Architects Around Town
Spend the Hot Summer with some Cool building designers
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| Le Corbusier, Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut, Ronchamp, France, 1950 |
| Courtesy of Fondation Le Corbusier |
A synchronistic lineup of architecture exhibitions
this summer offers a gourmet-style selection of works by some of the most renowned personalities of the genre.
For the first course, traipse down the virtual path-of-architects that leads to the Mori Art Museum. There, until September 24, is possibly one of the most comprehensive exhibitions ever offered on Le Corbusier (1887-1965), the godfather of modern architecture and the inspiration of most every architect of our time. Celebrating the 120th anniversary of his birth, the exhibition titled “Le Corbusier: Art and Architecture—A Life of Creativity” offers about 250 works. These include not only numerous well-known architectural drawings and models but also his work as an accomplished painter, sculptor, sketcher, writer, urban planner and designer of automobiles, tapestries and furniture. (You would recognize many of his furniture designs, still popular today.) It is said that architecture was only
an afternoon avocation for Le Corbusier. Bridging both art and architecture in equal proportions, the sculptural and colorful forms of his pioneering building designs were, clearly, derived from his artistic eye. The best example of this fusion is the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp
in France, an icon among the world’s religious architecture.
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Le Corbusier, La Femme et le Moineau,1957, tapestry from painting, 220x223cm |
Courtesy of Fondation Le Corbusier |
Adding to the show’s fun 3D layout—even my 10-year-old-daughter enjoyed it—are three full-size walk-in room reproductions. These include Le Corbusier’s painting studio on the Rue Nungesser et Coli in Paris, a two-story apartment from his “Unité d’Habitation” in Marseilles, and a small wooden hut he built for himself at Cap Martin in the south of France, which he called “le Petite Cabanon.” A lifetime compendium of remarkable creative genius, this show is both humbling and awe-inspiring—a must for any architecture enthusiast.
For our second course at The National Art Center, Tokyo, is “Skin + Bones,” an exhibition on loan from the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles and showing until August 13. Melding architecture and fashion as mutually inspirational, this seminal show offers 230 works by 40 of the world’s top fashion designers and architects. Since the ’80s, computer-aided design and technological advances in materials and fabrics have induced greater experimentation and inventive change in the construct of both buildings and clothing. Formerly impossible shapes, fabrics and building materials are now being wrapped, draped, folded, pleated, printed, woven, cantilevered and suspended in unprecedented forms. Pairing the recent works of innovative fashion designers and architects, the displays include Viktor & Rolf with Shigeru Ban, Narcisco Rodriguez with Frank Gehry, Yeohlee Teng with Kazuyo Sejima, and Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons with Toyo Ito.
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| Toyo Ito, Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, Taiwan, 2005 |
| Courtesy of Tomio Ohashi |
For the third course, an in-depth look at the work of architect Toyo Ito, take the virtual path-of-architects to the Museum of Modern Art, Hayama, located in the old beachside resort town about an hour away from Tokyo by express train. “Toyo Ito: The New ‘Real’ in Architecture,” showing until August 2, is on tour from the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and the Ito-designed Sendai Mediatheque (1994-2001).
Now considered by many as the most innovative Japanese architect working today, the youthful 66-year-old has created a bevy of cutting-edge designs since establishing his practice in 1971. The exhibition focuses on works post-Sendai, including the Tod’s building in Omotesando (2002-2004), Tama Art University New Library in Hachioji (2004-2007), the Mikimoto Ginza 2 building (2005),
the Crematorium in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture (2004-2006),
and the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London (2002).
Dominating the show is Ito’s revolutionary 2005 design for the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House in Taiwan (to be completed in 2009). This complex visually defines Ito’s “emerging grid” concept, inspired by the human body and nature. The curvilinear “soft” spaces are created like an emerging grid of spliced bones connected with spongy membrane. Stimulating but comfortable, Ito’s appealing work unites innovative technology with a human touch.
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Hussein Chalayan, various images from the Afterwords collection, autumn/winter 2000) |
Chris Moore |
Tempted to see more? For an inspirational side course, let the path lead you to the International House of Japan in Roppongi. On Friday, July 27 at 6pm, film directors Karen Stevens and Koichi Mori will present their documentary titled Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buildings and Legacy in Japan, which focuses on Wright’s formative residence in Japan from 1917-1922. Interviews with specialists, rare footage, and hundreds of images skillfully highlight the 14 buildings Wright created here during this time.
See exhibition and film listings for details.
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