During his conversations with students, Peter Smithson shows how he achieved his architectural style, talked about his early years as an architect and his interests and education when student. In addition to the theoretical work, he shows consciousness about how architecture relates to each kind of client, each social class and how the needs and objectives differs from one case to another, highlighting the influence of money in the creative process.
In addition, he says that he is always aiming to create alternative architecture, but it does not mean that it is always useful. Sometimes a project is not required to be used for something, but just to celebrate something or explore something new, just like his project for the Lantern Pavilion, which tries to create a different situation with a common experience but in an uncommon place.
Above all, it is remarkable his idea of emptiness. Since we live in the culture of the “too much” he believes to be necessary to create empty spaces. He exemplifies his idea mentioning the habit of going out to national parks in the USA as a way to have an experience that people cannot have within the city, where there is too much information. Another example, in a minor scale, is the need for spaces for children to play without breaking anything.
This is part of his concern when drawing: try to leave some space for the element of chance and accidental relationships, but again he reminds that in most cases, when designing for ordinary people, there is hardly money to build the strictly necessary, without extra things. He raises some important questions about our capacity of get quality out of almost nothing and states that sometimes the necessary to be done may not give any money.
Relating these questions to Brazilian issues, the lack of money for infrastructure development due to corruption and poor distribution of resources, for example, creates a situation that seems to have no solution. Will we, the new generation of Brazilian architects and urban planners, be able to get quality out of almost nothing?
Smithson, P 2005, Peter Smithson : Conversations with Students, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, NY, USA. Available from: ProQuest ebrary. [4 February 2015].
In addition, he says that he is always aiming to create alternative architecture, but it does not mean that it is always useful. Sometimes a project is not required to be used for something, but just to celebrate something or explore something new, just like his project for the Lantern Pavilion, which tries to create a different situation with a common experience but in an uncommon place.
Above all, it is remarkable his idea of emptiness. Since we live in the culture of the “too much” he believes to be necessary to create empty spaces. He exemplifies his idea mentioning the habit of going out to national parks in the USA as a way to have an experience that people cannot have within the city, where there is too much information. Another example, in a minor scale, is the need for spaces for children to play without breaking anything.
This is part of his concern when drawing: try to leave some space for the element of chance and accidental relationships, but again he reminds that in most cases, when designing for ordinary people, there is hardly money to build the strictly necessary, without extra things. He raises some important questions about our capacity of get quality out of almost nothing and states that sometimes the necessary to be done may not give any money.
Relating these questions to Brazilian issues, the lack of money for infrastructure development due to corruption and poor distribution of resources, for example, creates a situation that seems to have no solution. Will we, the new generation of Brazilian architects and urban planners, be able to get quality out of almost nothing?
Smithson, P 2005, Peter Smithson : Conversations with Students, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, NY, USA. Available from: ProQuest ebrary. [4 February 2015].