Pimp My Model

I know that these goofy videos made in studio late at night or for some kind of presentation are a dime a dozen, but this one caught my eye.

Once again, much of architecture is a monotonous blend of recycled ideas, so how about taking this concept, of "Pimping A Model," and run with it? make the model a design problem, with it own set of oppourtunities for interesting ideas. Maybe im looking into it too much, but whatever, just a thought.

trees by MDRDV

--..Yes, You Can.

Distortions of scale. Irony. Unexpected convention. This is a play on the expected convention, a flower in a pot. A full size tree in a pot is unexpected convention, familiar objects in an unfamiliar arrangement, context, juxtaposition, or use.

This is a tower by Eduardo Francois. He is really into these tree-covered buildings.

Goofy Massing. Legible Form. New Spatial Experience.

Cran{BRICK:)

This is the Giant Brick at Cranbrook. There are serious implications of a project like this. It Not only offers a unique perspective of how to formally respond to the site, but also an interesting way of creating a landmark. It takes us back to the issue of pure form. What is the difference between putting a giant brick there, which is kind of ironic and irreverent, and putting a giant folded plate there? Both look good, and both would be good buildings. The brick, however, is funny. Bonus points. Everyone at Cranbrook would take delight from the giant brick. It offers a fresh outlo0k on building, because it doesnt take itself too seriously, but it also is highly performative and not offensive.
The joke does not stop at the form. To respect its surroundings, the brick would be covered on two sides by LED screens with scenic nature, or possible views of the other side of the building.
This replaces the views that may be blocked by the brick.
The first of many tectonic follies, these giant bricks would be fired by the ceramics department at Cranbrook. This ties into the culture of Cranbrook, that is art, handiwork, etc. and also is funny. People would love the out of scale bricks that they could interact with. Architects would like it because it suggests something about scale and module. All the while being perfectly appropriate and performative.

Ornament and Pattern in Mockitecture

Pop Art lends itself to mockitecture in many ways. The incorporation of commercial imagery into painting and sculpture is a good example of not only communicative art, but also of the new humanism which mockitecture brings with it. People need icons and references to things that they can relate to. It is the difference between "Aphrodite" and "Gold Marilyn Monroe." When was the last time you saw Aphrodite hanging on an everyday person's wall? The image fo Marilyn Monroe not only appeals to a high-art-as-meaning interpretation, but also can appeal to the people. This is actaully more important in architecture than in art, because building are expressively designed to interact with normal, everyday people. Art does not have this responsibility.

What is commercial imagery? Well it is the decorated shed, "where... ornament is applied independently of [structure and space]." Ornament applied in the form of super graphics and pattern is the easiest way to make funny or fun architecture. Is this a revival of postmodernism? in some ways, yes. Unfortunately, mockitecture must seek to incorporate other aesthetics in order to disassociate from postmodernism and the stigma attached.

"This was parking lot, now its a peaceful oasis"

Many mockitectural thinkers are debating how mockitecture manifests itself and the appropriateness of the design inherently attached to the message. This is the //[un]titled [un]experiencable park// by Norton Scanpro. It consists of a blank spot of land, preferable some sort of abandoned industrial site. It wouls ideally be located along the edge of an impoverished area. The park would be a beautiful creation. It would be a well-manicured area, and one person would be called upon to groom it. This person would spend everyday watering the flowers and trimming the lawns. At the outer rim of this urban oasis would be a barbed wire fence. A very aggresive barbed wire fence at that. The only person who would be allowed in the park would be the person who takes care of it.

Now i realize that this is not everyday architecture, but the space created in this concept brings with it many good points. is it not a wildly exaggerated characiture of the spaces we create with gentrification? how would people react to it? would they laugh, would they be angry? would they attempt to interact with it?

I remember in high school there was a fence that guarded the parking lot I liked to park in. Manytimes, there were no spots left, so we would have to park at a nearby street. It was much faster to jump over a fence on the way back to school. The deans didnt like this, so on the last day of school, some people cut a hole in the fence. This is mockitecture. Fences tend to have a power beyond the control of people's movement. Just the sight of a fence will create hostility in a person, even one with a gate that they are freely allowed to move in and out of.
Back to the park. This experimental space reminds me of Pop Art's questioning of the privatization of public space. Claus Oldenburg bought and ran a store in 1961 as an artwork in environmental form. While Oldenburg was dealing with the advent of comsumer culture, this same technique could be useful in questioning the elitist brutalism that is re-privatization of private and public spaces. Even when a space is private, it interesects with the public sphere. This is especially true on the scale of a neighborhood. when enough private spaces are transformed, the public space goes with them. This is true in negative ways and positive ways.

In Response to Comments on Mockitecture 101

Thank you amy. your article brings up some interesting points. mockitecture allows ornament of all kinds. in fact, it probably prefers integrated ornament. integration is not necessary, however, because if an applied ornament, say, an image or a pattern is funny (ironic/satirical/whimsical) then it has a place. there is no stance on validity in mockitecture. mockitecture is an equal oppourtunity employer.

in regards to postmodernism as a whole, i prefer to use charles moore's definition, not robert venturi's. it deals less with the shed (architecture as advertisement) and more with the genre of architecture as art, a medium for meaning.

"1. Buildings can and should speak.
2. Therefore they should have freedom to speak. Functionalism suppressed the idea at which point architecture simply stopped being interesting for most people. But once we admit theat buildings can speak again, we should allow them to be wistful, wide, powerful, gentle, silly, just as people are.
3. Functional buildings, on the whole were bleak and hostile. Those which replace them must be inhabitable in the minds and the bodies of human beings..."

While I agree that it was foolish to use classical architecture as the basis for their references, for a number of reasons, i do think that there are tenets of postmodernism that were "thrown out with the bathwater."

graphic architecture has its place, however, in that it is a highly communicative form of building. it is actually very effective because it has the ability to resonate with everyday peoples' experiences. There is nothing to translate, nothing to stop and ponder. If we really aspire to a humanist architecture, we would make references to everyday things in our architecture, not just to architecture itself.

There is a certain irony about the use of the industrial vernacular as aesthetic basis, by a supposed avant-garde which supposedly despises mass production and uniformity. Can the American commercial vernacular hold the ticket to architecture which speaks directly to people about ideas that they can grasp?

Mockitecture 101

As we realize more and more the extent and implications of mockitecture, actual projects are manifesting themselves at a pacy pace. Here is a preview of what is to come in the next couple weeks. Create your own mockitecture anywhere you would like, and let us know about it.