PLAY THE FANTASY GAME

The building is built. The design was done the best that you could have done. Yet I find it interesting to pursue the what if scenarios. What if, for example, there would not have been the historic district regulations that you had to work under? What if there would not have been the required Historic Preservation Board’s review and approval? What if there would have been a sense of bold adventurism with out budgetary concerns in the initial design generation? Or what if you had designed it with this new inspiration that you have now, and didn’t then?

The design is never done. There is always something that you could have done differently. I find that these apres notions and concepts are something that should be followed thru. This sense of gestation after the fact is often more fertile than the set of requirements and inspirations going into the design.

We recently completed a small addition here in our Village. This was the Luhmann Residence.  And because it was under the jurisdiction of historic preservation boards, it of course had to be traditional. And there are always budgetary concerns.  Which is perfectly fine. As an aside, at least in our book, there is either good design or not. The style is the least important factor.

Nevertheless, I did start to fantasize after the design was resolved. I began to play this game; what would the addition have looked like if it has been designed by

-Top Drawing;  Peter Cook

-Middle Drawing:  Robert Motherwell

-Bottom Drawing:  Lebbeus Woods

The drawings on this page play this fantasy game. And it is really great fun. To try it, take an object or building that you have designed. This could be a project that you got paid for or it could be a school project.  Take the setting, environment, restrictions, requirements, client, setbacks, etc., and then inject the signature approach of someone or something you admire. Go ahead. Just start drawing. See what you might come up with.

I bring this game to your attention as this will not be as successful if you draw this representationally. Rather, the transparency is what takes you to the deeper meanings and implications of, what if this really happened? What if this really was what it looked like?

And the $10,000 question is; what doors is this opening in your mind?