Thinking about architecture

Last night I read an interview with Guy Nordenson, a structural engineer, in my The Believer magazine. Nordenson worked with Isamu Noguchi, Buckminster Fuller, and, recently, with Steven Holl, on a project called the Linked Hybrid Building, in Beijing. It looks so fricken cool, a cluster of linked apartment buildings, joined by pedestrian bridges high in the sky. Look at all the description and pictures here.

(As an aside, after I read that article I thought how fun it would be to have a baby and name it Buckminster.)

I have been lucky enough to visit a couple of Holl's buildings. I liked the Chapel of St. Ignatius, in Seattle, particularly, especially the doors, hand-blown glass lamps, and the lovely light on the curved white walls. I don't have photos, but you can read about it and take a virtual tour here.

I saw the same curved white effect at the Kiasma Gallery in Helsinki.

Kiasma inside:

Kiasma outside:

And then this morning I dragged my sorry ass out of bed by 9 (I know) for the opening of a new architectural marvel in Whitehorse, called by the unfortunate name Women's Annex, at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre. This building was designed by Kobayashi + Zedda Architects, and they did a fine job.

Not that I have anything against starting my day off in jail, but this didn't even feel like a jail: it was so thoughtfully and practically designed. Simple but perfect for the purpose, with some good touches, particularly the way the light was captured and held in the hallway, lessening the institutional feel, and the many windows, some at chest height. My favorites were the long, recessed windows beside each bunk bed. Those will be appreciated.

The mucky-mucks seemed pleased with the building, and I heard the residents were too, running around and putting dibs on their rooms.

I felt proud of my friend Jack and lucky to know him. Since I now know how to put links on my blog, here's a link to Jack.

Like every art, architecture has a language. The Linked Hybrid Building is described as a "porous urban space," and, in the article I read, Nordenson described the Statue of Liberty as "a speech act in the marketplace of urban ideas." Ha ha ha. That shit kills me.