Comments on: Vitra Children Workshop / Alejandro Aravena Architects

By: medusa

medusa — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:05:37 +0000

The world of furniture design is madly in love with the Campana brothers. Weird hybrids between plastic and rattan. Teddy bears woven together by shantytowns artisans. There seems to be a need of fresh views, with the enhanced creativity that the lack of means tend to force. Milan gets expensive chairs with a latin soul, Vitra gets the ‘arte povera’ provocation of a thatch roof in the middle of a signature campus.
On a recent interview the painter David Hockney, when caught contradicting himself, said ‘never listen to what the artist says, look what the artist does’. One might not believe too much the clever and provoking words that come with the project. We will just have to wait to see what really matters… how the building will actually be.

By: giuliano.pastorelli

giuliano.pastorelli — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:21:07 +0000

Revisando el Vitra Children Workshop de Aravena http://bit.ly/eOrsS

By: sisifo

sisifo — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:38:06 +0000

i dont know. aravena was my first architecture teacher… i can say he is like an idol to me, love the books, the projects. but … judging for the images and the model , my veredict on vitra´s project is : FAIL!…

By: H & A

H & A — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:53:54 +0000

ArchDaily – Vitra Children Workshop / Alejandro Aravena Architects http://bit.ly/16O4RD Also, Alejandro Aravena shared with us the Sketc …

By: David Basulto [tricky]

David Basulto [tricky] — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:44:48 +0000

The basement is pre-existant.

By: rek

rek — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:13:33 +0000

and understanding what building on that campus means, eaven harder…

By: rek

rek — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:10:59 +0000

i understand the object trying to be a thing, or at least looking that way, i saw the interview in canal13 cable,”la belleza de pensar”, and mabye there´s where aravena is going, BUT, in my opinion, if you are “compiting” with the other works at the vitra campus, you should try harder…

By: Comitant

Comitant — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:46:21 +0000

If you want Thing, not Object, then the only really option is stereotomic. Andy Goldsworthy’s Rivers and Tides would a good source for understanding the difference.

Carve away, dig, scoop, rebuild, but always with the same matter: rocks, mud, clay, sand, reeds, reshaped and reformed until they become usable and inhabitable.

I can see the intent in the rendering, of the accidental roof covering, as if some giant walked by and left his hat and that became the space. But everyone, including children, know this is a building designed and built. The accidental look is just a look. Looking at the section, I bet this roof Object will effectively be a highly engineered tectonic construct.

Theoretical considerations aside, the building looks like fun. But why not make the surface of the roof somehow usable? With an exposed tectonic solution, kids could play in the rafters and have little windows that peer out of the thatch. Tiny attic spaces looking out would be great fun for kids.

By: Lehung

Lehung — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:35:37 +0000

i’m sure with you, this place is not for children.

By: mathias

mathias — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:32:59 +0000

It is a very interesting goal that Aravena tries to reach with his theory of the “thing” vs. the object.Unfortunately, and despite the fact that his building is carefuly and masterfuly designed it does not reach the status he aims for. This is a good example of the great distances that often separate theory and practice. It is never easy to materialise abstraction without the natural flaws and limits of savoir-faire.

By: 16:08:78

16:08:78 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:34:17 +0000

One can trace Aravena’s failure in this project easily with his statement: “So, the footprint of the basement, dictated the shape of the building on top”….…really,…. I though he said Form Follows Fact?….. Then how the basement got that shape in the first place? What does that shape follows? I’m sure there must be an argument that addresses this issue, but the fact is it is not stated here.

In the interesting pursue “to produce a thing not an object” Aravena fail. As far as I’m concern this still is an object.

By: Arturo López

Arturo López — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:16:52 +0000

it looks like a childhood memory,
not even “a thing”
a thought

By: mariline

mariline — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:39:46 +0000

Reading: “Vitra Children Workshop / Alejandro Aravena Architects | ArchDaily” (http://twitthis.com/a3fp7w)

By: neoinc.

neoinc. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:28:24 +0000

are there any reasons for sayin’ : not good, not good??? or easily not good, not good?

neo.

By: Hellyess

Hellyess — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:23:41 +0000

i agree with comment #1. I really like Aravena’s work, and begin a south american, i always show his new work to my colleagues, etc. But this one.. i don’t know. Not good, not good.

By: PanamArq

PanamArq — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:04:34 +0000

very nice, i like the interior space but I keep being drawn to the nose-picker

By: neoinc.

neoinc. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:29:20 +0000

@ nothing:

hehe, giant pita bread is a kinky association, but i’m a bit with you.
i see it as a so called “reet-dach” (german), that would be very interesting i guess.
reet is a natural material, made of the stems of bulrushes…
it guarantees a great inner climate and would fit to aravena’s regional basic approach.

links for “reet-dach”:

http://www.reetdachdeckung.de/uploads/pics/reetdach.jpg

http://www.dachdecker.de/zvdhaktuell/webdocs3/upload/Reetdach_2_05032007092245.jpg

neo.

By: neoinc.

neoinc. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:21:05 +0000

very nice “thing”… seems to be a great composition somewhere between an object and what aravena interpreted as HIS “thing”. the orthogonal struktures are well integrated in the dominant hut-form…

i like the aravena stuff very much so this nice project undergirts my opinion of his creative mind and output…

well done, mr. aravena, and it seems to be affordable too…

neo.

By: nothing to say

nothing to say — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:12:59 +0000

I usually like Aravena’s work. But I don’t know if I like this giant pita bread.

By: Jim Strapko

Jim Strapko — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:02:17 +0000

Reading ArchDaily Vitra Children Workshop: http://bit.ly/Te1N9 – Thoughtful design process for freeform addition to existing building