which in essence would be a story.

[AmishChildren]

Charlie, one of your most finest shows!

Peter AND his bow-tie were both brilliant.

One highlight for me, especially, was how you directed one specific question directly toward Richard Meier. Thanks Charlie.

[persepolis80]

Eisenman is crazy, I cant understand what his talking about. I went to his office in NYC and he was giving his lecture to his office, people were falling asleep. I was praying he would stop talking. His models and working models are so old school, they were all in chipboards. Any who, he is still a Starchitect.

[ogfunk187]

I would'nt get a man who wears a bowtie to design anything for me.

[tomfoxbenton1986]

Peter Eisenman is full of nonsense. He is a terrible influence on architecture. You wouldn't ignore history 'the reservoir of human experience' when designing art for human experience, unless you are an arrogant prat.

His egotistical chat about creating purely spacial experience, has created an architecture that is actually silent. Whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more. please take not Eisenman

[rageofsalvation]

Such a brilliant knowledge.

Just what i needed to know.

Thank you Charlie Rose!

[hosweetim89]

I think its safe to assume that the future would be the introduction of Green Buildings. As people are now more concerned about the planet's health there is more emphasis on plants and energy consumption. I look forward to seeing buildings with some kind of unique form that blends in nature with structural design.

[georgewu5]

hosweetim89: if you go to my web-site, you will see the future of the housing will be like the Great wall of China, "Great Wall Village" I called it, to be built over the million miles of existing highways with sound and fume insulation....To save green space!--- dancewu(dot)net

[hosweetim89]

It's like hearing a conversation with ascended beings. Everything just falls in place.

[LandosMomma]

I think that this instills a great insight into architecture.. I love seeing "intelligent" people debate with eacother.. some of these people are just arguing to argue.. and some are only declaring points with questions.. in other words :I just want to hear myself talk, and I have no idea where I am going with this".. I found this as a result of potential persuit of future in architecture.

[richardtraylor]

Read "Choosing a Skyline:How intelligently are we recognizing urban context as a feature of environmental responsibility?" by Nicholas J. Slabbert -- it's available online on the "Virtual Adjacency" website. (You can also look it up in the British Library's list of online articles by N.J. Slabbert.)

[CosmoHunter24]

He looks a bit like John McCain, lol.

[georgewu5]

If SWASTIKA is a cliche to the great architects Le corbusier, Wright, Mies, Pei, Rudolph, Yamasaki,and Holl, then Eisenman has been trying all his not to do the SWASTIKA. But I called SWASTIKA a CHINESE SQUARE or a Buddhist symbol, not a Nazi sign, therefore I, and all the great architects have no trouble using it! SWASTIKA was a great design tool, I found that out since I was in college in 1958. Avoiding it because people thought it was related to Nazi missed the boat entirely!--dancewu(dot)net

[georgewu5]

Genius: Le Corbusier; Wright./ Successor: Holl./Theorist:Kahn;Eisenman;V­enturi; Johnson;Graves;Foster;Hadid;/E­legance:Pei;

Mier;/Utilitarianism:Mies;Buns­haft;.......

dancewu(dot)net

[georgewu5]

If you wanted to be "Disturbed"or "Challenged",you could go to Sichuan,China,the region I lived during the WW in 1944. You could see thousands and thousands of otherwise normal,functional buildings after the earthquake! They are NOW trying to re-construct the area to be like what it used to look like before the earthquake, definitely NOT GOING TO BE like this Eisenman building--(the future of architecture?!!!)---- I am sure about it!---dancewu(dot)net

[JackRussellTerrier2]

As open space continues to be eaten up by sprawling development the question present it's self: Do his buildings help preserve open space?

[georgewu5]

J: You have the answer there already! Now we have to build over the highways to save the green space!---dancewu(dot)net

[learnrv]

that is right; we cannot anymore waste the space above roads between skyscrapers...

[georgewu5]

l: First of all,the architects should do our homework, working closely with the intelligent structural engineers,utilizing the long neglected air space over the highways and between tall buildings,etc. Secondly, the public has to be educated of the danger of the existing fire codes are not sufficient, like a time bomb to go off and demands more fire safety protection! Yes! WTC would have to come down by the thousands of gallons of fuel anyway; but not necessary the 2,700 people!--dancewu(dot)net

[georgewu5]

learnv: Le Cobusier's " Toward An Architecture" "...Auguste Perret's Tower-city (1922)sketched but not planned bridges link the towers to one another.(P.126)--- "for what purpose?"--- The reporter of L'Intransigeant argued. But there was no 9/11 then. Now, it is about time to look into what they thought about and did not have been examined yet.Instead of wasting the resources to build rotating towers,etc., why don't we do something wonderful to the world, save the green space....dancewu(dot)net

[georgewu5]

JackRussellTerrier2: "help preserve open space?" Three drawings in my web-site "dancewu(dot)net" of three different ways to preserve open space. 1/ GREAT WALL VILLAGE: Triangular housing over highways and railroads to Tibet in China. 2/single loaded corridor housing flanked highways in China. 3/World Trade Center II on Hudson river outside the WTC former site with 8 sky-bridges connecting 4 towers in case of another 9/11.

