Using A Lot of Gas
Palo Alto to Napa. Napa to Paso Robles. Paso Robles to Los Angeles. Los Angeles to La Jolla. La Jolla to Paso Robles. Paso Robles to San Francisco. San Francisco to Palo Alto.
The trip to Napa was a bust because of Dominus Winery's strict visitation rules. We viewed the Dominus Winery building from 1000 feet and imagined the interior through photos.
Los Angeles and La Jolla treated us much better. We missed the Struth show at MOCA but visited a total of five buildings. The new Moneo cathedral surprised me. Both because we found it by accident and because it was more successful than I expected it to be. Moneo uses a variation of his glass-louvres by adding a layer of onyx on the interior and it enhances the spiritual nature of the space quite a bit. Funny how such a little change does that. I would like to know more about Moneo's louvre fascination.
Schindler's Studio/house is the sort of place that you visit and then wonder what has been happening for the last 80 years. Although it leaves much to be desired in the way of livability, the aesthetic of Schindler's house is so contemporary that it was almost spooky to see. The woman at the door said that Schindler lead a bohemian lifestyle and I think one would need to if they were to weather out life in a house like that.
What I liked most about the Ennis-Brown house is that Frank Lloyd Wright never got to finish the interior the way he would have liked. Although Mrs. Ennis' furnishings are not quite the best I enjoying having the opportunity to look past it all and see the Wrghtian space devoid of his dogmatic, terrible furniture.
Greene & Greene's Gamble House could have been much better if the docents weren't there. My favorite parts where the emphasized scarf joints and the Loos-inspired boudoir window overlooking the main stairs.
By far, however, the standout building was the Salk Institute. Although I am still weary of Kahn's psuedo-spiritual approach to spacemaking, the Salk is a beautiful architectural response to client needs. The served/servant spaces are articulated very well, the materials are beautiful, and the siting couldn't have worked better. I was happy to learn that Luis Barragan is the one responsible for the trademark ravine down the center of the Salk. This is quite timely considering I leave on tuesday for Mexico City-- tracking down Barragan's more notable works.
I think I'm starting to understand the difference between buildings and architecture.
--Posted 01/05/03 04:15AM