Art and Architecture VI

Lecture 8
Deconstructivism
Deconstructivism is a movement of postmodern architecture which appeared in the
1980s, which gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building.
It is characterized by an absence of harmony, continuity, or symmetry. Its name
comes from the idea of "Deconstruction", a form of semiotic analysis developed by the
French philosopher Jacques Derrida. (Wikipedia)

Deconstruction is a late 20th century philosophical movement primarily fathered by

Derrida. It basically sought to undermine preconceived beliefs surrounding reason
and logic. Instead, Derrida argued that meaning, from words, symbols exist because
of relationships, the yin and yang between things. The meaning of anything is fluid,
always changing based on context, relationships to other things, cultural attitudes,
gender, age, time, and other factors too.

Example – swastika (Indian/german), Negro (English/Spanish), noir, Banlieue

(French), Rohingya (?)

Semiotics the study of non-verbal communication, and how we derive meaning from
symbols. According to Derrida’s philosophy, symbols take on different meaning
depending upon context, relationships to other things, cultural attitudes, time, and other
factors too.

Deconstructivists reject the importance of symbolism (unlike Venturi) and challenges

the idea the idea of what a building or structure even is.

Architects whose work is often described as deconstructionism (although in many

cases the architects themselves reject the label) include Peter Eisenman, Frank
Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Bernard Tschumi, and Coop
Himmelb(l)au.
Reference: https://www.thevalueofarchitecture.com/blog/what-is-deconstructivist-architecture/
8 Spruce Street, NY (Frank Gehry, 2010)
“Swastica”
“Negro”
The Wexner Center for the Arts (1989, Peter Eisenman)
Waxner Center
• The Wexner Center for the Arts is The Ohio State University’s "multidisciplinary,
international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art".

• Before it was even completed, New York Times critic Paul Goldberger dubbed the
Wexner Center for the Arts “The Museum That Theory Built.” [1] Given its
architect, this epithet came as no surprise; Peter Eisenman, the museum’s
designer, had spent the better part of his career distilling architectural form
down to a theoretical science.

• It’s frames tries to evoke a sense of a building under construction, with beams
that don’t reach the floor, pillars that don’t reach the ceiling and broken
turrets reminiscent of the the medieval-like armory building that occupied
the site until the 1958.

• Unfortunately, in the emphasis of the deconstructivist style, the building loses

functionality. The design causes construction issues, including a leaky roof
caused by the crooked intersection of planes, and material issues at other areas
in the building. The scaffolding, though it created transparency, let in too much
direct sunlight, causing damage to artwork in galleries and temperature
fluctuations of up to 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) indoors. The colliding planes are
said to give a “hostile” feeling to users; Eisenman himself said that users often
will and should feel nauseous inside due to the disorienting effects of the
misplaced walls. All of these faults led to a necessary renovation over the
course of three years beginning in 2003.

Reference: David Langdon/archdaily

The Wexner Center for the Arts (1989, Peter Eisenman)
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
• The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish
victims of the Holocaust, designed by architect Peter Eisenman. It consists
of a 200,000 sqft site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs, arranged in a grid
pattern on a sloping field.

• It was designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the

whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has
lost touch with human reason. Eisenman said the number and design of
the monument had no symbolic significance, because the existence of
the concentration camps defies human reasoning.

Reference: David Langdon/archdaily

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (2004, Peter Eisenman)
Sombre Space of the Memorial in Reality Rarely Shared by Visitors
Zaha Hadid
Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid (31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British
architect. She was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the first
and only woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British
Architects.

From the beginning of her career Zaha Hadid was influenced by the artist Kazimir Malevich,
who led her to use paint as a tool for architectonic exploration. Hadid began her paintings with
essays in a macro urban scale, exploring proposals for masterplans and forms of connection
within and between cities. In her paintings of "The Peak," Hadid proposed a landmark as a
respite from the congestion and intensity of Hong Kong, developed on an artificial mountain.

In the beginning, Hadid’s work was largely speculative rather than actually built. She had to
wait nearly a decade before her first real commission, the Vitra Fire Station at Weil am Rhein
in Germany, which was finished in 1993. This early work, was tagged as ‘deconstructivist’,
but Hadid rejected that title. Her work was all about ‘modern life’, she said. .

According to Hadid, architecture should not be limited to right angles. Her early works
were angular, while later works included swiping curves.

Reference: Wikipedia
Design Proposal for The Peak Leisure Club in Hong Kong, 1991
Vitra Fire Station
The Vitra Fire Station, designed for the factory complex of the same name in Weil-am-Rhein,
Germany, was the among the first of Hadid’s design projects to be built.

