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ARCHITECTURE
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Phillip Johnson
Dean of American Architects
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You get very excited about something but you don't know you're getting excited about it and you think everybody's the same way. I don't see how anybody can go into the nave of Chartres Cathedral and not burst into tears, because I thought that's what everybody would do. That's the natural reaction I had. That and the Parthenon -- one in 1919 and one in 1928 -- gave me the realization that I had to be in architecture in some way. Those events were sort of a Saul/Paul conversion kind of a feeling that determined me to play some part in architecture. So when I joined the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, I started the Architectural Department and worked there for some years and wrote a book. When I went to Harvard, it was taught in the school, so I was allowed not to take that course. It was very funny.
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[ Interview ] Philip Johnson |
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You have to know those things. You have to know structure, and you spend nine-tenths of your time on that. You say you know structure, but do you know connections? What happens when the water gets in that little place? Only years and years of experience but that's nothing to do with the art. You've got to know all of that before you start. Painters have it easy; they've got to know what kinds of pigments will last. They don't know that even sometimes, but even that's not necessary. You repair a picture if it's bad, but in architecture, it falls down. That's a sociological crux. Then you've got the permits and things to go through with city hall that drive you up your wall. Then you have the clients. The care and feeding of clients is really one of the main obstacles, because you always have a client with some preconceived idea of what a house looks like, and all you want him to do is leave a check and go to Europe for a couple of years. Or leave two checks. But alas, life isn't simple. If it were, more people would be better architects.
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[ Interview ] Philip Johnson |
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All right, the times go bad, the times go good, but the eternal things, like poetry or architecture, go on. And, they will go on. That is one of the great things about being connected to an art as great as architecture. It's your desire -- Plato's words -- desire for immortality. That's what keeps you going, not sex. It doesn't make any difference anyhow at my age, but it's not important as a drive, Mr. Freud to the contrary notwithstanding. Plato was right. Everybody has a desire for immortality. So when you die isn't very important. Because your immortality -- what did you do when you were here that made any sense?
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[ Interview ] Philip Johnson |
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Maya Lin
Architect and Artist
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The process I go through in the art and the architecture, I actually want it to be almost childlike. It's almost a percolation process. I don't want to predetermine who I am, fanatically, in my work, which I think has made my development be -- sometimes I think it's magical. Sometimes I think I'll never do another piece again. But basically you don't know who you are. But yet I feel much better as I've hit the 40's, so to speak -- it's sort of frightening to say -- that I'm more whole because I understand. I'm more at peace. I'm not fighting it. I was fighting it in my 20's, really hard. I mean, it was a real -- there was an anguish in that. I mean ironically, the work is much more peaceful. All my work is much more peaceful than I am, and maybe the work, in that sense, is trying to find a resolution between what was probably a struggle.
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[ Interview ] Maya Lin |
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I loved logic, math, computer programming. I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination. Then it takes me seven years of architecture school to realize that I think like an artist. And even though I build buildings and I pursue my architecture, I pursue it as an artist. I deliberately keep a tiny studio. I will hire firms or cause firms to be hired to work with me. I don't want to be an architectural firm ever. I want to remain as an artist building either sculptures or architectural works. And in a way what I disliked about architecture was probably the profession. I still am an artist. And basically what does that mean? It's much more individual. It's much more about who you are and what you need to make, what you need to say for you. Whether someone's going to look at it or not, you're still going to do it.
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[ Interview ] Maya Lin |
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For me what the Vietnam memorial had to be was about honesty, about dealing up front with individual loss. You know, it turns out it was also a requirement by the veterans to list the 57,000 names. Now, you've got ask again, this is probably the first time where the group of veterans have requested it. We're reaching a time in -- it's almost a modern time -- that we'll acknowledge the individual in a war on a national level, rather than what has happened in previous wars throughout history was always a political statement by the winning leader about the victory. The foot soldier didn't count, except in World War I memorials which I had studied and realized -- The effect they had, they were so moving, was because they focused on individual loss. But I think that is the definition of a modern approach to war, the acknowledgement of individual lives lost.
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[ Interview ] Maya Lin |
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I try to think of a work as an idea without a shape. If I find the shape too soon -- especially for the memorials, which have a function -- then I might be predetermining a form and then stuffing the function into the form. Instead, what I try to do is -- for two to three months -- read, research, understand anything about the site. And I don't just mean the physical site. I mean the cultural site, the historical site, who's coming, what the needs are, what I think needs to be done.
