breezy serious : liz diller on the hirshorn bubble
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| liz diller presenting her ted talk on the hirshorn bubble - image from ted blog |
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All blossoming designers do case studies on projects in order to understand what makes for good design. Humor me for a bit as I want to do case studies on how great design is presented and discussed.
In the case of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, sometimes that design is meant to be both reverent and irreverent at the same time. Their often playful, but always genius projects are presented boldly and without apologies for any possible veiled innuendo. For example, this was the opening slide when Charles Renfro came to speak at CCA. Just saying.
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| "light sock" - DSF+R |
On to the TED talk....
Liz Diller crafts an introduction to the Hirshorn Bubble that is an intricate tennis match between the serious and the sassy, allowing for complete audience buy in on the project. Their projects are hardly boring. Diller has a very sincere desire to create a space where "art inserts itself" on the "cultural diplomacy" and fosters "a public forum, a place for discourse around art, politics and public
policy". It will “have the reach of the World Economic Forum, the
interdisciplinarity of TED, and the informality of Times Square" (
TED Blog). She accomplishes that by keeping true to the jovial and often tongue in cheek spirit of her firm.
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| Marting Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech at the National Mall |
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She starts with a series of slides depicting the National Mall as "the most revered public space in America", drawing on the sentimental to show how disconnected the "concrete doughnut" shape of the existing Hirshorn is in comparison.
The design intervention has to be "air" in contrast to the rigid and formal architecture it will engage with. The Bubble will activate the hole of the doughnut by "inhaling the democratic air of the mall". Inspiring, right? Then the undercurrent of jokes come in as she chuckles, switches to this slide and says "I blush whenever I show this...it is yours to interpret".
She balances references to the shape of the structure and the "bondage"
techniques used to corral it into the center of the Hirshorn with a
smattering of talk about maintaining the dignity of the ever so revered
National Mall. The overall effect on the audience is a jovial acceptance that a project looking to bring so much life and cultural engagement can be a little silly in its architectural language. Great design does not have to be such a serious business. Apparently, you can throw in an "erection" joke if your design strategy is sound.
Link to the TED talk
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