Architecture of the Absurd: How "Genius" Disfigured a Practical Art

101 Pages·2007·22.672 MB·English

by  John R. Silber

iSrWB ■X
■■|i| ■Mi
ISliN: 978-I-(595-72O27-8
$27.50 / $55.00 (1\N
1 lave you ever wondered why the (juggerdieiin
is always covered in scaffolding? Why the
slashes on the exterior of Libeskind’s Jewish
Mnseinn, supposed to represent Jewish life in
prewar Berlin, reappear, for no reason, on his
Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto? Or why
Gehry’s design for an MIT lab for sensitive
research has glass walls? Not to mention why,
for $442 per square foot, it doesn’t keep out the
rain? You’re not alone.
In Architecture of the Absurd^ John Silber
dares to peek behind the curtain of “genius”
architects and expose their willful disdain for
their clients, their budgets, and the people who
live or work inside their creations.
In his twenty-five years as President of
Boston Univ'ersity, Dr. Silber oversaw a building
program totaling more than 15 million square
feet. Mere he constructs an unflinching case,
beautifully illustrated, against the worst trends
in contemporary architecture. He challenges
architects to derive creative satisfaction from
meeting the practical needs of clients and the
public. 1 le urges the directors of our universi-
ties, symphony orchestras, museums, and corpo-
rations to stop financing inefficient, ov^erpriced
architecture, and calls on clients and the public
to tell the emperors of our skylines that their
pretensions cannot hide the naked absurdity of
their designs.
Arch itect u re
How “Genius”
Disfigured a Practicai Art
John Siiber
The Quantuck Lane Press New York

