Brian,
here's a kind-of reply to your questions regarding my response a few days
ago. the following is actually the first post i ever sent to this list. take
it for what it's worth (although i think it is a good indication that i
believe that often in architecture, esp. architectural theory, things
(including some architects) are taken too seriously).
Subj: Re: Nightline Nurb
Date: 08/02/98
To: DESIGN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
actually, I was a crab cookout last night and one of my friends (a
non-architect) said she saw some architects on TV saying how tremendously
unfortunate it is that not only is America now so ugly, but even worse, the
average American doesn't even know that it is all ugly out there. references
were made to strip malls and the like.
just off the cuff, i would say that the packaged "beauty" of someplace like
Seaside, FL is an unfortunate panacea.
I think my next design will be a gated community of messy vitality -- a
place where, for example, all the gas stations double as palaces, most of
the houses are under huge modern canopies (a la Corbu's Weber
Pavilion/today's American gas stations), and the whole population of the
place is ugly and ordinary.
thank god the twentieth century is now over!
Helmut Anton Otto
[5.18.99: my full name is Stephen Helmut Anton Otto Lauf]
Brian, I most enjoy and learn from your own observations, which you present
within your various image-essays. that's where you are the most original and
that's where i see your work as the most valuable. personally, i like to
look at just about anything out there, and i don't care what qualifiers
others put on things, good, bad or indifferent -- i like to make up my own
mind, and almost always tursting my own instincts positions me the best. for
me, all reality is the same thing anyway (i.e., a wavelength) and i either
sync with something or i don't. and in terms of all the architectural
theories out there, i especially like to look at and learn from all the
things that (other's say) are not worth or supposed to be looked at, and
that's actually where i learn the most as well as gain more and more
convidence in my own convictions.
my advise, go out and make your own judgements, write them down, and then go
out and look some more, and then write down some more. above all have
confidence in your own instincts (because what you've demonstrated on the
list since i've been here is that you have a very good eye and a very good
mind) and use that confidence to make convictions. be yourself first.
most of the people on this planet couldn't care less if something is
"classic" or "classical" or "elite" or "mundane" -- it just ain't worth all
the time and effort to define it all because too much of it is bullshit in
the sense that there are many more important and/or interesting things to
discuss. for example, there is a REAL sacred tree in Tacony Creek Park just
a few blocks from where i live. it sacredness stems from the fact that
amulets and dolls and charms (but not necessarity the sacrificial animal
bodies that are often dumped in Tacony Creek Park) are regularly found on
and around the tree. the recent immigration of different Caribbean cultures
into my neighborhood have focued on Tacony Creek Park because it contains
all the necessary "channels" to the other life/world -- the tree is right
near the juncture of waterway, railway and highway, apparently all the right
ingredients for "passage". most of the old (western) neighborhood locals
find this all very disturbing, but for me the presence of a real sacred tree
so close to where I live is not only something i never expected, but also
teaches me something about architecture's real base, of which this example
is never, ever going to be taught in any architecture school.
western culture and western ideas regarding architecture has so many cracks,
and i feel confident that those cracks are only getting wider. (as a kid, i
used to love going down to Tacony Creek in the dead of winter just to crack
the ice.)
practically all of my recent thoughts and ideas regarding the built
environment stem from the fact that i have lived in exactly the same place
for over forty years (all but the first two of my life). my neighborhood is
not at all what you would call the architectural mainstream, and not at all
suburban (actually not too far from urban blite). i love it here more and
more as each year goes by, and i relish the thought of staying exactly here
my whole life. i've actually come to the conclusion that precisely because
practically everyone else on this planet moves around so much, they (you
all) have lost the means of discovering what "place" (or environment) is
really all about. believe me, different places on this planet have their own
inert tempo, beat, spirit, what ever you want to call it, and the longer you
stay in the same place the more it actually becomes a part of you. no school
and no text can give you that.
