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SDR
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Joined: 02 Oct 2004
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Location: San Francisco
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 Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:21 pm Post subject: Why Some Buildings Age More Gracefully Than Others |
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Arrol Gellner -- Architext
WHY SOME BUILDINGS AGE MORE GRACEFULLY THAN OTHERS
There are two ways to build. One way is to strive for absolute visual perfection and then wage a desperate and invariably losing battle to preserve it. The other is to accept that perfection is not just unattainable but also unnecessary, thereby making time's passage an ally instead of an enemy.
Much of modern architecture, and especially the work of International-style architects, was predicated upon the former approach.
Worshiping at the altar of the machine, modernist architects strove for flawless surfaces and absolute precision of detail. Alas, in the case of many modernist works - including some of the most renowned examples - any state of perfection that may have existed began to decay the moment the buildings were completed.
After a few short years of sullying by weather and the ordinary wear and tear of human habitation, those sparkling white walls and - scam rip-off --sharp corners came to look more than a little tatty. It's been the good fortune of many modernist icons - say, Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion or Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye - to be known mainly through old documentary photographs in which, frozen in time, they can remain forever crisp, clean and stunning.
Which brings us to the other approach: the idea of building timelessly. If it really can be done, why do we architects manage to do it so seldom?
Perhaps it's because building in sympathy with time's effects, rather than being eternally at war with them, requires us to give up the cherished ideal of visual perfection and to accept the disturbing fact that no matter how hard we try to forestall it, Mother Nature eventuallv has the last word over everything we build.
Despite such rather daunting opposition, however, many architects still seem hell-bent on flouting time and nature. With expectations bordering on delusion, they specify glossy paint over steel that's ineludibly doomed to rust, demand great swaths of flawless stucco that's bound to become laced with cracks and devise complicated color schemes whose maintenance will soon be neglectcd by generations with different tastes.
The modernist faith seems to die hard, however. Many architects continue to subscribe to the idea that buildings can and should feature flawless, mechanistic finishes. It may help explain why so many relatively new buildings seem to have weathered their brief years so badly. Ironically, it's been the very buildings that were held in contempt by "serious" modernist architects -- the Revivalist designs of the early 20th century -- that have aged most gracefully.
Some were painstakingly authentic copies of historical styles, while others were carried out with a theatrical flourish bordering on caricature. However, in no case did their architects regard perfection as an ideal, or natural aging as an enemy to be overcome. Today, despite the passage of so many decades -- many of them spent in neglect -- these buildings have lost none of their original vitality.
On the contrary, time has been very kind to them, burnishing many into a state of venerable grace that even their architects could never have imagined. Or could they?
COPYRIGHT 2008 ARROL GELLNER
DISTRIBUTED BY INMAN NEWS
Arrol Gellner is an Emeryville CA architect, lecturer and author of several books on architecture. E-mail him at home@sf chronicle.com.
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djswan
Joined: 17 Aug 2007
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Location: Montana, USA
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:06 pm Post subject: |
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Simple ages well. Stout ages well. A simple stout barn ages very well.
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lekizz
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birgco
Joined: 01 May 2007
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| SDR, excellent, and it's also important to note that many of the beautiful structures aging so well have wood from old growth forests which is virtually indestructible.
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SDR
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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Villa Savoye, before restoration
Sanatorium Zonnestraal (1926-1931)
J Duiker, B Bijvoet, J G Wiebenga
Hilversum, Netherlands
I suppose this is the kind of thing architect Gellner was thinking of. But, despite good words quite consistently about modernist architecture in past columns, a look at his portfolio of residences shows almost complete adherence to traditional forms and details. So he may not be as patient with the problems of modernist detailing as I had hoped. . .
In any event, I agree with your comments !
SDR
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djswan
Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 848
Location: Montana, USA
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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| birgco wrote: | | SDR, excellent, and it's also important to note that many of the beautiful structures aging so well have wood from old growth forests which is virtually indestructible. |
Half credit on that answer. The old growth larch certainly helps her stand. If is wasn't on goverment land it would be my shop. I love that barn. Love always needs maintenance. 
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SDR
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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M Breuer and A Elzas, De Bijenkorf Department Store (1955-1957), Rotterdam. All weathering of natural stone should be this even, and beautiful (to my eye, anyway) !
All three of my photos so far are from "On Weathering" by Mostafavi and Leatherbarrow (MIT Press, 1993).
SDR
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Architorture
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Joined: 31 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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my only beef with the article is the item on complicated color schemes... all i can think of are greek temples- that although now seem as though they were white washed- in their day they were very colorful structures... so its not like the use of color is some kind of new phenomenon...
we also have to realize that there are modern building forms that really can't be rendered in 'neo-styles' without looking at least a little weird...
otherwise good article... personally i love to try to stick details into my building that i know will weather... a copper scupper here, some wood pergola there...
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SDR
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Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1716
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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I was hoping that he was arguing for detailing of modern materials and forms that would assure better performance over time, not the abandonment of those forms or materials. After looking at his work, it's less clear to me what his intention was. . .
SDR
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birgco
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 302
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Unfortunately, whether modern or traditional, the best, most enduring materials usually (but not always) mean greater expense (stone, granite, copper, stainless steel, teak). With most projects having a specific dollar limit, it's not hard to imagine how many potentially enduring designs/structures have been compromised by the reality of the budget and the failure of the low bidder to properly execute the installation of the specified materials.
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SDR
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Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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Right. So, one element of good weathering is the material itself; another is proper detailing of materials. This would mean drip edges, flashings, sealants, proximities of elements to each other. Are there other kinds of things that would affect weathering and aging ?
SDR
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birgco
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 302
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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I remember reading an article about a factory town in the former Soviet Union. The pollution was so bad that the sulfuric acid in the rain and fog etched window glass opaque. Stainless anyone? 
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SDR
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Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1716
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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Huh. I wonder if wax or oil would have helped ?
I heard just today that the acid rain problem is much better in the US than it was. I guess laws were passed that affected smokestack emissions ?
SDR
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birgco
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 302
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| Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:19 am Post subject: |
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| Yes, you are correct but it's still not a good situation in the east for many lakes and streams where fish kills are still a reality. Our politicians are still considering building new, cleaner coal burning electric generators, but what about CO2 and other greenhouse emissions. When will the presidential candidates get real about a self-sufficient energy policy. Not only are we polluting our air, but over a trillion dollars a years is being siphoned out of the country to pay foreign countries for our addiction to oil.
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djswan
Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 848
Location: Montana, USA
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| Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:56 am Post subject: |
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All things weather. Build knowing that. I just watched a bit of a show "guessing" what might occur if humans dissapeared to our achitecture. Nature takes over again. I think nature is still in charge. Funny was the pyramids still outlast our new stuff. The Hoover Dam was the estimated winner amonst things modern. The Great Wall survives. Stout structure last longer. People fall in and out of love with architecture. Stout helps the structure survive when people aren't loving.
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