Today marks what would have been the 100th birthday of the leading Danish architect, Jørn Utzon. Notably responsible for what could be argued to be the most prominent building in the world, the Sydney Opera House, Utzon accomplished what many architects can only dream of: a global icon. To celebrate this special occasion, Louisiana Channel has collaborated with the Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark to put together a video series to hear prominent architects and designers talk, including Bjarke Ingels and Renzo Piano, about their experiences with Utzon and his work—from his unrivalled visual awareness of the world, to his uncompromising attitude that led him to create such strong architectural statements.
Unlike many architects around at the time of Jørn Utzon, who as modernists rejected tradition in favour of new technologies and orthogonal plans, Utzon combined these usually contradictory qualities in an exceptional manner. As the architects recount, he was a globalist with a Nordic base, that has inspired the next generation to travel the world and challenge their concepts. Many of them compare his work to Alvar Aalto’s, as both shared an organic approach to architecture, looking at growth patterns in nature for inspiration. Utzon even coined this approach "Additive Architecture," whereby both natural and cultural forms are united to form buildings that are designed more freely.
If you are missing the capacity to create emotion, then it doesn’t work, it’s not enough. – Renzo Piano
In this in-depth biographical video by the Louisiana Channel, Renzo Piano talks about his earliest influences, why traveling is essential, the pleasures of drawing, what creativity really means, how “computers are a bit stupid,” the way “beauty can change the world,” and more.
https://www.archdaily.com/886603/renzo-piano-creativity-is-only-possible-when-you-share-creativityZoya Gul Hasan
Great buildings blatantly express their true essence to the world
In this interview from the Louisiana Channel, Bjarke Ingels shares the personal moments of his life that have influenced the graphic, playful and humanistic architectural style for which he is now world renowned.
In this extended interview from the Louisiana Channel, Japanese architect and experimentalist in sustainable architecture Hiroshi Sambuichi explains how he integrates natural moving materials—sun, water and air—into his architecture. A rare symbiosis of science and nature, each of his buildings are specific to the site and focus on the best orientation and form to harness the power of Earth’s energy, particularly wind. Two of his projects displayed in the video, the Inujima Seirensho Art Museum and the Orizuru Tower, force a contraction of air to make it flow faster and circulate with you through the building, while the Naoshima Hall takes a more sensitive approach due to the nature of the building, reducing the wind’s velocity as it passes.
We now know that first, we form the cities, but then the cities form us.
Meet 81-year-old Danish architect Jan Gehl who, for more than fifty years, has focused on improving the quality of urban life by helping people to “re-conquer the city.” Gehl has studied the relationship between life and form since the mid-1960s, when he started questioning the modernist approach of looking at the architectural model from above instead of from the inside. The architecture of that time was very often "an obsession with architecture for architecture’s sake," and took very little interest in the inhabitants.
https://www.archdaily.com/880923/jan-gehl-puts-forward-methods-toward-building-a-good-cityAD Editorial Team
When a city really becomes one with the air, water and sun I am sure that people will feel the vitality of this. To create cities where this is not lost is a very important message I want to convey to the world.
In this video from the Louisiana Channel, Japanese architect Hiroshi Sambuichi reflects on the Japanese city of Hiroshima—his home town—and the ways in which it has undergone a radical transformation following the atomic bombings of the Second World War. Known primarily for his interest and work in the field of sustainable design and building, Sambuichi describes how "the power of nature"—allowing flora and foliage, water and air to rapidly reclaim swathes of the built environment—has been central to the city's recent urban success.
https://www.archdaily.com/880130/hiroshi-sambuichis-reflections-of-his-hometown-of-hiroshima-and-why-it-became-green-againAD Editorial Team
People can improvise the city; people can improvise architecture. That means the city shouldn’t resist [its] inhabitants, but obey [its] inhabitants… We need to get back to elasticity.
In this interview from the Louisiana Channel, architect and theorist Yona Friedman discusses the plight of the contemporary city, and how it is the responsibility of architects to design structures that can be inhibited for the widest range of individuals and purposes.
In my work as an architect, my idea is to bring out the beauty of a specific place. The sun, the water and the air at that specific place. Thus my architecture will make the place as beautiful as possible. What interests me most is to bring out the beauty of a place. That’s why I spend a long time exploring the moving materials of the specific place.
