I wish the New York Times quote above also applied to the art inside the building and not just the building itself. But you can't blame Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (aka SANAA) for that. The New Museum lost a great opportunity during it's December extended free opening days by proving to the skeptics that despite how cool the building is outside, the art inside is still the same BS compilation of junk forms. It's debut show, which isn't even worth mentioning by name, is simply the kind of drivel that the over-geeky, over-obsessed on art theory, university-inbred numskulls think is cool. They would have been way better off just doing a cool retrospective of one artist - say someone like Julie Mehretu, who has been featured in their group shows in the past. Honestly their inaugural show almost made me NEVER want to step foot in the building ever again but thankfully last night I got to take part in a special one-off tour of the building with SANAA senior associate Florian Idenburg.
Our tour started on the seventh floor. A wonderful white space with stunning views of everything from downtown to Brooklyn. Notable was a very cool terrace which I look forward to one day being able to walk out on (supposedly the Museum will be opening this floor occasionally to the public in the summer. Right now they rent it for private functions).
The tour and discussion (arranged by ULI New York) was fantastic. There's nothing like being there with one of the core team telling you stories about how they had problems with the concrete and how they had to build a special computer program to make the grid that holds the skin for the building in place. Mr. Idenburg (who also runs his own company Moko Omaha) was a wonderful and patient guide as much interested in people's comments as he was in showing us the small details of the building - like how each floor appears to float by not hitting the wall - instead there's a small narrow channel that cleverly conceals wiring.
The building is a series of cubes each slightly off grid with each other - the resulting changing of size and shifting positions of each floor/ gallery space creates wonderful moments in the building - skylights, pensive windows in odd spots, a wonderfully thin extra staircase, an open shaft that works as a surprising mini exhibition space, the ability to have an exhibition start on the first floor in one of two different doorways from the elevator. There's is simple so much to like in this building.
The polished aluminum mesh outside skin of the building not only gives the building a unique sense of illumination because of the special way it refracts and reflects light- it's texture also recalls the bowery's history of metallic restaurant-supply outlets. This metallic membrane is far superior to Gehry's use of metallic skins or even the heavy brown metallic mesh skin of Herzog and Meuron's museum design in San Francsico. It would be great if Gehry could learn from Sanaa and adapt (or even abort) his design for the disastrous Atlantic Yards project. If only Ratner and Gehry could have this kind of sensitivity to location, history, scale, drama and movement.
Sanaa have created a building light in feel. It's an amazing achievement. The interior feels like a space that will change with the art. It's a series of cells for creativity. Ok so the first show is not magic. Magic will happen here in the future for sure. This tour made me love the building again.
I have to also mention the joyful discovery of Sanaa's chair design for Next Maruni in the museum's café on the ground floor. It was a pleasure to finally see this design in person. Its not the greatest function wise but its rabbit ears do make me smile. Florian also pointed out a very special American edition of the chair that made me laugh - a fatter / wider version of the chair - a "fat" rabbit to accommodate the notoriously larger American size bottom. One hopes the store at the museum starts to take orders for the regular edition of the chair in the near future. In Japan the chair sells for around $200 but to ship it to the US would cost $200. If the museum could secure enough orders then they could probably sell it for close to the Japanese price.
Additionally the Museum store also features the Sanaa tea set for Alessi. I know I'll be buying their teapot in the future. See it here and read about it here .
Finally I have to mention that my favorite work related to Sanaa - Ryue Nishizawa's outstanding Moriyama House in Tokyo - a project worthy of an extended essay in itself. I love the innovative concept that sees each unit being used for a separate function - from bathing to listening to music. I wish I could live in this community.
Look for JA Magazine (Japan) issue 66: "Towards a New Architecture-scape" and the Dec/Jan 2007 issue of Dwell Magazine for great articles / photos of this project. And watch a September 2007 Ryue Nishizawa lecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design
No comments:
Post a Comment