I hope each scheme would help to preserve open space.---dancewu(dot)net

[marianstefan1]

Nice interview charlie is kinda multidisciplinary guy ... Or ?

[Impresioniste]

They are famous, rich,etc. But their architecture is not good. I know people will laught me but it is thrue.

There is no aesthetical relationships in their buildings. They are ugly, not proportioned, not elegant, not perfectioned, not critic architecture. Their architecture is like fast food.

The most important thing about the future of architecture is to be critic whit this people, like always, to be critic with the recent past and the actual time, to understand it and belong to it: zeitgeist

[learnrv]

the true artists realise that there is nothing more cliched than trying to avoid the cliche

[hiccupingminor]

Beautifully put.

[BuckYooper]

I'm not trying to be dumb and may be dumb, but do u mean that peter eisman is cliche by avoiding the cliche or do you mean something else?

[learnrv]

that was what i meant =) this building is not a series of profound questions (or whatever) leveled towards architectural axioms... it is the result of an average man terrified of 'blending in'...

[georgewu5]

l: You put it more beautifully than any one there in the panel! You are courageous! You should have been in that panel!--- to speak your mind! Others have different motif to go all the way out there! To suuport a "friend" or whatever. If professionals did not speak out, and the public did not know better, therefore, we have such a mediocre world for so long since Corbusier and Wright! Pei said it once that"No controversy; no architecture", but he has been so quiet recently!---dancewu(dot)net

[BuckYooper]

Peter Eisenman is a great mind who understands there is more to to building than symmetry and space, well most architects do I hope. But I don't think he is the architect to bring about this new revolution in the art, rather, he is like John the Baptists orating a new vision for practicing architects to hear and perfect the style. but then again, what do I know?

[mgnssss]

greg lynn is the only guy on that panel who actually makes sense, and prophecises in the direction we are experiencing now. too bad he didnt get more screentime

[laasook]

Is Architecture a Philosophy?...from an Urban Planner.

[scottishlowoflow]

i think that "contemporary" architecture fails on all feilds. it fails to please the eye or the functionality. the 60s buildings were at least functional but incredibly ugly. these buildings are neither

[eman3310169]

Architecture is functionality in its purest form....after all we rely on shelter for life, no? And no matter how "artistic" architecture may become, it all comes down to the building/landscape's functionality and how it fulfills its intended purpose. Im not a huge fan of Eisenman, but it must be said that he seems to understand the necessity of function...as he himself acknowledges, he is not a master of facades...instead he excels in a masterful creation of functional interiors.

[georgewu5]

e:What is the purpose to twist the ass of the functional supports?! In and out of a surface just cost more time, material,and labor to build!It did not add a bit to the function of that structural support! Then why did it? Wrinkled the architectural surfaces here and there just to pretend as the decoration of the past simply does not make sense to me! Without twisting the ass here and there, the building can still stand up.Adding all those "decoration"just did not make it to function any better!

[NewLeaseProds]

The old guys all talked about the building as a non-object. But when the young [female] Ph.D. candidate begged to differ--arguing that the building could indeed be "an object building"--she was almost completely ignored.

But how can a building that is designed "to disturb"--a building where you must SEEK OUT the front door--how can such a building NOT be an object building?

Not every building has the luxury of making its users constantly self-aware--that's indeed the architect's signature/ego.

[JazzTemura]

For all of you that blatantly attacked Peter as an architect; I Quote Charles Gwathmey 49:18mins into the video clip: "..if it's merely to repeat and replicate the known, then one never extends or grow".

I hope this changes your mind or in fact switch it on.

[tananing]

You call this architecture? Thats ain't design for me. Seems to me that you only have box concepts in your mind...very poor.tsk tsk.

[naivatco09]

but your mind isn't exist

[cheddabeef]

i guess you disappointed with your job at mcdonalds

[JazzTemura]

look who's talking...

I guess you're the one working for the fast-food chain. I mean why call yourself chedda-beef for?

