"I Prefer When Form Follows Force": an Interview with Helmut Jahn
In the last few years something has happened to architects? willingness to strive for originality. The boldest visions now often come from the old guard of architecture - and frankly, I enjoy conversations with them much more. The current insistence on having common ground pushed so many younger architects into a zombie-like copycat state of mind. But to me, common ground means not to think alike ? then there is space for discourse.
Courtesy of Helmut Jahn
In the last few years something has happened to architects? willingness to strive for originality. The boldest visions now often come from the old guard of architecture - and frankly, I enjoy conversations with them much more. The current insistence on having common ground pushed so many younger architects into a zombie-like copycat state of mind. But to me, common ground means not to think alike ? then there is space for discourse.My most recent conversation with Helmut Jahn at his Chicago office is a case in point. ?Architecture is all about going with your gut. I prefer when form follows force rather than function,? he told me. His distinguished career has been one of twists and turns, and he is not planning to give up exploring new ideas any time soon. His 1985 quadrant-in-plan Thompson Center reinvented a mundane government typology into a soaring public place, with its curved colored glass facade decisively welcoming a postmodernist period to Chicago (one we thought had finished, but now seems to be on...
Courtesy of Helmut Jahn
In the last few years something has happened to architects? willingness to strive for originality. The boldest visions now often come from the old guard of architecture - and frankly, I enjoy conversations with them much more. The current insistence on having common ground pushed so many younger architects into a zombie-like copycat state of mind. But to me, common ground means not to think alike ? then there is space for discourse.My most recent conversation with Helmut Jahn at his Chicago office is a case in point. ?Architecture is all about going with your gut. I prefer when form follows force rather than function,? he told me. His distinguished career has been one of twists and turns, and he is not planning to give up exploring new ideas any time soon. His 1985 quadrant-in-plan Thompson Center reinvented a mundane government typology into a soaring public place, with its curved colored glass facade decisively welcoming a postmodernist period to Chicago (one we thought had finished, but now seems to be on...
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