Grant Thompson

Lecture with Grant Thompson

Our lecture with Grant Thompson was one of my favorites, he began the lecture by briefly describing the nature of the word modernism (which I thought was fitting seeing as the rest of his lecture was based around modern concepts and ideas). He quoted "Modernism - Consciously rejects the past to look to the future", this is the theory he used to support his main topic "form follows function". He started off by saying there are two approaches in design, a formalist approach (which concentrates more on the overall appearance and aesthetics of the design), and a functionist approach (which revolves around how the design works).

Grant talked about how people look at something and immediately try to work out it's function rather than acknowledge the objects form. I actually didn't realize how ignorant I was being lol but I guess now that I know, I'll be a little more observant from now on. Grant gave us an example on functionist approach, saying that if we look at a fork, the first thing that comes to mind is that it's an eating utensil, our natural instincts tell us to acknowledge it's function before the form.

I did some research and found out that the term "form follows function" is a principle used in modern architecture, that the shapes used in modern 20th century buildings are used to be suitable for the functionality of the building. I wasn't really surprised about this finding though, in actual fact, I thought it was quite obvious that buildings should be more concentrated on function rather than form, otherwise it would be a pretty dangerous world (knowing how some architects let their imagination get the best of them sometimes lol).

Google images: http://www.bluefountainmedia.com/business/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/form-vs-function.jpg

Auckland Art Gallery

My first time visiting the Auckland Art Gallery, and I quote Usher Raymond when I say "OMG" lol. I thought it was amazing, the architecture of the building was phenomenal (you can laugh but this is my opinion), the whole mumbo jumbo about form following function left my brain while I stood there in awe. After 5 minutes of drooling over the architecture, I got myself together and started analyzing the place (such a weird word "analyzing" I feel like a scientist saying this).

The Auckland Art Gallery to me had a very unique structure, if I were to sum it up in a few words I would say "flashy but also very stable". I wanted to observe the building piece by piece so first I looked at the shapes involved, the gallery was very cubed. Immediately you would think "BORING!" but the composition of these cubes were interesting, they reminded me of tetris for some reason, like the blocks were just pieced together but the entire structure wasn't fully cubed (an incomplete puzzle maybe).

Google Images: http://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/tetris%20-%20unsafe.jpg

Grant also gave me a "heads up" on the water flowing through the art gallery, making it's way outside to the flower chandelier. To me, it revealed the idea of continuity and the art gallery having a life of it's own (this idea would be more effective, seeing as the gallery is right next to albert park). The art that was on display at the time also supported the idea of continuity, like the benches in the lunch area which went through the ground, and if you were on the floor underneath the lunch area, you would see the chairs coming out from the ceiling.

Google Images: http://www.wayneyellow.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/IMG_1971.jpg

Overall I thought the Auckland Art Gallery was awesome :)