Moshe Safdie on Building Uniqueness

Moshe Safdie is one of the most innovative and renowned architects of the modern world. His works can be seen all across the globe, ranging from the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia to the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem. Although he has been involved in constructing over 30 different cites, in this particular TED Talk, Safdie discusses four specific projects that required an intense amount of labor to make each site truly unique. One of these projects, a science museum in Wichita, Kansas, was to be built alongside the Arkansas River. However, instead of solely focusing on the architectural aspect of the building, Safdie understood that this was to be a museum of science and wanted to implement scientific techniques within his designs. He therefore sought to have the building itself constructed within the waters of the river, creating somewhat of a man-made island. The columns and beams within the building all seemed to have a close relationship to one another, just as we often see in nature. Another project Safdie was in charge of was the United States Institute of Peace Headquarters on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Again, Safdie wanted to focus on the elements that would signify a building of peace. He wanted the building to resemble symbols of hope and optimism, which therefore explains why his design is very similar to a white dove. Safdie continues to discuss two other projects in which he also interprets the purpose of the building in order to create his designs. It is this ability of interpretation and creation that makes Safdie such a well-known and celebrated architect of today.

This TED Talk interested me because I wish to pursue a career in architecture myself. I love looking at a intricately designed buildings and houses. However, after watching this TED Talk, I realized that Safdie wasn’t just an architect. He had a special gift to create meaning in even something as dull as a big, concrete structure. He exhibited a complex relationship between himself and his design, and I realized that he wasn’t solely creating buildings, but he was making art.

It struck me that one man such as Safdie could be given a project—any project in any country whatsoever—and still be able to create such a fascinating and alluring structure. This made me wonder how he was trained in the art of architecture. Raised in Canada, Safdie attended McGill University and graduated in 1961 with a degree in architecture. He then apprenticed under world-renowned architect, Louis Kahn. With Kahn’s influence, Safdie ventured off on his own, and soon his master thesis, also known as the Habitat 67 Project, was the selected design for the central feature of the World Fair. This put Safdie name on the map, and ever since then, he has been asked to design a multitude of buildings in countries like Israel, Canada, Georgia, and the United States. As well as designing buildings, Safdie also wanted to share his knowledge in this field by teaching at prestigious universities such as Harvard, Yale, and McGill. However, his teachings did not stay within the classroom. Safdie also wrote several books and articles regarding architectural theories and was also featured in various films. His world-wide fame and perpetual passion and knowledge for architecture are what surely make him a leader in his field.

After high school, I’ll be attending Santa Clara University and will be majoring in civil engineering. I understand that given today’s economy, jobs for architects are not as prevalent as they used to be. This pushed me to study something that would allow me to have a broader range of jobs while still letting me be involved in the creation of buildings or structures. During college, I’ll probably seek to intern at various architectural or engineering firms. Fortunately, SCU offers a five-year program in which engineering majors can receive both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in as little as five years. However, I also think it’s really important for me to gain hands-on experience before applying for a permanent job, which is why I aspire to one day join Gawad Kalinga, an organization that builds homes for the families in the poorest regions of the Philippines. After that, I would love to go back to school or look for jobs in any of the leading engineering firms located in the Bay Area. Despite these plans, I don’t know if I could ever compare to Moshe Safdie. But then again, who knows?! Maybe one day.

Building a Theater that Remakes Itself

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/joshua_prince_ramus_building_a_theater_that_remakes_itself.html

This TED talk, given by Joshua Prince-Ramus, was interesting to me because it refers to two of the career paths that have interested me. This talk is about architecture and how architects need to reconfigure their job description. I could relate to this part of the talk because he talks about architects being very removed from the execution of projects, which is why I decided not to pursue my initial interest in becoming an architect. I decided that I want to be involved in the actual execution of the projects I am involved in rather than designing their aesthetic characteristics and not having the knowledge to make my ideas a reality. Ramus also talks about a transformable theater that his architectural firm has created. The stage and seating arrangements in this theater can be moved around to create a different atmosphere for different productions. This is the kind of thing I would like to work on in the future.

Joshua Prince-Ramus is the principal of REX, an internationally known architecture and design firm. He is best known for his work on the Seattle Central Library. He first founded his architecture firm called OMA and later changed its name to REX. Some of his most recent projects include the AT&T Performing Arts Media Center, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Texas and the Vakko Fashion Center and Power Media Center in Istanbul, Turkey. I think the most interesting thing about Ramus is his creative and innovative style. I also really like that despite being an architect and focusing mainly on the design aspect of construction, he also has vast knowledge of the engineering aspects. The Seattle Central Library definitely exhibits his unique ideas. It looks like it has several “floating platforms” and has the appearance of a glass structure wrapped in steel netting. These are only some of the architectural feats that Ramus has executed.

