Nigel is an architect from New Zealand, we had a conversation about various interests, his walks around London, New Zealand architecture, his methodology for design and many other tangents, an assorted selection undermentioned:
1. The Ahipara House, how the scent from the plants hangs in the central courtyard, and the scent creates a distinct space, which one can enter.
2. How the fountains at the Barbican have no guardrail around them and it is suggested that the vision and sound of the water falling alerts the person to the drop.
3. How in the House of Lords, there is the Queen's Robing room, the 'symbolic centre of the British empire'. And this contains large artworks devoted to King Arthur, a fantastical, mythical character. 'Resonant themes for the British imperialist knights'.
4. On the settlement of New Zealand: the US and Australia, going through the same settlement process, were creating their own vernaculars, whereas New Zealand, with a gentle climate and peaceful shores was able to copy and borrow building types from other countries and not be harmed by this... NZ has a culture of copiers and borrowers.
5. Nigel's methodology, based on a diagram from 1977, is a way of embedding his architecture into the country. Later he said: Information - know everything about the site, the costs, the client. Discard the first initial response to site. Depression. Then the architecture... form happens somehow, yet it's not form driven.
6. It has to be beautiful and it has to be architectural.
7. Advice for me: Look at a cross section of a birds nest, one can see the growth of the birds nest, hair and twigs and leaves, formed around the birds body.
8. More advice: Could cellular walls thicken in winter and as warmth came could degrade and die. Can cells possess intelligence about the wind, rain and sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment