More Initiation than Introduction
While the notion of reenactment as it relates to architecture and design is
one of my ongoing areas of research and analysis, the idea to reenact
LEARNING FROM LAS VEGAS by way of writing and publishing "Learning From
Girard Avenue" did not occur to me until the eve of 1 February 2002.
Although planned and executed as an independent document, "Learning From
Girard Avenue" is nonetheless a part of the larger EPICENTRAL, of which
"Learning From Girard Avenue" is the third chapter. From its very
beginnings, EPICENTRAL was an open-ended project, with no particular outline
except to somehow complete the thesis that St. Helena, mother of the emperor
Constantine I, was, in today's terminology, the first master planner of
Christianity, and to publish this thesis online at www.quondam.com between
18 August 2001 and the autumnal equinox, 22 September 2001. If there was any
discernible sub-theme to EPICENTRAL thus far, it was calendrical
coincidence.
Steven Izenour died of a heart attack late at night on 21 August 2001. I
will always remember this date because my maternal grandmother, Franciska
Brenner, died late at night on 21 August 1988. The death of Steven Izenour
did not immediately become part of EPICENTRAL, nor did the 21 August
coincidence.
The tragic events of 11 September 2001, like for virtually everyone and
everything on this planet, changed EPICENTRAL. Suddenly, two-third into the
projected time-frame of EPICENTRAL there was now a truly historic epicentral
event. By 22 September 2001 EPICENTRAL was far from complete, rather the
real meaning and message of EPICENTRAL was just beginning to unfold. I was
at Ground Zero, site of the quondam World Trade Center towers, around noon
29 September 2001, and that evening I attended the IN YOUR FACE symposium at
the City University of New York, which featured Robert Venturi, Denise Scott
Brown, and Rem Koolhaas. The events of 11 September also changed IN YOUR
FACE.
Since I was with the same people at both IN YOUR FACE and the Venturi and
Scott Brown tribute at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on 14 July 2001, I
started to view these two events as potentially the new calendrical extremes
of EPICENTRAL's time-frame. When I calculated that the midpoint between 14
July 2001 and 29 September 2001 was 21 August 2001, the day Steven Izenour
died, it was then only too apparent that the work of Venturi, Scott Brown
and Izenour was indeed somehow an integral part of EPICENTRAL.
The EPICENTRAL chapter dealing with the work of Venturi, Scott Brown and
Izenour was to be entitled "Via Philadelphians," as in "Learning From Las
Vegas Via Philadelphians." "Via Philadelphians" was going to closely
consider the many built works in the Philadelphia area by Venturi, Scott
Brown and Associates', as well as the Doo-Wop architecture of Wildwood, New
Jersey, which Izenour was, since 1996, bringing to the attention of the
world architecture scene. There was also going to be an analysis of present
day Atlantic City, New Jersey as a true reenactment of Las Vegas itself. All
these plans changed, however, when I began to focus on the Girard Avenue
house that is presently much admired by Robert Venturi.
Thus is how the idea of "Learning From Girard Avenue" came to be.
[Stephen Lauf]
www.quondam.com/epicentral/learning
While the notion of reenactment as it relates to architecture and design is
one of my ongoing areas of research and analysis, the idea to reenact
LEARNING FROM LAS VEGAS by way of writing and publishing "Learning From
Girard Avenue" did not occur to me until the eve of 1 February 2002.
Although planned and executed as an independent document, "Learning From
Girard Avenue" is nonetheless a part of the larger EPICENTRAL, of which
"Learning From Girard Avenue" is the third chapter. From its very
beginnings, EPICENTRAL was an open-ended project, with no particular outline
except to somehow complete the thesis that St. Helena, mother of the emperor
Constantine I, was, in today's terminology, the first master planner of
Christianity, and to publish this thesis online at www.quondam.com between
18 August 2001 and the autumnal equinox, 22 September 2001. If there was any
discernible sub-theme to EPICENTRAL thus far, it was calendrical
coincidence.
Steven Izenour died of a heart attack late at night on 21 August 2001. I
will always remember this date because my maternal grandmother, Franciska
Brenner, died late at night on 21 August 1988. The death of Steven Izenour
did not immediately become part of EPICENTRAL, nor did the 21 August
coincidence.
The tragic events of 11 September 2001, like for virtually everyone and
everything on this planet, changed EPICENTRAL. Suddenly, two-third into the
projected time-frame of EPICENTRAL there was now a truly historic epicentral
event. By 22 September 2001 EPICENTRAL was far from complete, rather the
real meaning and message of EPICENTRAL was just beginning to unfold. I was
at Ground Zero, site of the quondam World Trade Center towers, around noon
29 September 2001, and that evening I attended the IN YOUR FACE symposium at
the City University of New York, which featured Robert Venturi, Denise Scott
Brown, and Rem Koolhaas. The events of 11 September also changed IN YOUR
FACE.
Since I was with the same people at both IN YOUR FACE and the Venturi and
Scott Brown tribute at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on 14 July 2001, I
started to view these two events as potentially the new calendrical extremes
of EPICENTRAL's time-frame. When I calculated that the midpoint between 14
July 2001 and 29 September 2001 was 21 August 2001, the day Steven Izenour
died, it was then only too apparent that the work of Venturi, Scott Brown
and Izenour was indeed somehow an integral part of EPICENTRAL.
The EPICENTRAL chapter dealing with the work of Venturi, Scott Brown and
Izenour was to be entitled "Via Philadelphians," as in "Learning From Las
Vegas Via Philadelphians." "Via Philadelphians" was going to closely
consider the many built works in the Philadelphia area by Venturi, Scott
Brown and Associates', as well as the Doo-Wop architecture of Wildwood, New
Jersey, which Izenour was, since 1996, bringing to the attention of the
world architecture scene. There was also going to be an analysis of present
day Atlantic City, New Jersey as a true reenactment of Las Vegas itself. All
these plans changed, however, when I began to focus on the Girard Avenue
house that is presently much admired by Robert Venturi.
Thus is how the idea of "Learning From Girard Avenue" came to be.
[Stephen Lauf]
www.quondam.com/epicentral/learning