just enough design, at the Promenade Plantée, Paris
Rowan Moore, here:
I’m told, by people who don’t suffer from the radical unmusicality which is my personal affliction, that in music pauses are as important as the notes. Something similar is true of architecture. The bits that are not there matter as much as those that are, as if buildings are only completed by the people and actions they contain. You sometimes want the architecture to hold back. What makes bad design offensive is often the urge to fill every space with the decisions of the architect, to determine, finish and close down a place before it is inhabited.
Deborah Howe
Toby Wolf
You’ve got that right! The architect has no clue to what kind of people will inhabit the place, nor does (s)he care. The world is full of such examples.
I love this quote. For me, the big idea is to set the stage for the activity and animation of nature, both human and otherwise, and then see what happens in the space.
I’m not sure I’d be so quick to write off architects, though. The world is also full of examples of buildings where a great deal of consideration has gone into who will inhabit a place, and what accommodation will be possible for them. Grand Central Station, the Guggenheim Museum (though that is a bit strong-army, but still), the sanctuary at the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge — 3 examples out of zillions that immediately come to mind — all hold the opportunity for theatre in every moment. I think there might be another blog post or several in this comment….
Love the photo, too. Sunday on La Grande Jatte, indeed.