| |
Blur:
The Making of Nothing. Elizabeth Diller and
Ricardo Scofidio.
Serving as a document of the 3.5-year
struggle to "make nothing," this book will find
more favor with architects, those familiar with the difficult
process to build anything. Those unfamiliar with the design
and construction processes might be enlightened, though
they'll have to dig through dry correspondence, architectural
drawings, shop drawings, and so forth. Regardless, I found
the documentation fascinating, almost as fascinating as
the project itself, a fog cloud hovering 75 feet above the
waters of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, part of Expo.02.
The book acts like a timeline, a literal one anchoring each
right-hand page and illustrating that page's location in
the process. Thematic sections give detailed information
on the various components: fog nozzles, media, structure,
etc. If the project weren't such an atypical building, the
process wouldn't be nearly as interesting. But given the
groundbreaking nature of the undertaking, even the most
mundane faxes and shop drawings take on more than a passing
fancy. By the end, the reader is amazed that the project
turned out so successful, given the struggles and setbacks
encountered along the way.
 |
