Nothing Special

Apparently Shinohara did it, in part, early on¹ and Sergison Bates still do it on occasion.² Venturi and Scott Brown almost did it too, though they couldn’t help lean into a kind of absurdity. Giving careful thought to a building’s literal building-ness without overthinking its about-ness feels, at this point, almost un-Architectural.

Many works sit quietly on the foundations of their literal expressions rather than the ideation of clear principles, orders or theories. They are just not that notable. Regardless, it’s always nice to notice³ a building that appears to value ordinary elemental components enough to just focus on their configurations rather than inventing new ones. Like a still life painting that doesn’t need the advent of a fictitious fruit or flower, but just the focus to express what it had to work with.