Comments on: Driftwood pavilion by AA Unit 2 opens

By: smallpartoftheworld

smallpartoftheworld — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:55:57 +0000

To all the haters.

Is there really a clear difference between what is sculture and architecture?
Why the angst?
You talk about environment,perhaps you should complain to companies buying illegal wood from Indonesia.

Why the rigidity in thought, stop complaining, start appreciating.

By: cash

cash — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:02:01 +0000

students have been producing these objects, albeit at a far smaller scale, for the last five years; laser cutter and NURBS modelling //do not// architecture make. Seems more of an exercise in tools than architecture; but then that seems to be what the AA is aiming for these days.

By: yimyim

yimyim — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:09:23 +0000

ahhhh,
Adver-tecture or Architecture… mmm
why is sensual digitised form so often hand-in-hand with Adver-tecture?
Nevertheless, I agree/hope that it is indeed a phase before we are properly able to substantially utilise it… everything is connected…

By: The Tutor

The Tutor — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:42:42 +0000

We pretty much worked that discussion thru. What have we learn’t:

1. There are alot of people out there who don’t like computers. Well, there were alot of people (particularly in the UK) who resisted industrial mechanisation in the proto modern period. They advocated a return to craft and produced some exceptional architecture but…… that debate eventually subsided. Maybe you are swimming against the tide? Isn’t the real question – how do we integrate digital production within architecture in a purposeful and sophicticated manner.

2. The project has divided you into two camps; those who are attracted to a sunsual visual and spatial experience that challanges conventional categories of architectural type and those who project moral responsability on projects with expectations of economy, sustainability and social purpose. (I always thought economy was an engineering concern, I am hard pressed to think of a single great piece of architecture that is economic?)

All press is good press.

By: Gramsci

Gramsci — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:12:36 +0000

Someone knows how to use 3D Max and export to a giant laser-cutter. Yawn!!!!!!!!!

By: ste

ste — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:19:03 +0000

some very interesting discussions started here so the pavillon already did alot more then giving the students a nice experience… i guess the whole cultural context and the tradition of archtiectural schools doing 1:1 scale prototypes with contemporary techniques gives those small things much more impartance then one might think at first sight! its a small amount of money and ressources for what can be achieved… so its already more then justified to do these things!

By: mhhh

mhhh — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:35:17 +0000

I don’t understand we all these people feel the need to talk so much s**t about this project. (And I also don’t know why Asaf felt the need to talk s**t about the Bartlett). Haven’t any of you been to architecture school… This project was designed and built by 2nd and 3rd year students, many of them probably had never built anything (at this scale) in their entire lives. Most of the criticism is on point I will not argue with that, but another part of critical thinking is to understand what roles a project serves in the greater field of architecture. This is a project where STUDENTS were able to explore and learn digital design/fabrication techniques (most likely for the first time) and apply them to full scale project. It’s nothing more than that. As a student who has tried and seen others try to produce work of this (formal) complexity at a one to one scale in an academic environment I know how difficult it is to produce these kinds of projects. It’s usually a nightmare. And I applaud the AA for their ability to continue producing these project.

So for all the HATERS who have nothing better do then hate on student work on a blog… CHILL OUT… its gonna come down soon and you’ll never have to see it again.
But for now lets just let the students be proud of what they accomplished, I think they deserve it.

By: Goddessilla

Goddessilla — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:34:29 +0000

I live on Bedford Square – it’s my ‘hood, one of the most perfect Georgian squares, that has been given the regeneration treatment by Camden Council in recent years.
Big expanses of vandal-proof open space are perfect as a place for the AA to extend its show from the dense internal spaces of its premises, especially for a design and build student project made of elements created at its Dorset site and assembled in-situ. It’s there for one month (as I understand; maybe the planning agreement will be extended further this summer, and its social purpose is no more or less pre-defined (beyond the Vitruvian ‘delight’) than the ones last year – three of them, if you include Tonkin Liu’s mobile installation for the LFA, which touched down for a week. I see it as an installation, the result of an educational research project realised by teamwork (12 students). I’d rather be drawn in by this ephemeral delight than the hordes of traffic wardens marching up and down
the gravel; the drug dealers making assignations on the square, and as for what you do in it, with it – it’s summer – go and kiss your friend inside, read a poem, make a vow (to open your mind) and or whatever. Remember that it’s not M15 architecture, not some humungous energy-guzzling office building; it isn’t arrogantly stealing anyone’s space or housing rights. Keep it in proportion – it’s small, ephemeral, and it’s arousing you to some emotion. It’s not a pavilion (last year’s had a stage, so you could call that one a pavilion I guess), but an installation or giant model if you like – SANAA’s new Serpentine pavilion fulfills that definition, and the range of uses is myriad (talks, 50 poets reading, marathon discussions), but then Serpentine has many sponsors, and we are talking about a different cultural context. Making things is central to culture – and a rite of passage in an architectural education; otherwise you lose touch with materials, tactility, the experiential dimension, and there again, the discipline of production and teamwork is fundamental. So I’m defending Driftwood’s presence on my doorstep and its integrity as an exercise, and think those worried about irresponsible use of material should keep their hair on and the would-be pyromaniacs keep their matches dry and aim their fire at a better target. Max Fritsch, the Swiss novelist and playwright called ‘technology the knack of so arranging the world that we need not experience it’ but projects like Driftwood show its facilitation doesn’t need to turn out that way.
You may subjectively prefer not to experience it. That applies to all design, all art, all architecture, all human expression. Just go find something that deserves to be criticised.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:45:29 +0000

How much did this thing cost? How much does it cost to display it like this? How is that money funded? Why? And then I read:

“… showcasing the architectural intelligence that defines it as the world’s most renowned and influential school of architecture.”

Oh, I see… it’s a giant ad. That explains a lot.

By: Ninian

Ninian — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:35:12 +0000

Of course this is architecture.

1. The art and science of designing and erecting buildings.
2. Buildings and other large structures: the low, brick-and-adobe architecture of the Southwest.
3. A style and method of design and construction: Byzantine architecture.
4. Orderly arrangement of parts; structure: the architecture of the federal bureaucracy; the architecture of a novel.
5. Computer Science The overall design or structure of a computer system, including the hardware and the software required to run it, especially the internal structure of the microprocessor.

Definition from http://www.thefreedictionary.com