He is one of the most powerful architect in the world – Patrik Schumacher. “Patrick who?” May be asking a lot. Schumacher has been working since the early days of the architectural firm of Zaha Hadid and forward it together with her. He is the “brain” of the office. All theoretical writings come from him. He is in charge of the projects. It is the “face” of the office, the Pritzker Prize-winner, the artist.
As before, the whole world pulls at her designs, from London to Abu Dhabi, Rome China. Everywhere you pick companies, cities and states a piece of “vanguard” home. And they are right. The buildings of the agency Zaha Hadid is a feast for the eye. They make deserts to central locations, they broke into little attractions, its individual buildings overshadow the earth.
The dream of a new International Style
Patrik Schumacher is now too far. Prior to the prestigious London School of Architecture, he presented his book “The autopoiesis of Architecture”.
Autopoiesis is a term from systems theory and means something like “self-creation.” The book is his “Magnum Opus” as he himself says. He understands it as a manifesto that the buildings of the agency Zaha Hadid is the theoretical underpinning. He analyzes the development and importance of architectural styles since ancient times and determines which styles are important or unimportant, which are by-styles, which only modes. And very quickly he speaks openly of what drives him actually. His goal is the leadership, the introduction of his invented “parametricism” as a global new style. Patrik Schuhmacher used in his lecture, only a German word with which he is describing the intended effect of the work of the office and his theories: the Big Bang.
Clash of styles
But what is parametricism? That is, Schumacher, the new global style that follows the modern era. He must defeat the “War of the Styles all other styles. Main enemy is the minimalism. Basis of the style is the consistent use of digital design techniques. They can occur on the computer all the possible forms, some of which are borrowed from nature. This results in a free-form architecture, which can lead to soft, flowing forms. Any change in the parametric model leads to changes in other parts of the design. Everything depends on everything. By working exclusively in a digital world, architects, planners and engineers worldwide and simultaneously work on the drafts. The new style claims applicability to all levels of design, from interior design to the large-scale urban planning.
There is no question that Zaha Hadid’s office can realize fascinating buildings. Even a place in architectural history seems certain. For the “avant-garde free-form architecture, the buildings are without precedent. The ski jump in Bergisel has a dynamism that is unparalleled. The Phaeno center in Wolfsburg is like a spaceship lifts off again. The stop in Innsbruck is an electrifying expansive design. The bridge in Zaragoza and the Museum in Rome are pioneering milestones. And if true, what is planned in the coming years, we should still get some time to wonder.
Adulterated architectural history
But here arises out of nowhere, a new style? No. Patrik Schumacher intoxicated within himself and strip out of generations of architects. The word “organic architecture” refers to him not take place. By Alvar Aalto, Gaudi, Eero Saarinen and Santiago Calatrava is not mentioned. No mention is the founder of organic architecture, Louis Sullivan. The slogan “form follows function” is from him. And even in Germany there is an almost continuous tradition of organic architecture. Erich Mendelsohn was the Einstein Tower, not the technical possibilities, but the same will. And proclaim the development of a new style, without the Philharmonie in Berlin, or the school in Marlborough by Hans Scharoun to mention, is quixotic. Only Frei Otto, architect of the Olympic Stadium in Munich finds grace in the world of homemade Patrik Schumacher.
The green mega trend is ignored
The real global mega-trend of the architecture also takes no notice of sustainability, resource conservation, ecological construction. These are the topics for which new solutions are found and new technologies are tested. And this has nothing to do with the first form. Of course, out here to develop their own design. At the moment, but that is not in sight, and will likely not be necessary. The Zaha Hadidsche parametricism is therefore still a design phenomenon, without notice. And it just some German architects of the next generation of the relationship between form and function have understood better. Green architecture is its foundation. Digital design techniques are used quite naturally. In the combination can also be created spectacular free-form shapes, and perhaps even a new style.
Two sentences from a blog of the British Architects’ Journal “bring the whole dilemma of the architect to the point. Herein reported a former employee of Zaha Hadid about his work: “As we had discussed for half a year so it should look like the building envelope. What was then a humiliating moment, as the lead architect raised his hand and raised the question of how to actually get into the building. “