Architecture of the Absurd
1 low “denius” Disfigured a Practical Art
(copyright © 2007 by John Silber
Since this page cainiot legibly acconnnodate all the perniissions and copyright notices,
page 94 constitutes an extension of the copyright page.
All rights reserxed
Printed in Italy
First Fdition
.Manufacturing by Mondadori Printing, \erona
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-l^uhlication Data
Silber, .John.
.\rehiteeture of the absurd : how “genius” disfigured a practical art /
John Silber. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 97S-1-.'^C)572-027-H
1. .\rehit(*eture—1 lunian factors. 2. Creation (I^iterary, artistic, etc.)
5. Absurd (Philosophy) in art. 4. Architects and patrons. 5. .Architecture and society.
1. Title.
N.\2.542.4.S55 2007
724'.b--de22
200702c)b.'51
riie (^)uantuek Lane Press
.\( *w \ork
www.ijiiantueklaiiepress.eoni
Distributed by: \^.\^. Norton cA Company, .300 Fifth .\\enue, .New York, NA 10110
w w w. w w 11 or t o 11 .CO 111
\Y\\. Norton <A Company Ltd., Castle 1 louse, 75/7b Wells Street, London, WFF ^f/l
1 2 3 4 .3 () 7 H () o
Ill iiieniorv of inv father,
Paul George Silber, AIA
i8<Si—ig.5-
Contents
Introduction
Architecture of the Absurd
11
Notes
9
^
Additional l^lioto Credits and Permissions
94
Index
95
Acknowledgments
I wish to express niv thanks to Dr. Chandler Rosenberger, wdio has
served as my researeh assistant and, among other contributions, has col-
lected all of the illustrations 1 recjuested, many of which he has traveled
far and wide to photograph himself. In addition, he has been a carefnl
reader and editor whose opinions on this subject have been illuminating.
I also wish to thank my executive assistant, Ms. Kelly O’Connor, whose
learning, intellectnal independence, and sharp eyes have made her an
invaluable editor. I am also grateful to Janies Mairs, who brought to this
project the enthusiasm, discernment, and taste for which he is rightly
renowned, and to his able assistant, Austin O’Driscoll.
Finally, 1 must express my gratitude to my father, Paul George
Silber, who engaged me even as a child m the study and practice of
architecture and instilled in me a lifelong interest and love for the sub-
ject. 1 dedicate this book to his memory.
Introduction
As a {)rolessor of philosophy and law and as a former president of
Boston I niversitv, 1 may seem an unlikely person to write a book on
architecture. But it is not really surftrising for three reasons; first, my
education in architecture hy working with my father; second, my habit
of studying buildings wherever 1 have been in the course of travel
that has taken me to manv cities, towns, and villages, not onlv in the
.\niericas and Europe hut also in the Middle East and Asia; and third,
my extensiye iin olvement oyer thirty years in the planning and con-
struction of buildings at Boston Uniyersity.
My father was an architect trained in Berlin in the Beaux-Arts tra-
dition, a school of design dedicated to architecture that is both beautiful
and f)ractical. d'he curriculum he studied included design, engineering,
and sculpture. 1 le came to the L nited States in ic)02 as a sculptor to as-
sist in the construction of the (jerman Fayilion at the St. Eouis Morld's
fair of 1904. Fascinated hy this country of “one thousand possibilities,”
he remained here, and after some travel and various emplovments he
began his architectural practii'e in Palestine, d'exas. llis firactice nour-
ished and soon he moved to San .\ntonio, where many more opportuni-
ties were offered. In the second and third decades of the twentieth cen-
tury he was fully occujiied with the design and (‘onstruction of hanks,
churches, schools, liotels, and residences. But lu* was totally lac'king in
the jiolitical skills and political connei'tions hy which to win ('onimis-
sions lor jiublic huildings, and his practice' withered following the onset
of the (Ireat 1 )ej)r('ssion. fVom 1931 to 191.1, his firacticc' was limited to
an occasional new residence or small huilding and more Ire'ipiently to
projc'cts calling only lor reno\ation or remodeling ol existing structure's.
7 AKCll I riCCTlH !•: ()!• I'lll'. AMSCHI)
During the war he designed and supervised eonstriiction of military
bases including large assenihly and mess halls. With steel reserved
for war production, his Beanx-Arts knowledge of wooden trusses and
arches serxed the war effort. After the war his civilian practice flour-
ished again.
krom the time 1 was eight until 1 was twenty-three, my father called
on me from time to time to assist him. 1 le used me most often in that
bleak })re-war period when 1 helped him measure buildings he had been
engaged to remodel. Along the wav I learned to read blueprints and spec-
ifications and I could relate elevations and cross sections to floor plans
without difficulty. My father also talked to me extensively about the his-
torv of architecture and the expectations and requirements imposed on
the responsible architect. Without recourse to books, he would discuss
works of architects and sculptors he admired, works by Praxiteles,
Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Palladio, Wright’s great mentor Louis Sullivan,
and such modern architects as Richard Neutra and Eero Saarinen.
I freqnentlv had the opportunitv to observe inv father on the job.
I le exqilained that two percent of his fee was to inspect all stages of con-
struction to ensure that the client’s interests were fully met bv the exact
execution of plans and specifications. He would personally supervise
jobs such as pouring concrete or setting plumbing, where no evidence of
sloppiness or omission would be visible once they were finished, but he
also visited the construction site after five p.m. when the contractor and
workmen were gone. 1 le would examine everything in detail and take
notes for a meeting the following morning with the contractor. If he
had specified that all the surfaces of the doors were to be sealed, he
would hold a small mirror above the top of the door and below its bot-
tom edge to see that these surfaces, not directly observable once the
doors were hung, had been painted or varnished. And if he had speci-
fied three coats of paint—a primer and two finish coats—he would wait
until the first finish coat was done and then come in after five p.m. to
make little pencil marks at different locations. After the contractor re-
ported that the final coat was done, mv father would return to check his
pencil marks. If anv had not been covered bv the final finish coat, mv
father called tlie contractor to task and saw that the work was done as
specified. Contractors soon learned that tliere were no shortcuts on mv
father’s jobs, and clients knew thev could relv on him.
My f ather sharpened my skills in the snnnner of 1949 when he
hired iiie^ briefly as a draftsman in his office. He gave me a floor {ilan
8 SII.KK u