ISBN 978-88-6242-287-1 First Italian edition September 2018 © LetteraVentidue Edizioni © Diana Carta No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, even for internal or educational use. Italian legislation only allows reproduction for personal use and provided it does not damage the author. Therefore, reproduction is illegal when it replaces the actual purchase of a book as it threatens the survival of a way of transmitting knowledge. Photocopying a book, providing the means to photocopy, or facilitating this practice by any means is like committing theft and damaging culture. All the pictures and drawings are courtesy of: © Steven Holl Architects Photo credits: Gyoun Nam 14-15 Susan Wides 10, 32, 34, 35 Diana Carta 28-29 Paul Warchol 4, 52-53, 56, 64, 66, 67, 68-69, 70, 71, 72-73 Cover photo credit: © Iwan Baan Book design: Martina Distefano Proofreading: Richard Lisle LetteraVentidue Edizioni S.r.l. Corso Umberto I, 106 96100 Siracusa, Italy Web: www.letteraventidue.com Facebook: LetteraVentidue Edizioni Twitter: @letteraventidue Instagram: letteraventidue_edizioni
DIA N A CA RTA
L a k e of t h e m ind A conve rsat i o n w i t h
St even Ho ll
Co nt e n ts
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Int roduct ion
by Y e h uda E . Sa fra n
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A conv ersat ion wit h St ev en Ho ll
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E x of In Hous e
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C onclus ion
Y e h uda E. Sa f ra n
Introduction
I met Steven Holl more than 20 years ago at a Paola Iacucci project review. He turned to me and said: “You remind me of somebody I knew” I said “I hope a nice man” he replied, “Yes, very nice, Alvin Boyarsky”. It turned out that it was Alvin who invited him to the Architectural Association and made him assistant to Rem Koolhaas while Zaha Hadid was a student at their Unit. It was Alvin, following my Adolf Loos exhibition at the ICA in London (1985), who appointed me in charge of Theory and the Diploma Thesis at the AA. Steven then went on to invite me to his own review the following day. It was dominated by a debate on the analogical versus the digital. We ended up, as many reviews do, in an Italian restaurant. At the time I was living in Rome, but, when at the end of the dinner Steven turned to me and asked me if I would care to join him at the GSAPP at Columbia University the
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Ov er l ook in g 3 1 st St reet in Mi dtow n W est in New York Ci ty, St e v e n H ol l recounts h ow h is c re at iv e p roces s o r i g in at es a n d dev el ops t h ro u gh a pa rt ic u l a r st y l e of wo r k in g, l e a ding to what ch a r act e riz es h is f orm of a rc h it e ct ure.
I t i s through a des cript ion o f h is l at est p rojects th at t h e a rc h it ect wil l i llu st rat e t h e tools of h i s work a n d t h e pl ace w h er e t h is is c o nceiv ed an d c on t e m p l at ed: “T he cr eativ e work b e g ins in t he s o li tu de of t h e c onnect ion o f th e m in d/h a n d/ey e. T he s o li ta ry room w ith a ta bl e a n d a c h a ir is a fu nct iona l draw in g st udio�* * St e v e n Hol l , Bl ack Swa n T heo ry, Pr i nc eto n A rc hit ect ura l P res s , M a rCH 2007, p. 151.
DIA N A CA RTA
A co n v e rsat ion wit h Stev e n H ol l Di a n a C a r ta Whenever one has the opportunity to
meet the most influential artists and architects you try not only to learn from their work but also to gain an insight into the mindset and working practices, understanding how the creative process originates and develops through a particular style of working. Since time immemorial researchers and thinkers have been interested and fascinated by the topic: how the creative process develops and what influences the creativity that leads to the final result of the synthesis. On this occasion I would like to discuss those subjects with you, about the place where you work and the importance of the genius loci, not only in relation to the resulting buildings, but also in relation to the space where they were designed and developed. In effect, it is fascinating to see how artists and architects choose their studios with care as these exert an
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T Space Gallery
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get it right at once, when I am not satisfied, after a critique, I start over again and I do another drawing and another scheme.
DC So this place is also crucial to meditate, to think and to find concentration.
SH Right, concentration; but I do also have ideas in
other moments of the day and in different situations. You do not necessarily draw it out but it is certainly nice to be in that place (Round Lake Hut) and it is easier to work there.
DC Looking at the planimetry of the area, the Round Lake Hut seems to be part of a larger scale project.
SH Right, it is a project for 28 acres of land and it
aims to preserve the natural land, acres and acres of natural land. In the planimetry you can see what is already there, such as the T-Space which was built five years ago and is now a gallery space. In the summer time, we have different kinds of shows: poetry, live music, architecture or painting or sculpture exhibitions and a large amount of people usually come on the occasion of these events. Through the transformation of this old hunting shack, we have another gallery space and close to it there is one of the latest experimental projects of our office: Exploration of In. It is an artists’ residency, some big installations sometimes take days to be prepared and then it could be a guest house for the artists. For example, last year, the sculptor Oscar Tuazon set up a big installation here and it took him a week’s work on the site.
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FACT SHEET
P rogra m : Guest Hous e / A rt ist R esi d enc e Est im at ed dat e of com pl et ion: Ju ly 2016 Sit e a rea : 9 18 s q f t B uilt a rea : 28 Acres M at e ria ls : wood const ruct ion, C NC carved wood d eta ils , t hin f il m s ol a r panels, re cyc led gl as s ex t erior
C RE DIT S HEET
T E A M : St ev en Hol l A rchit ects , Steven H o ll ( design a rchit ect ), Dim it ra Tsac hr eli a ( design a rchit ect, project a rc h i tect), Yu li ya Sav e lyeva , m icha el ha ddy (project team), Ru oy u Wei (AS S ISTA NT PROJECT ARC HI TECT) In ge gnere st rut t ura l e: Robert Si lman Assoc i at es C l im at e Engineers : T ra ns s ol a r Im p resa : JP L Hom e Im p rov em ent, Javi er G o mez
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