Allan Wexler, “Sheathing the Rift” (2014) (all images courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York)

In recent years, the connections between architecture, art, and design have, in many cases, become inextricably bound to another in a kind of symbiotic relationship. For some observers, architecture appears relevant to the twenty-first century only when it emulates an abstract sculptural presence. But for architecture to unite with sculpture in this way, the balance between its respective function and non-functional components requires the formative clarification of design.  What is often lost or missing from the equation is the overriding technical authority of engineering, which has gradually been given less attention than the overall, external appearance of the building. Does this mean engineering still resides in the Industrial Age with no relation to the present? I would disagree — primarily because engineering is what gives attention to detail, and detail is what signifies the manner in which things are made to work coherently even when not visible on the surface.

Where architecture merges with art, and consequently, art with design, the structural joints and modular units that contain aspects of the structural whole and thus hold things in place may become too far-sighted, which means that attention to such functional details begins to move outside the central idea of architecture rather than being integrated with it. This appeared evident to me upon visiting three architectural sites over the past decade: Frank Gehry’s Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Zaha Hadid’s Opera House in Guangzhou, and Rem Koolhaas’ Casa da Música in Porto. In each case, a faltering attention to details included problems with proportions in scale relations, unmatched seams between walls, acoustical distortions, and stress points near window mullions that result in leakage. These and other related problems tended to interrupt my perception of the whole. When such details are overlooked or are taken for granted or misunderstood in terms of the necessity of balance, my sense of comfort within and around the space of the building is diminished. The balance between function and non-function literally depends on engineering, which serves as a fundament for all existing genres of architecture + art and design, even when highly imaginative, software-ridden forms are present.

“Adams House in Paradise” (2014)

While tactile theorists may strive for a greater conceptualization in designing their buildings, they may understate the lingering demands of specialization that will not diminish in importance. For example, the height of a ceiling is not incidental to the acoustics in a room, the plumbing fixtures in the basement require clarity of access, and the slope of a ramp for the handicapped cannot be too steep in relation to the entry. Conversely, the kind of specializations that engineering provides become necessary once the concept has been clarified through art and design, and once the continuity of the proposal is clearly established through the integration of material software. In other words, clarity of concept precedes specialization, not the other way around. But without specialization, it is unlikely the concept of a building will succeed on functional terms.....Continue Reading

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