TATLIN NEWS #48

about being contextual, but about investigating what architec- ture could be – not in terms of form, but in terms of space. – to trace the light change you used a very special tile on the fa ç ade. – I wanted the building to be distinct from a material point of view. Thinking about what the possibilities are and challenging them. I didn’t want to use a material that could be just speci- fied – granite or steel. I wanted it to be the material that we made. Naturally, I thought of using clay. The idea was to create a glaze that would play with the light. So we contacted a group called The Friends of Terra Cotta, Inc. (a non-profit organiza- tion that was founded to promote education and research in the preservation of architectural terra cotta). They referred us to a ceramic artist named Christine Jetten in Amsterdam who works on reinventing ceramic glazes to match historical glaz- ing. We worked together for about a year making over 100 tests to invent a chemical composition to achieve iridescent qualities we wanted. We went back and forth between Amsterdam and New York. Finally, we succeeded and began looking for a com- pany that could match our sample and produce 22,000 custom- sized tiles with the glaze that no one had ever done before. The raw tiles were produced by German company NBK. Then after trying different places, we finally found a 500-year-old fami- ly-owned company Royal Tichelaar Makkum in the Netherlands who agreed to help us. We worked with them for another year to get the right results. Royal Tichelaar glazed the tiles, which were then shipped to another German company, called Seele, that constructed the curtain wall and installed it in New York. – After so many tests and so much effort do you think you could not have used something that already existed? – But it didn’t exist before! You could never find anything like it. The point was that the perception of the fa ç ade would constantly change. Under neutral light, it would look white as a reminder of the old building and then under a certain light it would all of a sudden change to this iridescent almost im- material surface. – no doubt this whole process was very expensive. – There was a premium for achieving a particular glaze – about $250,000, but the rest was just normal production. – this was surely not expected by the client at the begin- ning of the project, right? – They didn’t. They raised the initial budget because they supported my idea. The director and donors personally would fly to Amsterdam and Germany to see the progress. They were intimately involved during the entire design process. – tell me about your interest in drawing. – I believe very strongly in using whatever media are availa- ble to help express ideas. I use charcoal and pastel drawings to express ideas of avocations and possibilities. For me it is a way to start to think about the order of the building, its qualities and character. To me charcoal helps to express the quality of structure and earth because architecture often is about how to mark the ground and how to inscribe a place. I have used char- coal since school mainly because of my professor and mentor Thomas Hacker at the University of Oregon. He worked for Louis Kahn who used both charcoal and pastel in his drawings. – this is how you start all of your projects? – This is how I think. Basically I think with charcoal. And as the process evolves we use a lot of models. – What qualities are you trying to achieve in your archi- tecture? – I am trying to achieve a very specific level of understand-

изобрести уникальную глазуровку, которая  как-то необычно переливалась бы на солнце.  Поэтому мы решили связаться с группой под  названием «Друзья терракоты». Это неком- мерческая организация, занимающаяся по- пуляризацией и исследованием консервации  архитектурной терракоты. Они посоветовали  нам обратиться к художнице Кристин Джет- тен, которая специализируется на изобрете- нии керамической глазуровки в маленькой  экспериментальной мастерской в Амстерда- ме. Мы работали вместе около года, проделав  более сотни тестов, чтобы добиться опреде- ленной химической композиции. Мы летали  из Нью-Йорка в Амстердам и обратно много  раз. Наконец, нам удалось добиться хорошего  результата. Оставалось найти компанию, ко- торая смогла бы повторить нашу глазуровку и  произвести 22 тысячи плиток, каких еще никто  никогда не делал. Сами плитки по спецзаказу  произвела германская компания nBK. Пере- пробовав множество изготовителей, мы нашли  500-летний семейный бизнес, компанию Royal  Tichelaar Makkum в Голландии. На достижение  нужной глазуровки у нас ушел еще год. Затем  все плитки отправились в Германию, где мест- ная компания seele собрала их в секции фаса-

шокирующих образов. Мне кажется, здание  обладает чрезвычайно насыщенным, слож- ным и мощным восприятием, а то, что оно не  укладывается в какой-то узнаваемый сим- вол, делает процесс восприятия простран- ства намного богаче. Такое здание настраи- вает на более внимательное сопереживание  пространства или, к примеру, заставляет об- ратить внимание на то, как меняется отраже- ние натурального света на фасадах в течение  дня. Я вижу здание как своеобразный компас  и хочу, чтобы люди чувствовали это. Для меня  архитектура не является актом прокламации.  Мне ближе идея архитектуры как предмета  изучения и расследования. Мне не интересна  контекстуальная архитектура. Меня интересу- ет расследование того, чем архитектура могла  бы быть – не то, какую она могла бы принять  форму, а то, какое можно изобрести с ее по- мощью пространство. – Поговорим о необычности фасадов. – Я хотел, чтобы здание отличалось ма- териалом. Поэтому вместо того, чтобы про- сто выбрать готовую облицовку – гранит или  сталь – мне хотелось применить материал, ко- торый мы бы сами специально создали. Есте- ственно, я думал о глине, керамике. Хотелось 

Вид инсталляции «second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary » (слева направо): Соня Кларк «Madame CJ walker» (2007-2008), Надин Робинсон  «Great white Me» (2008), Томас Глассфорд «Running the numbers» (2008), Кортни Смит «Psiche Complexo» (2003). Фото: © Richard Barnes |  Installation view of Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, featuring (left to right): Sonya Clark’s Madame CJ Walker (2007-2008); Nadine Robinson’s Great White Me (2008); Thomas Glassford’s Running the Numbers (2008) and Courtney Smith’s Psiche Complexo (2003). Photo: Richard Barnes

110    ТАТLIN news 6|48|65  2008