The building, as in her paintings, carry a powerful sensation of movement. The impression of the
building changes dramatically as one moves past it – the walls, which are visually impenetrable from
oblique angles, suddenly afford a view to the inside of the garage as one approaches a
perpendicular angle. Lines inscribed in the pavement reflect the movement of the building’s intended
occupants: tracks curve out of the garage meant to house fire engines, while other paths hint at the
choreographed exercises of the firemen. Even the walls of the building seem poised to slide
past each other; in the case of the garage, two large panels actually do.

The planes which form the walls and roof are formed from exposed, cast in-situ concrete. Hadid
specified that the visual purity of these elements was to be strictly maintained; roof cladding and
edging, which would have distracted from the otherwise crisp edges of the concrete, was avoided.
This conspicuous visual simplification was carried through in every aspect of the building, from the
frameless glazing down to the lighting treatment in the interiors; the very lines of light that permeate
the fire station are logical and straightforward.

Reference: Wikipedia
Vitra Fire Station, Weil am Rhein, Germany (1991–93)
Vitra Fire Station, Weil am Rhein, Germany (1991–93)
Vitra Fire Station, Weil am Rhein, Germany (1991–93)
Phaeno Science Center, Wolfsburg, Germany (2000–2005)
Phaeno Science Center, Wolfsburg, Germany (2000–2005)
MAXXI Museum, Rome, Italy (1998–2010)
MAXXI Museum, Rome, Italy (1998–2010)
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry (born Frank Owen Goldberg;1929) is a Canadian-born American
architect, residing in Los Angeles. A number of his buildings, including his private
residence, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are cited as being
among the most important works of contemporary architecture in the 2010 World
Architecture Survey, which led Vanity Fair to label him as "the most important architect
of our age".

In many of his designs, Gehry is inspired by fish. "It was by accident I got into the
fish image", claimed Gehry. One thing that sparked his interest in fish was the
fact that his colleagues were recreating Greek temples. He said, "Three hundred
million years before man was fish....if you gotta go back, and you're insecure
about going forward...go back three hundred million years ago. Why are you
stopping at the Greeks? So I started drawing fish in my sketchbook, and then I
started to realize that there was something in it.“

“Let me tell you one thing. In this world we are living in, 98 percent of everything that is
built and designed today is pure shit. There's no sense of design, no respect for
humanity or for anything else. They are damn buildings and that's it. Once in a while,
however, there's a small group of people who does something special. Very few. But
good god, leave us alone! We are dedicated to our work. I don't ask for work. I don't
have a publicist. I'm not waiting for anyone to call me. I work with clients who respect
the art of architecture. Therefore, please don't ask questions as stupid as that one.” -
This, followed by the middle finger, was Gehry’s response to a reporter asking the 85-
year-old architect how he responds to the critics claiming he practices “showy
architecture.” (Archdaily)

Reference: Wikipedia
Fish Sculpture, Barcelona, Spain (1992)
Frank Gehry featured in The Simpsons
Ray and Maria Stata Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2004)
Ray and Maria Stata Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2004)
Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas (2010)
Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas (2010)
Fish Sculpture, Barcelona, Spain (1992)
Top half of the structure only exists to create the desired form and house no functions
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Bilbao Effect
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art
designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque
Country, Spain.

After the phenomenal success of Gehry's design for the Guggenheim Museum in
Bilbao, Spain, critics began referring to the economic and cultural revitalization of cities
through iconic, innovative architecture as the "Bilbao effect".[57] In the first 12 months
after the museum was opened, an estimated US$160 million were added to the
Basque economy. Indeed, over $3.5 billion has been added to the Basque
economy since the building opened. In subsequent years there have been many
attempts to replicate this effect through large-scale eye-catching architectural
commissions that have been both successful and unsuccessful, such as Daniel
Libeskind's expansion of the Denver Art Museum and buildings by Gehry himself such
as the almost universally well-received Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and
the more controversial Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. Though some link the
concept of the Bilbao Effect to the notion of starchitecture, Gehry has consistently
rejected the label of a starchitect.

Reference: Wikipedia
Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan (Zaha Hadid, 2007–2013)
Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan (Zaha Hadid, 2007–2013)
Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan (Zaha Hadid, 2007–2013)
Harbin Opera House, MAD Architects (2015)
Harbin Opera House, MAD Architects (2015)
Proposed Kurdistan Museum in Erbil, Iraq, Daniel Libeskind
Taipei Performing Arts Center, Under Constuction, OMA
City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia (Santiago Calatrava, 1998)