Lol. No I am an architect working on a design for a racecourse in Dubai.

Thank you very much

[rencrow]

how are the job prospects for new architecture graduates in dubai?

[JazzTemura]

pretty good but i am based here in australia. all documentors are ppl working in malaysia.

we are in charge of design schematics and development - cool huh?

[dicaserta]

What nobody seems to realize, is that we have to look up this building 30 years from know and just then we will be able to tell if he was wrigth or wrong about bringing to life this proyect

[griffrs]

"canonical"...lol

[RoyGropius]

Well, Mr. Eisenmann tells us that he is not such a good facade designer and he tell us "I love building these inside spaces" (04:15), so I ask myself why can't this building just be a normal modern box outside? And I think we know the answer...

[tjskate]

eisenmann lectured at my school last semester, and he is a really cool guy. i have to agree, the fact that he's a good guy shouldn't really affect his reputation as an architect, but he deserves some credit as a designer. at the lecture he walked us through a new design for a museum (for a contest), and it was much more deconstructive and much less subtle than his other work.

[modularnyc]

Eisenman is a great orator of architecture, his buildings however don't do anything for me. Also, in an another interview in the past, he was asked about his loft in new york city, being just a plain loft, nothing architectural about it, and why he didnt design something similar to what he does for his clients. His answer was " i cant live in my mind". Give me a break, you know why you cant live in your mind? because you suck as an architect. Just my thoughts.

[optiKalismo]

...a little harsh but you are so right. eisenman is an absolutely great orator of architecture but he is not that great of a designer in my mind. sort of ironic...

[stripedchair]

The Eisenman person talks alot about the theory associated with design as if though he knows alot, but the building he created leaves me feeling a bit cold/awkward. Maybe that's intentional

[SheebaOK]

it is art

[stripedchair]

no kidding

[optiKalismo]

no it is not, that's why you guys got thumbs down. do full in depth research of something as vast as architecture before you make such a blunt, direct statement.

[desaynko]

excellent. i learned a lot. enlightening.

[8data]

Charlie is always excited about Architecture

[babyjanekennedy]

how old is this? i guess it must be around 1996. does anynone know?

[scottishlowoflow]

modern architecture is a nightmare it fails to please the eye and fails to stay standing

[georgewu5]

scottishlowoflow: I admired Le Corbusier so much even now I am STILL in the middle of his book "Toward An Architecture" to learn more about the two genius I admired very much, the other is Wright whose Falling-Water told me: " That is ARCHITECTURE!" which started me to study architecture! Too bad there are just too many talkers; not enough real talent!---dancewu(dot)net

[aleung1649]

Disturb in a building???? Why not build a jailhouse? Peter Eisenman is probably the most overrated Architect in the world. BTW, he said he does not want his building to look like a box. I think it looks like a color paper box building.

[vioguru]

Like any other fields, there are always top-notch and so so grades, and architecture is no exception. Unfortunately, the architects I know from my building are certainly not impressive. I sometimes wonder how the wife architect received her degree. Maybe in Europe it is easier to get a degree in architecture????

[dubaijazz]

It's still easier to get a degree in architecture than a career in architecture.

[bonemark916]

i'm so glad i'm dioing architectural technology.

and not pure architecture, it's a good job it has so much space for all that hot air.

[maryreillydude]

no token black man?

my fav part about ivory towers is their ignorance of basic human experience.

ask anyone wholives in an urban design.

it suksnosky.

[padleynj]

Boringgggggg!!!!I guess if you wear a bowtie you can bullshit people easier. Not at all interesting....no art involved here!!!Such a sterile environment.

[bbpatton]

Eisenman's elitist notion of architecture is dying, thank God. 99% of the population doesn't understand or care about the pompous explanations offered by today's architects. The modern architect's jingo--"space" not "form"--denies the essential fact that architecture is UTILITARIAN, it's a BUILDING NOT AN IDEA. People don't give a damn about the escoteric ideas. To them a successful building is comfortable and inviting.

[puffinpunk]

if you think successful architecture is based on comfort, you're dead wrong. architecture should challenge thinking minds. we need more architecture that's artistic and experimental, not less.

[bbpatton]

You sound like Howard Roark, my friend. Only when architects realize that they aren't artists will their designs truly revolutionalize the way we live. Architects need humility, not hubris. Artists need both in equal amounts.

[puffinpunk]

if architecture isn't about art, about the thinking and creation of ideas, then what is it? are you saying that there's a perfect building that architects should all be in search of? isn't the belief that there's a perfect solution more pompous than a belief in experimentation and open dialog of ideas? can you really say that a building lacking "comfort" can't revolutionize the way we live? your notion that humility or submission leads to revolution seems quite backwards.

