New Yorker Profiles Peter Zumthor
In The New Yorker Dana Goodyear profiles "The Iconoclast Remaking Los Angeles's Most Important Museum." That isn't necessarily who you think it is—it's Peter Zumthor. One takeaway of Goodyear's piece is that Zumthor's slow perfectionism has much to do with the building's gradually spiraling cost. At one point Michael Govan told Zumthor that if he wanted to make another change to the building's shape, Zumthor would have to find the $3 million cost himself. (The money was found through "value engineering"—finding a way to save money on something else.)
On Zumthor's last pre-lockdown visit to LACMA, in late February, he and Govan celebrated the impending demolition of the original LACMA buildings.
"We do what we want, and we are on budget!' Govan said. "I told you this would happen."
"Well, I didn’t want to be on budget," Zumthor said. "I don’t give a fuck if we’re on budget."
Comments
> Zumthor said. "I don’t give a fuck if we’re
> on budget."
Jeez, what could possibly go wrong?
"The check is in the mail."
The most intriguing part of the article is the visit to the monastery. It is not incidental. I suspect Zumthor was signaling something.
As I have argued before, the new LACMA building is a cloister turner inside out. There is a square, a house, and a door. There is even a bell tower (office building) which casts a shadow on the square.
http://filmstarfacts.com/2018/02/15/mad-mad-mad-mad-world-1963/
He wrote that it was the Monastery of Ema which made him "conscious of the harmony which results from the interplay of individual and collective life. [...] Individuality and collectivity comprehended as a fundamental dualism." (The Marseilles Block)
Monastic architecture may also account for Corbusier's analysis of space into cellular units.
The interior of the new LACMA also has a cellular composition.
October 12, 2020
Editors
This week, watch a video on how natural light sources in the new David Geffen Galleries, opening in 2024, will breathe new life into LACMA's collection. How will areas of LACMA’s collection come to life as never before? Find out in Bringing Artworks and Visitors into the Light, part of a series of short videos about the new building coming to our campus. Stay tuned for other videos in the series.
Construction Update
The following work will be conducted this week:
Installation of the remaining construction fence along the north side of Wilshire Boulevard has started.
Removal of demolished Ahmanson Building debris and foundations continues.
Removal of foundations of the Art of the Americas Building continues.
Grading to prepare for shoring installations north of Wilshire Boulevard is completed.
Material deliveries for shoring installations north of Wilshire Boulevard are completed.
Shoring systems installations north of Wilshire Boulevard will begin.
Foundations installations at the Spaulding Lot have started and will continue.
Construction Hours
Monday–Friday: 7 am–7 pm
Saturday: 8 am–6 pm
https://unframed.lacma.org/2020/10/12/building-project-october-12-update
One an wish the twosome the best possible outcome at this point and still chuckle at the likely budgetary problems that might make for comeuppance after a less than even moderately transparent process. OMA’’s “you’ll save money by tearing it down” did not quite work out and they were a modest bunch after starting the demolition derby. My least favorite strategy along this more recent bumpy road is justifying jumping the boulevard by a comparison to a million square foot mall and an even larger convention center. Or that the necessity of a vaulting, stretchy single story was somehow the same as providing health care workers, particularly given the times, with a convenience bridge to their car, or more immediate access to another wing of the hospital. And the Lucas is over an abandoned street, not a major boulevard. But apples are oranges when you need them to be. The noble goal of claiming equality of cultures can ring hollow with the negligence in one’s own backyard. But moving forward is now upon us.
It seems as if the kick off for this next stage is Zumthor’s angst as to whether he is fully appreciated after the umpteenth design change—which no doubt is better as the shadow casting studies on the Goff finally paid off—and cautioning from the client about the 650 figure, or else; all among the interesting subplots in the beta version of the brooding, architect hating star architect who doesn’t give a damn saga.
But your fanciful analogy of an inverted monastery with the 5700 as a city scaled minimalist campanile is at least perhaps more plausible than the they-did-it-so-why-can’t-we smokescreen; bringing the floating the floating smaller scale—until you are under it—to larger prominence. Museum as monastery, however, might not be quite in line with the de rigueur poststructuralist selling point for the single floor that closed the deal, but it is an idea. A bit city phobic, but then the west side acropolis got the retreat bit going a while ago so maybe it’s now an LA art-as-religion thing.
The overriding sense for some is a melancholy after multiple building campaigns that never seem to arrive at a successful resolve. The Berlin NG in LA—they almost got to Mies before that commission began—is quite the daydream of happier museum going lives amongst LACMA’s riches that might have been. But it became two floors and bulldog insistence now tells us that such hierarchy formation is bad. Not to say that a Chipperfield rough renovation of kitsch corporate classicism stripped bear might have been interesting, but the bigger splash is, of course, still the sign of the times. I just wish the thing fit.
So let’s go with your optimism and wish them, and Clark, well; especially Clark. There is no doubt no problem, in the even more current sign of the times, that an enthralled trustee board full of millionaires cannot solve when the time comes. Still lots of trust to squander.
October 19, 2020
Editors
This week, watch LACMA's curators explain how the new David Geffen Galleries, opening in 2024, will establish connections between artworks across time and cultures. How will artworks talk to one another across time periods, traditions, and borders in the new David Geffen Galleries at LACMA? Find out in Making Connections, part of a series of short videos about the new building coming to our campus.
Construction Update
The following work will be conducted this week:
Foundations installation for the new building at the Spaulding Lot continues.
Installation of the remaining construction fence along the north side of Wilshire Boulevard continues.
Removal of foundations of the Ahmanson Building and Art of the Americas Building continues.
Final grading to prepare for shoring installations north of Wilshire Boulevard on the eastern side of the site has been completed.
Shoring installation north of Wilshire Boulevard on the eastern side of the site has started and will continue.
Construction Hours
Monday–Friday: 7 am–7 pm
Saturday: 8 am–6 pm
https://unframed.lacma.org/2020/10/19/building-project-october-19-update