Egoless Architecture

There  is a trend happening amongst the great architects: the design of architecture for inspiring the imagination of the user. This altruistic practice is surprising given some artists’ tendencies to inject their personal agenda and point of view into their work. This concept of creating architecture that is meant to inspire the viewer and can be interpreted many different ways is particularly evident in the work of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and Mosche Safdie’s Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. There is nothing more worthwhile than art that inspires other artists to create; to join the discussion so it becomes enriched by their putting their unique perspective out into the world. Safdie and Gehry’s work is better for having helped to achieve this level of involvement from others.

In Writing About Architecture Alexandra Lange examines Frank Ghery’s work and has an epiphany. “I realized on that first visit to Gehry’s office that his designs offer few clues to the inner recesses of the architect's mind. Rather they are an invitation for viewers to explore their own” (56). Gehry’s design in Bilbao evokes emotion and invites the viewer to create their own interpretation when it comes to what exactly the building looks like given its many sweeping and varied lines.

Jones for her part is reminded of Marilyn Monroe. Jones engages in free association by taking her ideas about Monroe and some of the parallels Monroe’s life has with Gehry’s and joining the two to create her own unique interpretation; a meaningful act of engagement with the building. It is Gehry’s work that inspired this personal relationship between building and user. This gives life to his design separate of his intentions. Gehry himself has also been known to put endearing labels on buildings, calling one in Prague “Fred and Ginger”.  He is an architect that cares about consciousness and melding the location of the project with the building to create a dialogue that effects the public’s collective perception. He married the interior with the exterior and did much to account for psychological factors involved. I would imagine one of the greatest honors as an architect would be if your project inspired a shift in consciousness or even an entire aesthetic movement. This level of involvement with their work by the people it serves is worthwhile and even essential in the process of design. It adds another dimension to the project that cannot be replicated otherwise.

This “selfless” design process is something Moshe Safdie engaged in as well for the The Peabody Essex Museum. Safdie took into account the viewer much like Gehry and capitalized on his ability as an architect to shape emotion. In order to create an inspiring and cohesive redesign, Sadfie researched the town of Salem extensively, selected each material with meticulous attention to detail and created a finished product that worked with the existing architecture instead of fighting against it. What allowed him to create such a stunning design above all however was his personal principles. Deborah Weisgall notes in A 21^st Century Museum with Puritan Bones, “What ties Mr. Safdie’s work together is not so much a recognizable style or repeated vocabulary but a consistent set of humanistic principles focusing on the power and responsibility of architecture to shape emotion" (1).  Safdie’s design is successful because of his ability to step outside of himself and the previously constructed forms that he could have very easily drawn upon. Instead he was guided to create a moving and site specific design through following his established principles. He put his energies towards understanding the history of the location and existing structure in order to serve the community.

Both Safdie and Gehry engage in a form of design that is uniquely their own while at the very same time achieving a level of service to the community that is so very important.  By designing in this way these great architects encourage a discourse about their buildings and invite the public to participate in their art. This element of participation is, what I believe, what contributes to a design enduring the test of time all while earning a spot in history.