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[ Interview ] Maya Lin |
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I think art is very tricky because it's what you do for yourself. It's much harder for me to make those works than, in a way, the monuments or the architecture because those have functions. Architecture, the monuments, it's a symbolic function, but it's still you're solving a problem. The architecture, you're definitely making art, but it's surrounded by a problem solving. It's like math. It's a puzzle to me. I love figuring out puzzles. The art work, on the other hand, is, "Go into a room and make whatever you want to make." And it's very, very hard.
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[ Interview ] Maya Lin |
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One of the key things in the architecture is that I want always to have you feel connected to the landscape so that you don't think of architecture as this discrete isolating object, but in a way it frames your views of the landscape, which is a very Japanese notion. So that the house is a threshold to nature, or basically begins to explore our relationship to nature. So again, this love of the environment comes back through all the work.
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[ Interview ] Maya Lin |
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Designing Memorials and Monuments: Maya Lin
Maya Lin's fame as an architect began with her design for the Vietnam Memorial. She has gone on to design other memorials and monuments including the Civil Rights Memorial. Her goal has been to design with honesty, individual loss, legacy, and tribute in mind. Research May Lin's life and architectural achievements. Use your information to develop a web site design that profiles this successful architect. Provide other students with information about her training, architectural goals, main works, and the design ideas that are important to her.
Eternal Reminders
Architect Phillip Johnson says that "eternal things, like poetry or architecture go on." Native people in North America have left us eternal reminders of their culture with the remains of their settlements. Architectural evidence of their unique view of design and the use of shelter to preserve their cultures exists today. Research the history of the design and construction of the Pueblos and Anasazi settlements in the American southwest. Consider how the ancient architects and builders took into account their environment, culture, and spiritual beliefs. Use your information to develop a multimedia presentation that describes the architectural heritage of North America's ancient peoples in the southwest.
Architectural Process: Comparing Famous Architects
Architects approach their work in ways that are unique to their own vision and ideas about artistic process. Maya Lin talks about how she sees her work as "an idea without a shape." She spends two or three months trying to research everything about the site and the goal of the project. She describes architecture as being "surrounded by problem solving" and "like a puzzle." Other famous architects have different ways of describing the process they use to conceptualize and design a structure. Conduct research about Maya Lin as well as architects, I.M. Pei, Paolo Soleri, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Gather information about how they approach a new project. How do they move from an idea without a shape into a final plan? Use your information to develop an interactive report comparing and contrasting their approaches and outcomes.
Great Buildings: Near and Far
If you travel to France you might be lucky enough to see the architectural wonder of the Chartres Cathedral in person. Phillip Johnson doesn't see how "anybody can go into the nave of the Chartres Cathedral and not burst into tears." Around the world there are historic and modern architectural wonders that inspire people with their beauty and power. But every area has its own "great buildings" and architectural heritage. In your area you can find unique buildings such as churches, museums, skyscrapers, schools, and even houses. There are architects who have set their design stamp in your city, town, or neighborhood. Research architecture achievements found in your local area. Select a structure built a long time ago and another that was recently built. Develop an online magazine article describing both projects and the architects who designed them. Why are both important in the architectural legacy of your area? Why are they inspiring to you?
Architecture and Nature
Architects must, on some level, design structures in the context of the location or environment in which they will built. But some architects, like Maya Lin, take the awareness and presence of nature more directly into account as they create their designs. She says that one of the key goals in her work is to have people "feel connected to the landscape." She feels that her Japanese heritage, which is deeply connected to nature, is the reason each of her structures explores the relationship to nature and could be described as a "threshold to nature." Conduct research about the role of nature and landscape in architectural design. Identify three architects who you believe directly tie their designs and structures to nature. Use your information to develop a multimedia presentation that presents these architects, their works, and their philosophy of nature and structure.
Function and Design: Solutions by Leading Architects
The work of some contemporary architects is startling to our eyes. They seem to defy the laws of gravity and introduce innovative astounding ways to combine form and function. Frank Gehry, Paolo Soleri and others are examples of such pioneering architects. In previous historic periods other architects made new design statements and expanded people's views about beauty, function, and form. Research the history of American architecture. Identify five innovators who introduced new solutions when solving architectural problems in design, form, and function. Use your information to develop a visual annotated timeline of these groundbreaking architects and their works.
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