Everything is comparative.
That handbag verses that handbag. That colour verses that colour. That car verses that car.
Architecture is the same.
I remember taking my brother to see an apartment building I had designed and had just finished being built. On seeing it there was very little response from him. So, I took him further down the road to show him a couple of other apartment buildings. He then said, “Your building is good, isn’t it.” He needed a comparison.
Just back from visiting friends in Sydney I noticed soft curves in both commercial and residential buildings there. They are now appearing on New Zealand projects. On their own they are unimpressive but when compared to the older hard square edged commercial buildings they are lovely.
Square is cheaper to build than round or curve corners. Most products are square edged.
One of the other buildings I saw was a curved brick building for the Sydney University of Technology, by Frank Gehry, the famous American architect. When I saw the building, it was curved as expected, so I was underwhelmed. But looking around I realised it was so much more interesting and softer than its square-edged neighbours.
Gehry’s building facades are too exuberant for my taste so I wouldn’t want every building to look like his, but the odd one every now and again would be nice.
I also went to see some houses by Sydney’s Luigi Rosselli Architects who also love curves. They have taken it further to elongate the curves. They extend out from the house proper to give an end point on a deck or a viewing spot if behind glass. They are not the arbitrary shapes that Gehry’s curves are.
The curve is also used at the edge of decks as a planter. This softens the buildings facade, adds privacy to the inhabitants, and brings a garden up to the first or second floors.
paul@leuschkekahn.co.nz | 021 894 895 | leuschkekahn.co.nz
