Place

"Holl’s attitude toward architecture was influenced by Kenneth Frampton and the critical regionalist idea that the experience of place is not based on rules, but interweaving object with the background(Mosco 2010), which required that each project solve problems in a unique way instead of employing rules, such as Le Corbusier’s five points of architecture. Although Holl evolved beyond critical regionalism, critics and clients still praise its fundamental presence in his work by saying “Holl’s architectural creations are not icon or absolutes, non-scalable objects intended to redeem cities with their presence” (Mosco 2010). Many recognize that unlike, Frank Gerhy’s Guggenheim in Bilbao, works like the Nelson-Atkins museum could not be built anywhere but in Kansas City (Kennicott, 2007). The one-of-kind quality of Holl’s design also relates to Holl’s interest in phenomenology.

After discovering the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Holl focused on phenomenology in place of vernacular regionalism because of its “ability to combine personal and objective aspects, intimate and spiritual ones without lapsing into symbolic vagueness” (Mosco 2010).  In Holl’s book, Intertwining, he defines the role of architecture as a way to embody the spirit of a place.

“architecture can shape a lived and sensed intertwining of space and time; it can change the way we live: Phenomenology concerns the study of essence: architecture can elevate the experience of daily life through the various phenomena that emerge from specific sites, programs and architecture.”

As Holl delves into the phenomenological his projects become more oneiric, perhaps because he believed that employing a powerful metaphor was the only way to communicate to the masses on a poetic level and prevent large projects from becoming overwrought (Mosco 2010.) Many of Holl’s favorite concepts, such as intertwining, hybridism, and porosity (Mosco 2010) emphasize the relationships between opposing qualities to create new connections and perspectives.

...

The interweaving of old and new, emphasis on the experience and essence, minimalist language as well as high-tech materiality embodies phenomenological architecture. In a stimulus saturated society, phenomenological architecture can offer a reprieve and help someone focus on one particular place and time to reconnect the body with the soul." 

NCSU. (2012). Towards a Phenomenological Architecture. Retrieved from http://rsteins.wordpress.ncsu.edu/ 

///

The idea of a sense of place is to reconnect the design and interactions with the specific time and specific place. As such, Holl is right that there are no hard and fast rules to create place. Similar to the article by PPS here
about how vibrancy of a community can only be inspired and cultivated; it cannot be installed.In that case, I think globalisation is a weak excuse to argue for the phenomenon of "placelessness". Instead, it can only be seen as a means of it, but the real truth behind it is that we have adopted such a consumerism mentality that what we want, we get, without modifications etc.

Short post because I'm rushing off to classes now ahhh! 

Search Post

Label :