Really enjoyed listening to this thought provoking and interesting @BBCRadio4
Programme just now: “Building Soul - with Thomas Heatherwick. Why Boring Buildings Are Bad for Us. “
Yet another area modernity has got all wrong. (And yes i know, being anti-modern is problematic, but just occasionally i do enjoy letting rip) #Architecture #Modernity
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001r1b2?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile
@pvonhellermannn @BBCRadio4
I enjoyed listening to this too!
Featured some research I greatly respect, for example the work of Colin Ellard:
https://aeon.co/essays/why-boring-streets-make-pedestrians-stressed-and-unhappy
However, there are also a few premises of the programme that I heartily disagree with.
The fact that architects have ignored users for too long? Agreed.
Thus, we need to focus on facades and exterior building aesthetics? Don't agree!
Buildings need to work for regular users inside as much (even more?) as for those passing by
I would also like to see the usability of some of Thomas Heatherwick's own buildings scrutinised.
This blog post of mine on Heatherwicks Learning Hub in Singapore is 8 years old but unfortunately still very relevant in its demand to test whether buildings actually hold what they promise:
https://spaceandorganisation.org/2015/03/13/seeing-is-not-interacting-thoughts-on-the-new-learning-hub-by-heatherwick-studio/
A lot of my architecture friends got all excited this week by the completion of the new Learning Hub of Nanyang Technical University in Singapore by Heatherwick Studio. Quite rightly so! It seems t…
And then of course there is 'The Vessel'. Heatherwick asks in the BBC programme how does a building make you feel?
The answer here very clearly: excluded!
Or in the much more eloquent words of Kevin Gotkin:
"limiting, by design, anyone whose body doesn’t easily climb stairs. Vessel is only interactive if you imagine one charmed visitor-figure: the young, bipedal, non-suicidal, stroller-less, luggage-less climber"
Source: https://averyreview.com/issues/33/stair-worship
I would really like to see a broader discourse in the BBC on #buildings, their usability, how they are designed; how they support people or work against them; who they work for (and who they don't work for) and therefore move #architecture into the realms of not just #psychology and #neuroscience (important, don't get me wrong) but also #sociology and #SocialJustice
I somehow doubt that future Heatherwick episodes are going to deliver on that one. Let's see!
Pauline von Hellermann
Professor Kerstin Sailer