Steve
here's a kind-of reply to your questions regarding my response a few days
ago. the following is actually the first post i ever sent to this list. take
it for what it's worth (although i think it is a good indication that i
believe that often in architecture, esp. architectural theory, things
(including some architects) are taken too seriously).
Subj: Re: Nightline Nurb
Date: 08/02/98
To: DESIGN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
actually, I was a crab cookout last night and one of my friends (a
non-architect) said she saw some architects on TV saying how tremendously
unfortunate it is that not only is America now so ugly, but even worse, the
average American doesn't even know that it is all ugly out there. references
were made to strip malls and the like.
just off the cuff, i would say that the packaged "beauty" of someplace like
Seaside, FL is an unfortunate panacea.
I think my next design will be a gated community of messy vitality -- a
place where, for example, all the gas stations double as palaces, most of
the houses are under huge modern canopies (a la Corbu's Weber
Pavilion/today's American gas stations), and the whole population of the
place is ugly and ordinary.
thank god the twentieth century is now over!
Helmut Anton Otto
[5.18.99: my full name is Stephen Helmut Anton Otto Lauf]
Brian, I most enjoy and learn from your own observations, which you present
within your various image-essays. that's where you are the most original and
that's where i see your work as the most valuable. personally, i like to
look at just about anything out there, and i don't care what qualifiers
others put on things, good, bad or indifferent -- i like to make up my own
mind, and almost always tursting my own instincts positions me the best. for
me, all reality is the same thing anyway (i.e., a wavelength) and i either
sync with something or i don't. and in terms of all the architectural
theories out there, i especially like to look at and learn from all the
things that (other's say) are not worth or supposed to be looked at, and
that's actually where i learn the most as well as gain more and more
convidence in my own convictions.
my advise, go out and make your own judgements, write them down, and then go
out and look some more, and then write down some more. above all have
confidence in your own instincts (because what you've demonstrated on the
list since i've been here is that you have a very good eye and a very good
mind) and use that confidence to make convictions. be yourself first.
most of the people on this planet couldn't care less if something is
"classic" or "classical" or "elite" or "mundane" -- it just ain't worth all
the time and effort to define it all because too much of it is bullshit in
the sense that there are many more important and/or interesting things to
discuss. for example, there is a REAL sacred tree in Tacony Creek Park just
a few blocks from where i live. it sacredness stems from the fact that
amulets and dolls and charms (but not necessarity the sacrificial animal
bodies that are often dumped in Tacony Creek Park) are regularly found on
and around the tree. the recent immigration of different Caribbean cultures
into my neighborhood have focued on Tacony Creek Park because it contains
all the necessary "channels" to the other life/world -- the tree is right
near the juncture of waterway, railway and highway, apparently all the right
ingredients for "passage". most of the old (western) neighborhood locals
find this all very disturbing, but for me the presence of a real sacred tree
so close to where I live is not only something i never expected, but also
teaches me something about architecture's real base, of which this example
is never, ever going to be taught in any architecture school.
western culture and western ideas regarding architecture has so many cracks,
and i feel confident that those cracks are only getting wider. (as a kid, i
used to love going down to Tacony Creek in the dead of winter just to crack
the ice.)
practically all of my recent thoughts and ideas regarding the built
environment stem from the fact that i have lived in exactly the same place
for over forty years (all but the first two of my life). my neighborhood is
not at all what you would call the architectural mainstream, and not at all
suburban (actually not too far from urban blite). i love it here more and
more as each year goes by, and i relish the thought of staying exactly here
my whole life. i've actually come to the conclusion that precisely because
practically everyone else on this planet moves around so much, they (you
all) have lost the means of discovering what "place" (or environment) is
really all about. believe me, different places on this planet have their own
inert tempo, beat, spirit, what ever you want to call it, and the longer you
stay in the same place the more it actually becomes a part of you. no school
and no text can give you that.
Steve