The emergence of fractal geometry came to be one of the reasons why deconstructivism existed though it credits its existence in French literary studies. Jacques Derrida and Peter Eisenmann played a great role in establishing this style. As postmodern architects follow their lead, its influence became broader and broader making deconstructivism a “trend” in the field. I've seen a lot of it. And most of these proposals remain unbuilt here. That is why the totality of these designers are students; taking advantage of its design flexibility and the intricate appearance it could give. Reading my former statements would picture me out as an antagonist of the style. Yes, I am. But I'm also a protagonist of it.
I view deconstructivism both as a trend and as a medium: The former being negative and the latter being positive. Based on my own perspective, the style tends to lean more on a subjective approach. I'm not saying that it is wrong to be idealistic but as an architect removes much of his technicality, the bounding laws of his professionalism is also disregarded creating an unbalanced architecture. This risks the science of architecture... the functionality... the rationality. That's also why I called the style a “trend”. I remember reading one of the articles written in an architectural website defining deconstructivism as a parasite corrupting every architect's rational thinking. The good thing about the style is that it escapes the boundaries of conventional architecture through freedom of conceptual expression. It challenges architect's design capabilities which results to a progressive improvement in each individual. The bad thing is, it is unpractical in the real world. Especially in a country that is economically unstable and financially critical for many years.
For me, Deconstructivism should be a medium rather than a trend. We should always remember that styles are mediums used to achieve designs that will not only be publicly accepted nor expose our personal notions but will conform to the real laws of architecture. As Renzo Piano quoted, architects should always balance art and science. In this way, deconstructivism will be an architecture rather than an exposition.
DarylVDA_2010
February 12, 2010