In this video from the Louisiana Channel, Japanese architect Hiroshi Sambuichi explains his approach to design through observation and reverence for the natural conditions of an existing site, as seen in his recently completed installation, ‘The Water’, currently on display at the Cisterns Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The tragedy of architecture is how stupid architects are... we spend too much time trying to convince people to do things they don’t want to do. That really lowers the level of the discussion, I think.
In this video from the Louisiana Channel, Canadian architect Adam Caruso, founding partner of London-based Caruso St John, provides his take on the current climate of the architectural profession and the influences driving his own personal architectural philosophy. With his firm, Caruso has led the design of numerous art institutions, including the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize winning Newport Street Gallery in London, that respond to “a deeper idea of place, of the history and culture of the place and how you read it today.
“Who would’ve thought a parking garage could be so interesting?”
In this video aired by the Louisiana Channel, Kathrin Susanna Gimmel and Jan Yoshiyuki Tanaka, both co-founders of Copenhagen-based firm JAJA Architects, explain the ideology behind the “Park ‘n’ Play” parking garage. Bright red, atop the 24-meter high car park, sits a playground which, in combination with a rooftop garden, provides a unique public setting offering sought after views of the Copenhagen harbor. Watch the video for more insight into JAJA’s design methodology and how the playground helps redefine roles of public space and usage while integrating into a historical urban identity.
https://www.archdaily.com/804825/watch-how-jaja-co-founders-of-park-n-play-are-redefining-public-spaceOsman Bari
We always attempt to work with a material and try to see what it can do in relation to the sculptural or in relation to the place
In this video from the Louisiana Channel, Dorte Mandrup discusses the design philosophy behind her firm’s nearly completed Wadden Sea Center, a visitor’s center located in within Denmark’s largest national park. The design employs local construction traditions, creating a sculptural roof and facade from a modernized thatch roof system. Watch the video for more on how Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter approaches a design challenge, and how their buildings belong to their sites.
“The good news is that if we have the power to radically transform our planet by accident, imagine what we can do if we are actually trying to do it. Once you’ve accepted that there is no way we can be here without having a very, very significant influence on our planet, you just have to take it as a positive.”
“We believe that architecture makes sense when it’s anchored in the locales where it’s built, and the people who are going to use it. That’s why I’m not so occupied with the zeitgeist of architecture.”
In this interview from Louisiana Channel, Oslo-based architect Reiulf Ramstad discusses how the Scandinavian landscape is at the core of his design concepts. In a context of globalization, increased mobility, and communication medias, Ramstad believes “the depth of the locale becomes shallow.” His architecture contrasts this mainstream approach by offering designs specifically tailored to Norwegian cultural heritage and the landscape of its remote areas.
The Louisiana Channel recently made a trip to the hometown of Peter Zumthor for an extensive and rare video interview on the Swiss architect's life journey, passion for learning, and how "different kinds of silence" help him reach his potential.
In this interview with the Louisiana Channel, José Selgas of Spanish architecture firm SelgasCano discusses his design philosophy, emphasizing the importance of connecting a building with its surroundings through the use of color and light materials. “Every relation with architecture I’ve had was a relation with nature,” he says.
"We're not only invested in building on water. It's not about 'floating architecture,' that's really not what my practice is focused on. It's really the relationship between water and the city, between water and humans."
In this intriguing interview produced by Louisiana Channel, founder of NLÉ ArchitectsKunlé Adeyemi discusses the relationship of his work to water through projects such as Chicoco Radio, their proposal for the Chicago Lakefront Kiosk contest, and of course the Makoko Floating School project. Reflecting on the role of water in human settlement, Adeyemi explains how designing with in the context of water introduces both challenges and opportunities, adding that around the world he believes "we are just starting to brace ourselves and learn to live with water as opposed to fighting it."
On the Louisiana Channel's latest installment, Burkinabé architect Diébédo Francis Kéré discusses his "Canopy" installation, currently on view at the Louisiana Museum in Denmark, and shares thoughts on the impact of architecture. Designed with a sense of freedom that encourages users to interact with the installation as they wish, Kere's Canopy serves as a flexible gathering space within the museum that is reminiscent of "AFRICA."
“They’re free to use the space like they behave, like they feel," says Kere. "Architecture is about people."