[bbpatton]

I don't believe there's a perfect building. Archiecture may be about the thinking and creation of ideas---but so is engineering. And to some engineering is art.

People's lives should conform to the architect's grand design? This seems to me to be the height of pomposity. Society should alter itself because of the architect's great ideas? That's Ayn Rand. Howard Roark. The Fountainhead. Architects are public servants, whether they like it or not.

[puffinpunk]

public servants still have a responsibility to provide solutions to the problems they see. We have gov. officials who saw a problem of national security and tried to fix it with the patriot act. imo it wasn't good, but it was still their responsibility to offer it. people are flawed and will make mistakes. that doesn't mean they should stop trying to create, initiate change and therefore fall into the safty net of "comfortable."

[bbpatton]

My point is architectual design should be a public service that foresakes the designer's hubris.

What if an architect designed a building that required you to walk up a ramp for a mile before you could enter? That wouldn't be a convenient, "comfortable" design for people using the building. Similarly, I believe utilitarian needs should overshadow theoretical/aesthetic decisions. Unfortunately, some architects (Holl, Eisenman) understand this less than others.

[puffinpunk]

if there's a good reason for a mile long ramp, why not use it? you're coming across like this is an either/or deal, when it's not. any thought behind arch. is about the use of the building. you can't draw a line between util. needs and theory because every architect's theory deals with the betterment of the user. utilitarianism has been the argument of every great dictator in the past 20 centuries. you keep referring to rand, but do you get her philosophy (it has nothing to do with arch.)?

[puffinpunk]

how would you, when designing tell the difference between what is your designer's hubris and what is utilitarian and good for everyone?

[bbpatton]

Question: why do you suppose there are so few architects who are known by name to the general public? Care to speculate on that?

[Renostyle]

For the same reasons most scientists go unnamed to the general public. Or most artists. Most poets. Most humanitarians. Its not because theyre undeserving of recognition or fame per se, or even because their work is more important than (and separate from) their personalities. The public doesnt know because the public doesnt care to know. If their intent is to satisfy their own hubris, or to seek fame, then by your own assertion they have failed because the public does not know them.

[Shotosboring1stpick]

That is true, but it at least they could enjoy their work and get respect from their peers than say learning about money or doing something boring like economics like I'm doing. But then again you're from Reno, and all most of you guys do is, is care about your image, haha.

[bbpatton]

As a story, the Fountainhead is about an idealistic, hubristic architect, and though many of the current "great" architects might disagree with objectivism, they seem to cultivate the image of the architect as an unrestrained individual designer when we know much of the work on any given design is done by the anonymous minions in their firms.

[bbpatton]

You mean to tell me that you think that all critical theory is practical? Architectural theory, like most contemporary theory, exists so that the intellectual community can feel a sense of elitist superiority over the masses who "don't get it." I think it's weak to build a building and defend it with opaque theoretical concerns, like Eisenmann did in this video. To me that's hubris. It's bullshit. That's why practically nobody but students of architecture know his name.

[optiKalismo]

you got a thumbs down but you are right for the most part. like stated earlier eisenman is a good orator of architecture but sort of a weak designer. like any other profession or subject; when people write books or offer their own "enlightening" information it wont be sought after by the general public and the only people who will be intrigued to know will be students (of course) and other professionals. in a way he is using his buildings to do a job that is suitable for his mouth...

[bbpatton]

How again was utilitarianism the "argument" of Hitler? Nazi architecture went for the grand memorial-scale. It was based on classical notions, not functionalism.

[architecture1one]

As an Architect, my friend, you are dead wrong. True Architects always have been and always will be Artists.

[bbpatton]

Who are the "true architects"? You make it sound like there's a difference between the ones who are pompous asses and the ones who actually design for the majority of society.

[weaselidiotu]

charlie rose scares me... :/

[actutus]

What he says about this building lacks substance. E.g., the notion that people do not look at architecture the way they look at paintings -- absolutely untrue. People will stop to admire a gothic church, or a plantation mansion. This lack of substance explains why he has convinced so many that an uninspired piece of concrete a is a great work of art. Why do we swallowing the Bullshit these "modern architects" feed us? Just look and you'll see -- the emperor has no clothes.

[dertyjerzian]

Would you PLEASE stop uploading fucking charlie rose videos or at LEAST limit your loud mouth about them so that EVERY googly vid search doesnt show your lame, commercial ridden, bullshit?