אדריכלות ישראלית

Architecture of Israel #

115

November

2018

Chalenging Exitement

page

english readers

For better or for worse (mainly worse),

in multi-system chaos there are no

longer limitations and we can in fact do

everything; apart from changing master

plans, which usually reach the site many

years after being approved. But since this

causes the need for “Relief” in the building

permit process, authorities don’t really

mind because “Relief” has become their

best source of side-income.

Against this troubling background, terms

like “renewal”, “astonish” or "surprise"

have become a way of communication,

like Bibi appearing like the Prophet Elijah

at the door of people celebrating Rosh

Hashana.

Andwhen architecture loses its boundaries

(its most fundamental target) one cannot

define what "good architecture" is, neither

the relevance of the question, nor in

fact, the relevance of all questions - from

capital/regime relations to the impotence

of the police to find attackers in broad

daylight, on a beach filled with witnesses,

who don’t have enough testosterone to

testify.

No, I haven’t forgotten that we are

dealing with architecture, nor that we,

as architects, have a professional

commitment to the proper functioning of

a building, its optimal relationship with

the environment, its adaptation to climate

(that also constantly surprises us) and,

from personal experience – satisfying the

whims of local municipality leaders, half

of whom are actors in the movie “Behind

Bars”.

food for thought

architectural excitement

testosterone Vs. cortisol

Ami Ran

Recent research that examined the correlation between thrill-seeking and the levels of

testosterone and cortisol in the blood, un-surprisingly concluded that men tend to be

involved in dangerous situations far more than women. And with good reason: produced

in high quantities in the testicles, testosterone reduces fear (hence the source of the

expression “he’s got balls”), and in turn reduces the need for cortisol – a Glucocorticoid

hormone – produced in the pituitary gland to help the body cope with emergencies.

The question is: What does this say about architecture in general and the

architectural profession in particular?

However, the desire to renew, surprise

and challenge, did not of course start

with the cyber era, it has always been an

important factor in any worthy work of art:

in music where the development of the

creation depended on the "surprising"

variations on a theme; in drama where

an unpredictable turning point in the plot,

whether comedy or tragedy, changes the

hero's life; in painting, where the less

comprehensible it is, the higher its price;

and of course in architecture that has to

be updated according to time and needs.

A fascinating story on this subject

concerns Architect Christopher Wren who,

in 1666, designed the City of London after

the Great Fire destroyed the great plague,

including St. Paul’s Cathedral, where one

can whisper on one side and be heard on

the other without a hearing aid, as well as

a number of buildings in the royal City of

Windsor.

On one building he designed a stone

arcade suspended above the pavement

without supporting columns. When the

city engineer vigorously protested that it

wasn’t safe, he had to give in and insert

supportive columns underneath, but to

prove his point, he left a gap of an inch so

the columns would prove dispensable, to

this day, in honor of architectural thought,

In time, this “exciting” trick became a

banal motif of Post-Modern architecture,

where columns were placed everywhere,

without any support function, but that of

the architect’s ego.

I myself encountered one of these columns

in a restaurant I planned in a concrete

building on Dado Beach in Haifa. When

I cut into one of the columns in order to

insert a serving shelf, the astounded

architect who had planned the building,

refused to calm down until I proved to her

that the (fake) column did not appear in

the construction plan.

Though having an architectural ego,

this story was not the reason I wrote the

article. I actually wanted to remind us all

that on the other side of the "surprise"

always stands, sits or lies down (mainly

lies down) a “user”, who doesn’t always

know how to define his needs and wishes

but who, in most cases, also strives to

renew, surprise, and entertain his guests,

according to his budget, daring, and his

boredom; until the cord connecting him

to reality tears and he finally decides to

hire another architect for an expensive,

corrective experience.

The problematic and, as mentioned,

important aspect of the phenomenon

of thrills in any creative act – is that its

most attractive results are reflected in

buildings that express a (male) “walking

on the edge” – a principle fundamentally

opposed to the woman architect’s basic

ambition for a (feminine) physical, calm

and stable house.

And no less problematic is the fact that

there is always a real need for renewal

- because a house, like its owner gets

old, and the needs change. However, the

renewal process initiated (like anything

else) by regime/capital relations, is