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Perhaps no building is closer to a date with the wrecking ball in Chicago than the James R. Thompson Center. While those responsible for initiating this threat cite years worth of deferred maintenance and high costs of operation as the primary reasons for their decision, these are not the real reasons for the building’s demise. It suffers from a much more lethal ailment treating it like a normal building. In this video, Stewart explains why the Thompson Center is definitely not a normal building and offers alternative ways to evaluate it. What if we considered it to be a piece of urban infrastructure or public plaza instead? Relating the building to Rem Koolhaas’ theory of ‘Bigness’, this video builds the case that the Thompson Center should be valued for how it brings people together in space rather than its colors, or material palette, or any other normal ways of appraising mere buildings.
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There is a saying that ‘all good architecture leaks’. While likely not intended as an endorsement for water damage, this video takes the phrase seriously by playfully sorting through some of architecture’s greatest leaks. Frank Lloyd Wright was famously dismissive of the many unintentional leaks in his buildings, once telling Mr. Johnson to move his table if he didn’t like it getting rained on. However, there are a number of great intentional leaks throughout architecture as well, such as the entry hall of Peter Zumthor’s Therme Baths in Vals. The walls allow groundwater to seep in from the surrounding mountain while forming beautiful murals out of mineral deposits the water picked up while on its journey through the earth. Whether leaks are intentional or unintentional, they are an inevitable and important reality for architects. There should always be plans for the water that will get into our buildings and this video offers five humorous strategies for making those
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This episode of Architecture w/ Stewart explores the only five ways of organizing the plan of a building, at least they are the only ones according to Francis Ching as listed in the canonical text Form, Space, and Order. Each of the five: central, linear, radial, clustered, and grid, offer unique benefits and opportunities to architects, clients, or visitors. Some of the strategies are reserved for formal ceremonial buildings, while others are better for providing less rigid and more organic exploration by occupants. Some yield complete and autonomous forms while others can shrink or grow at ease. However, every single building is, in some way, a combination of these five basic strategies. Using paper cutout shapes, plastic human figures, and representative examples from history and recent constructions, Stewart demonstrates the value and possibilities of each organizational strategy.
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Graphic novels fold drawings of people, space, and time into their narrative structure to produce powerful visual stories. Graphic novels and architecture also share a set of common tools that are central to their depiction drawing, sequencing, text, action, character, etc. This makes for a natural allegiance between graphic novels, architecture, and the city. In this episode, Stewart pulls the graphic novels off his bookshelf to show how and why they influenced his approach to architectural design and led to the creation of award-winning competition entries. In particular, David Mazzuchelli’s City of Glass and Asterios Polyp, and Chris Ware’s Building Stories offer lessons for developing a holistic approach to architecture that involves multiple points of view, politics, fiction, and visionary design.
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Perhaps no modern character from TV or film is more enthralled with architects than George Costanza from Seinfeld. And, let’s be honest here, how many architects chose the profession in order to say those words, “I am an Architect?” Well, what if George was an architect? What kind of architect would he be? In this episode, Stewart breaks down scenes from Seinfeld in order to piece together the kind of architect he really wants to be. Using seven exhibits and a lawyerly argument, he builds his case around this most pressing what if scenario. Exhibits range from George’s overt references, like his claim to have designed the addition to the Guggenheim, to a more psychological assessment of his proclivities for cozy, velvet-lined spaces and concluding with his fascination for pretending in the first place.