Lecture
Date
07.06.2018, Do 18.00 Uhr
Hörsaal 1, Universität Liechtenstein
Content
The essay Transparency, written by Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky in 1964 had a big impact on Swiss architecture and Swiss landscape architecture of the 1970s and 1980s.
The formal tendency of "form-organization" of transparency was developed between 1953 and 1958 in conjunction with the teaching practices of the "Texas Rangers" - as John Hejduk, Lee Hirsche, Bernhard Hoesli, Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky were later called - at the School of Architecture of the University of Texas at Austin.
The resulting text by Rowe and Slutzky was one outcome of their experimental teaching, though Bernhard Hoesli later attempted to establish the concept of transparency as a reliable design method in the entry-level course for architecture at the ETH Zurich, where he was appointed as professor.
Hoesli also edited the text and translated it into German. The concept of Transparency was developed within the curriculum for modern painting and architecture and illustrates the possibility of assigning elements of complexity and clarity within a design. By following this principle, it is possible to respond to complicated content, on the one hand, and to lend clarity and order to complexity, on the other. For this reason, transparency was seen to be a principle of formal organization particularly suited to urban design projects, as a means of responding to a given context.
Influenced by Swiss architects, the Swiss landscape architect Dieter Kienast (1945-1998) quickly recognized the potential of this method as a means of renewing an approach to form in landscape architecture. The lecture will focus on this very special moment in Swiss landscape architecture as Kienast was a key figure in reorienting the profession during the 1980s. After an introduction to the concept and its meaning for Kienast in particular, the lecture will focus on two urban parks, where Kienast first used the principles of transparency: the city park in Wettingen (1979-1984) and the park of the spa resort in Zurzach (1983 - 1985). In these two projects, Kienast attempted to articulate the park as both a link and a buffer between vegetated areas and the respective urban setting, adhering to the park's own formal logic and that of its larger context at the same time. In doing so, the design maximized the contrast between the natural and the artificial, using a collage of various landscape components that have partially been developed from the relics found on site.
Weitere Informationen unter www.uni.li/architektur
Information Contact
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