Architecture from the Inside Out:
Los Angeles Modernism and the exhibit on Quincy Jones, the architect
Quincy Jones is not one of the famous Los Angeles Modernists. Many around Los Angeles would know the names Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, Charles and Ray Eames. Some would even know Pierre Koening and Craig Ellwood, but Quincy Jones has been in the shadows for a while. One wonders what is so relevant about Quicy Jones today that suddenly put him on the architectural map and attracted the interest of curators and the public (besides the fact that Jennifer Aniston bought one of his houses, which I personally refuse to believe is the reason for this sudden interest in his work).
Quincy Jones was a local architect, he was raised and worked in Southern California. He had an extensive career in Los Angeles, during which he famously integrated tract homes into landscape and made them more popular. He went on to design many high-end homes and some institutional buildings. The exhibit show him as a great collaborator because what is popular today in Los Angeles is to demonstrate that architecture is not about a personal style of an architect, but about collaboration (as if every architect does not already know that in their daily correspondence with clients, engineers, and contractors). Another idea of the exhibit is to show his architecture from inside out, instead as an iconic object, the legacy of Nikolaus Pevsner. The exhibit shows mostly sectional drawings and blown-up photographs of interiors in an attempt to bring the visitor inside.
One could say that the current interest in Quincy Jones work parallels the US interest in local, sustainable architecture, or in promoting collaborative practices, or in attempting to popularize architecture by bringing it closer to general public through interiors. But, I would say, that Quincy Jones' greatest contribution was the dissolution of boundaries in architecture. Many of Los Angeles modernists attempted to bring the outside inside, integrated gardens or water features into their design, but none attempted to erase boundaries between inside and outside, up and down, nature and building, as Quincy Jones did. His Case Study House (see picture below) was dug into the ground, yet the approach gave no indications of that condition. The roof uniformly covered the pond as if it is inhabitable space. Trees are inside the house as much as outside the house etc. This discussion in architecture is nothing new. Many will claim that Diller and Scofidio returned this discourse with The Blur building, but a one-off Pavilion in Switzerland is not a global movement. One can postulate that this exhibit and the return of Quincy Jones to the public is a way the dissipation of boundaries is fining its way into the mass culture. His work raises another point that is relevant today: because he dissolved boundaries entering inside his work is impossible except literary entering inside. As his work suggests, architecture can not be represented through drawings, models and photography, it must be experienced.
Los Angeles Modernism and the exhibit on Quincy Jones, the architect
Quincy Jones was a local architect, he was raised and worked in Southern California. He had an extensive career in Los Angeles, during which he famously integrated tract homes into landscape and made them more popular. He went on to design many high-end homes and some institutional buildings. The exhibit show him as a great collaborator because what is popular today in Los Angeles is to demonstrate that architecture is not about a personal style of an architect, but about collaboration (as if every architect does not already know that in their daily correspondence with clients, engineers, and contractors). Another idea of the exhibit is to show his architecture from inside out, instead as an iconic object, the legacy of Nikolaus Pevsner. The exhibit shows mostly sectional drawings and blown-up photographs of interiors in an attempt to bring the visitor inside.
One could say that the current interest in Quincy Jones work parallels the US interest in local, sustainable architecture, or in promoting collaborative practices, or in attempting to popularize architecture by bringing it closer to general public through interiors. But, I would say, that Quincy Jones' greatest contribution was the dissolution of boundaries in architecture. Many of Los Angeles modernists attempted to bring the outside inside, integrated gardens or water features into their design, but none attempted to erase boundaries between inside and outside, up and down, nature and building, as Quincy Jones did. His Case Study House (see picture below) was dug into the ground, yet the approach gave no indications of that condition. The roof uniformly covered the pond as if it is inhabitable space. Trees are inside the house as much as outside the house etc. This discussion in architecture is nothing new. Many will claim that Diller and Scofidio returned this discourse with The Blur building, but a one-off Pavilion in Switzerland is not a global movement. One can postulate that this exhibit and the return of Quincy Jones to the public is a way the dissipation of boundaries is fining its way into the mass culture. His work raises another point that is relevant today: because he dissolved boundaries entering inside his work is impossible except literary entering inside. As his work suggests, architecture can not be represented through drawings, models and photography, it must be experienced.
No comments:
Post a Comment