Robin Fok

I must say that I don't agree with a lot of Hani Rashid's work. Even though most of the projects he talked about were highly interesting, I felt that he was more of an artist than an architect.
I understand that he is pushing the boundaries of what we know as architecture by exploring technology and virtual space, and this is especially true with the NYSE project. It is intriguing. However, I am a purist at heart, and to me, that wasn't really architecture to me. This is also true of his installation piece with the modified auto-bodies. There seemed to be a lack of rigor in this and several other projects, where the forms seem almost gestural and arbitrary, as he himself admits. He never managed to convince me, and it appeared that he was trying to explain more than there actually was in each project, especially the auto-body installation.
I'm not sure what my idea of architecture is, maybe it's an attempt to manipulate space in a way that brings nature/the site closer to us, I don't know. I'm not sure. But I'm sure it's not what Hani Rashid is doing.
I am however impressed by his sourcing of non-traditional agents of construction, like the airplane panelling firm who did the Hydra-Pier.
I get the impression that he is an architect that will be remembered more for his research and unbuilt projects than he will be for his completed buildings. He has interesting concepts regarding the role of computers and technology in design, and although i feel that he is unlikely to make any concrete contributions in architecture, I'm actually looking forward to seeing some work from his students.
He is right on the extreme of the architectural spectrum, and maybe his students might be able to bridge the gap between practicality and the conceptual.






I never thought I would ever meet a genius as cool as John Maeda. That guy's from MIT, but he certainly didn't act like it. I found it both inspiring and refreshing how he seems to always be able to find humor wherever he looks, and subsequently, documenting it or trying to find a way to fix things. Basically, he makes me want to be him.
I find it a pity that he didn't really show us any of his work though. It would have been nice to have him talk us through his works, tells us how he comes up with ideas and how he implements and develops the ideas into "eye-meat", or so he calls them. I'm very intrigued by his "food-pen" series - how he used scanned images of food items and made them drawing pen strokes.
The lecture certainly reinforced my resolution to work in the design field. I just hope that he completes his economic model which resolves the bread and butter issue for artists, soon.






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