"Architectural imagination, freed from constraints of finance and buildability, should be uncompromising, always. One should imagine entirely new structures, spaces without walls, radically reconstructing the outermost possibilities of the built environment. If need be, we should re-think the very planet we stand on."
Lebbeus Woods (via BLDGBLOG)
Above images - Top: Lebbeus Woods' 'Havana' (1994), & Bottom: Lebbeus Woods' 'Future structures of the Korean demilitarised zone' (1988)
I share here a short, impromptu post regarding the late Lebbeus Woods. It saddens me to learn that we have not only lost one of our time's great experimental architects, but also an incredible writer, conceptualiser of space, and, moreover, theorist on notions of architecture linked to society and its politics. His death comes in a somber period where his own city, New York, stands brave under the recent Sandy storm.
Above image Lebbeus Woods' 'Lower Manhattan' (1999)
What I actually find most mystically interesting is the irony of his passing away in a nature ravaged New York, a scenario that he wrote about and illustrated in 1999 for Abitare magazine which, at the time, was doing a piece on the city. In the illustration (above image) Woods depicts the city such that the earth under a part of Lower Manhattan is cracked and raised, and the rivers are dammed. Woods' objective with this image was to show that even though NY is one of the biggest cities, as we humans perceive cities, size is only a mere perception. Our notion of the scale of the city changes completely when we take into account the size of the mere rock that Manhattan is built on compared to the size & power of nature and our earth.
Above three images from Lebbeus Woods' 'War & Architecture'
Needless to say, I sit very far from knowing the work of Woods well. I, thus, invite you to read the following two pieces that I found are just so beautifully written, both via BLDGBLOG. The first is an interview with Woods dating back to 3rd October 2007, and the second is a tribute to his life and influence on the architectural world. The words of the author comprise a compelling goodbye to an incredible architect all while taking us back through the amazing work and words of Lebbeus Woods.
Above image, Lebbeus Woods' 'Nine Reconstructed Boxes'
Above image, Lebbeus Woods' 'Siteline Vienna' (1998)
Above two images, Lebbeus Woods' 'The Wall Game'
Above three images, Lebbeus Woods' conceptualisation of the 'Einstein's Tomb' (1980)
Source - bldgblog
All images courtesy of - bldgblog
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