Louisiana Channel: The Latest Architecture and News

Meet 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, Francis Kéré, Burkina Faso-born black architect, in an interview about his architectural philosophy, with Louisiana Channel. As the official statement of the Pritzker Architecture Prize notes, “Through buildings that demonstrate beauty, modesty, and invention, and by the integrity of his architecture and geste, Kéré gracefully upholds the mission of this Prize”, continually “empowering and transforming communities through the process of architecture.”

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“If you’re a painter, you need a canvas. If you’re a sculptor, you need marble or plaster. And if you build a house, you need a piece of land.” Welcome to the wonderful world of Not Vital, where the Swiss multi-faceted artist shows us his sculpture park, foundation, and castle in this video.

Louisiana Channel meets Not Vital in his studio in Sent, the town in Switzerland where he grew up and one of the places where he still lives. Building places to live have been with him since childhood: “My first work was more related to trying to build a house or a habitat. The first one was when I was only three years old in 1951. There was so much snow that my brother and I built a tunnel,” he says and continues: “I think that it was the first time I realized that I like to build my own habitat. Even though it was much more comfortable to live in the house, I spent the day in the tunnel. I remember the light, the smell of the snow. I just felt great.”

‘’We’re in a seismic area. Beirut has been buried seven times, so it has to resist any earthquake, and that’s why it also resisted the explosion in the port,’’ expresses Lina Ghotmeh in conversation with Louisiana Channel, in regards to the Stone Garden. A building constructed with resilience in mind, in a city that has been buried within rubble and rebuilt multiple times.

Lina Ghotmeh was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at her studio in Paris in November 2021. Renowned for her Humanist approach to Architecture, the Stone Garden offers a very personal relationship as the first building to be constructed in Ghotmeh’s hometown of Beirut. Positioned on the edge of the city center, it is very much a form of vernacular architecture echoing the lives of the people who reside here.

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''A Building that Should Address our own Fragility'' says Dorte Mandrup in conversation with Louisiana Channel, in regards to her recent work, the Ilulissat Icefjord Center, in Greenland. An exhibition house in its own right, this powerful filmography explores the surrounding environment, offering insight into the changes seen on the ice and the harmonious relationship between the structure itself and the glacial landscape.

Dorte Mandrup was interviewed by Marc-Christopher Wagner in her studio in the Spring of 2021. Regarded as Humanist, Mandrup has been heavily influenced by medicine, sculpture and ceramics, creating engaging and evocative architectural form. As part of her philanthropic work the center is set to tell a narrative of evolution, human history and the secrets of the ice.

‘’The delight I get out of doing buildings is to say: Screw you, it can be built’’ says Architect Peter Cook in conversation with Louisiana Channel, where he discusses his determination to communicate ideas through vivid Architectural drawings and the skepticism he has faced in regards to his ambitious design proposals and their outlandish appearance.

Peter Cook was interviewed at his studio in January 2022 prior to his exhibition ‘City Landscapes’ at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. As the first artwork displayed that has been produced by an Architect, it explores his reverence for hand-drawing as an Architect's primary medium. The work depicts innovative new ways of exploring the city and our physical space in striking and evocative texture and color.

Renzo Piano, Tatiana Bilbao, Alejandro Aravena, Bjarke Ingels, Anupama Kundoo, Anna Heringer, Anne Lacaton, Norman Foster, and Frank Gehry were interviewed by Louisiana Channel to advise the upcoming generation of architects on the role of the architect in the 21st century. The architects share insights on how to become architects and what they envision would help the youth create a better world.

Talking to the Louisiana Channel, Danish architect Mikkel Frost, talks about how he visualises his ideas and represents his architectural concepts - through the mediums of pen, ink and watercolours. Frost views his use of drawing as different from other architects, who "think as they draw". Frost, on the other hand, "prints" the image he already has in his mind, saying "I'm many steps ahead of what I draw, basically printing the whiteboard in my mind."

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Talking to the Louisiana Channel, iconic Japanese architect Kengo Kuma discusses the many influences that have shaped his work - and also delves into the impact that the ongoing pandemic has had on the architectural field. In the interview, Kuma describes how influential his early upbringing was to his architectural career. Growing up in a small wooden house in the 1950s - originally built in 1942, would go on to guide his architectural perchance of using wood in his projects. Kuma also mentions Japanese architect Kenzu Tange as a key inspiration and cites Tange's Yoyogi National Gymnasium - constructed for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo - as a project that would influence him towards an architectural career.

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Talking to the Louisiana Channel, Danish professor, sculptor, and artist Bjørn Nørgaard outlines the philosophy that underpins his work and reflects upon his architectural projects. Nørgaard describes in the film, a co-production with Munkeruphus, the strong influence of his mentor in the 1960s - German artist Joseph Beuys - whose theories formed a key part of Nørgaard's evolution and ethos as an artist. The concept of "die soziale Plastik", or social sculpture, would go on to shape Nørgaard's approach to architecture and other forms of art - its main philosophy being that every part of life can be approached creatively.

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In Louisiana Channel's latest interview, Indian architect Anupama Kundoo shares her thoughts on the importance of balancing between traveling and being in solitude with oneself. "I think travel is important, but if you're not rooted yourself, you will go to a hundred places and not see anything", explained the architect, "traveling helps you step back from what you take for granted".

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Talking to the Louisiana Channel, German architect Anna Heringer outlines the way she works and her multi-disciplinary approach to architectural practice. Growing up in a small town at the Austrian-Bavarian border close to Salzburg - Heringer spent a year living and working in Bangladesh at the age of 19, a place that is now home to a majority of her office's projects. Heringer describes herself as a mix of things in addition to being an architect, describing herself as an activist and a development worker - using her creativity to explore ideas in a variety of forms and media.

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In a recent interview with Louisiana Channel, Copenhagen-based architects Søren Johansen and Sebastian Skovsted share insights into their design process - stating the importance of creating architecture that seamlessly blends into the landscape yet stands out on its own right. Discussing the minimalist nature of their projects, the architects are careful not to put themselves in a box, saying, "When you ask about minimalism in our work, or any other ism, we are not interested in simplicity for simplicity’s sake.”

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Videos

As a platform for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Louisiana Channel has been stimulating conversations around architecture, art, and the creative world at large. The architecture series provides fascinating insights into the thought process of distinguished architects and their work. Discover seven of the most inspiring interviews created over the past year, discussing a wide array of subjects from exemplary projects, to cities, to architects' design philosophy.

In Louisiana Channel's latest interview, Indian architect Anupama Kundoo shares her thoughts on the importance of observing the surroundings from the perspective of time and its imprint on matter. "Before humans, there was an architecture that life itself creates," says the architect discussing the natural world as a source of inspiration, pointing out that one "can see the same question already solved by nature".

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In a recent interview by Louisiana Channel, German architect Anna Heringer talks about the recently inaugurated Anandaloy centre in Bangladesh, a social space which became a catalyst for local development. The architect shares her commitment to sustainability and touches on the importance of the transfer of know-how to local communities through participatory building processes.