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Scott Frances/ESTO
Exploring the tension between democratic values and a fear of instability:
Richard Meier's federal building in Central Islip on Long Island.
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam's courthouse in Austin, Tex., in the "Civic Spirit" show.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/arts/design/19OURO.html
Uncle Sam, Visionary Builder?
By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
Published: September 19, 2004
N an age when government buildings are viewed more as terrorist targets than emblems of democratic values, the federal government's "Excellence in Architecture" program may seem an anachronism. Created in 1994, less than two years into the Clinton presidency, the program sought to raise the abysmal standards of design set in the 1970's and 80's, when American architecture was at a low point and government projects were typically built by politically connected corporations.
The program focused on what was then a novel idea: to seek out and hire the best talent. Organized by the General Services Administration, the agency that oversees government building projects, the program cut through some red tape and brought in teams of respected architects, planners and designers.
"Civic Spirit: Changing the Course of Federal Design," on view through Nov. 10 at the Center for Architecture in Manhattan, traces the history of that ambitious 10-year undertaking. The exhibition suggests what can happen when a government bureaucracy operates with a modicum of aesthetic awareness. Of the 19 projects in the show, many are first-rate;some rank among the great examples of American civic architecture - as important, in our day, as the neo-Classical monuments of a century ago.
But just as much of the work is second-rate. And what makes the show intriguing is how it exposes the obstacles to maintaining a high level of government architecture in this country today. Above all, there is the architect's struggle to maintain a spirit of democratic openness in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11. But the projects also point to a strain of provincialism in many local selection committees. The results are a potent expression of the battle to define the meaning of American democracy.
From the beginning, the show reveals how much has changed since Sept. 11, 2001. Three models of recent projects, surrounded by large photographs and architectural renderings, dominate the first floor. But the G.S.A. refused to release plans and sections of the buildings' interiors, out of fear that they could be used by terrorists. This is a considerable loss: it reduces the architecture to a superficial series of images.
Nonetheless, there is much to see here. The show opens with what may well be the program's crown jewel: Richard Meier's United States Courthouse and Federal Building in Central Islip, on Long Island. Depicted in a blazing white model, the sleek lines of the 12-story building's silhouette suggests a modern temple. Rows of delicate brises-soleil line the facades of the narrow structure that houses the main courtrooms. On one side, it is anchored by a towering white cylinder, which marks the courthouse's formal entrance. Together, these two forms frame a large concrete plaza.
Mr. Meier's best buildings are distinguished by their clarity, and here he can negotiate security concerns without disturbing the formal order of the composition. A long low barrier, for example, protects one side of the plaza, but it has an architectural meaning, gently guiding visitors to the main entry. Inside, the visitor's eye is drawn up along the cylinder's interior, where light spills down through a towering skylight. The building's forms have a Platonic purity that can be reassuring, even while evoking the tenuous rule of law in a society under siege.
This tension - between the desire to uphold core democratic values and a growing sense of instability - is explored more fully in a design by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects for a federal courthouse in Austin, Tex. The building is conceived as an eight-story cube, its interlocking forms resting on a concrete base. Deep recesses set into the building create a magnificent play of light and shadow. That visual game continues inside, where the walls and walkways enclosing a lobby atrium dissolve into a cubist composition of intersecting planes. The lightness of the forms recalls the theoretical structures of Frederick Kiesler, the utopian who imagined weightless buildings suspended in air. But if you circle around to the back of the model, the upper floors begin to shift, setting the entire structure off balance.
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