I have decided to major in civil engineering next year. I am applying for the Construction Technology Summer Program this summer. This is a paid internship that has to do with certain computer programs such as CAD and Sketch Up that are used to create computerized models of different construction projects. During college, I would like to have an internship at an engineering firm so I can see firsthand what it would be like to be in the profession. After graduating college and taking the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering exam), I would get a job at an engineering firm and then consider the option of graduate school after I have saved enough money.

Monica Chen - TED talk featuring Dan Phillips

Dan Phillips: Creative houses from reclaimed stuff~

After watching several thought-provoking TED talks from various areas of expertise from using mushroom polymers as an alternative to the harmful effects of plastic, to being exposed to the majesty of our world’s oceans and the horrors being afflicted upon its marine life, I ended up choosing one pertaining to architecture. Although I am still very much undecided on what I would like to study in college or the career I want to pursue, architecture has always been one of my, if you will, random, interests. Usually when someone brings up “architecture,” they think of perfect angles, symmetrical shapes, and practical styles. Yet there are those who break out of that mode of expectation and instead opt for uniqueness, which is why my speaker, Dan Phillips, and his message resonated so strongly with me. His specific talk is titled “Creative houses from reclaimed stuff” – essentially what he does is salvage all kinds of materials that were headed to the landfill because they were deemed “waste” and use them to build low-cost sustainable housing. These houses are custom-tailored to the eventual owners of each house, but in of themselves they are all individually wildly creative and usually thematic. Disturbed by the irony of landfills choked with building materials and yet a lack of affordable housing, in his talk Phillips describes what causes waste in the building industry in an attempt to help the audience better understand why he does what he does.

Among his many points, he expounds on the natural human tendency to want to maintain consistency and a familiar continuity, as well as the conflict between Apollonian perspective (premeditated and flawless) and Dionysian perspective (organic and intuitive). To Phillips, almost anything discarded and durable is potential building material: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a complete set of anything because repetition creates pattern, repetition creates pattern, repetition creates pattern.” Decorations that adorn his creations include hickory nuts, chicken eggs, branches, bones, bottle caps, broken tiles, and such, where almost everything was previously unwanted because things mismatched, were warped, or had blemishes. A lot of problems in the building industry are rooted in human behavior. According to Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Being and Nothingness,” human beings act differently when they know they are alone than when they know someone else is around. Because of this, we are constantly unconsciously living up to other people’s expectations of how we should live our lives, something that Phillips is distraught over when he sees it in the building industry as evidenced by all the monotonous and woefully mundane urban subdivisions. He is dedicated to sustaining the environment by forging his own path of architectural style that encompasses originality, passion, spontaneity, and an unwavering work ethic.

Now 66 and still going strong, Dan Phillips has had an astonishingly varied life, working as an intelligence officer in the Army, a college dance instructor, an antiques dealer, and a syndicated cryptogram puzzle maker. His many life aspirations only affirms his personality of being willing to try different things while putting just as much effort into each endeavor that he pursues. Phillips holds several academic degrees including a doctorate in education, and is a Professor Emeritus at Sam Houston State University. In 1996, he began his cause as a designer and builder based in Huntsville, Texas. He and his wife Marsha mortgaged their home to finance their own socially-conscious company, The Phoenix Commotion, a small local building initiative created to prove that constructing homes with recycled and salvaged materials has a viable place in the building industry. No two are alike due to the myriad of materials used, so there is an artistic element that makes these homes truly one-of-a-kind. Entirely unconventional, The Phoenix Commotion requires the homeowner to be involved with the planning and construction of his or her own home. The result is a person who is empowered, not only by the useful knowledge of building skills, but by the opportunity to become part of a community as a vested participant.

Phillips’ mesmerizing and eye-opening talk was genuinely inspiring for me in that it not only made me think about the boundless unnecessary waste of our daily lives, but also his resolute tenacity in defying the norm to work towards a better change in the world. His line of work allows him to take pride in doing his part in protecting Earth’s resources and preserving that spark of human creativity slowly being extinguished. Phillips said that his biggest reward was giving less-fortunate people the opportunity to own a home and watching them develop a sense of satisfaction and self-determination in the course of building it. As an artistic and open-to-many-possibilities type of person, I find his work fascinating and would be interested in being able to harness my creativity while also being able to work with my hands and contribute to environmental conservation. Because I am a junior, I still cannot clearly envision who I will be in the future, but Mr. Dan Phillips has definitely given me a lot to think about, especially his closing statement: “What we really need to do is reconnect with who we really are,” which in turn reminded me of Gandhi’s “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed.” One man’s trash is indeed another man’s treasure.