ARCHITECTURE: Automobiles/Architecture.

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From: churayj@xxxxxxxxxx (raymond Chung)
Subject: automotive design and architecture
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Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1992 21:07:28 GMT
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Has anyone else thought about how automotive design has a totally
modern-minded design aesthetic and how this aesthetic pertains to
architecture? It seems obvious to me that everything about a car's design
(a car built today) is functionally-derived, whether it is actually
functional or not: hood ornaments have been disposed of; hub caps, most of
which DO nothing but cover lug-nuts, always look structural, with
spoke-bracing, or wind-channelling vents; sheet metal has been radically
rounded so as to suggest aerodynamic efficiency, although it is mostly a
suggestion and not an operative design; even color decoration is severely
limited, perhaps because there is no functional cue as to what color a car
should be, and absolutely no reason to go beyond one color. Etc.

Architecture is similar to the automobile in that it is a functional thing,
with various designs, and a strong artistic content. But architecture has
a long tradition of going outside of the function of building, bringing in
ornaments of plants, people, etc. Then there was the bauhaus, and they
tried to stick only to the function of building. Mies eventually expressed
only such things as the vertical supports of his skyscrapers, and that
seems like the same, modern mentality of car design. But what is it about
architecture that demands something more than functional expression? Or
why do cars insist on only functional expression? Market demand? If so,
why shouldn't architecture be judged according to market demand as well?


Some things to think about.

? = ! > .

r a y m o n d C h u n
g

someone tell me why we gave up on the bauhaus
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