Public relations representative of one of the most influential architectural firms in the world ,
Architecture firm MVRDV
Gave a Comment to two of my recent blog posts,
Here are the comments of Mr Jan Knikker:
1/ …as much as this might flatter MVRDV, I am quite sure that Joshua Ramus did not use this as an inpiration for the Museum Plaza. The thing with your comparisons is that they lack intelligence and insight into the program. It is purely esthetical. I would like to receive an answer from you. 2/ What you describe are esthetical resemblances between random buildings that have been designed by the two offices totally independently and without the “inspiration” you discovered here. The dates you mention are dates of publication and not of the design. Both the OMA and the MVRDV building have been designed well before the date you mention. This series of yours is insinuating relationships which do not exist and is therefore a pure esthetical comparison lacking intellect, besides, it represents almost an insult to whichever office is supposed to be “inspired” by the other. Regards, Jan Knikker MVRDVI want to thank Mr. Jan Knikker for the opportunity to share with you my urge to write this blog ….
In my blog, I juxtapose examples of projects without the intention to insinuate that one architect copied from another, but rather to spur a dialog among architects.
The goal is to encourage an architectural planning process that I like to call Conscious Inspiration.
I am obviously not the first to consider this approach:
Le Corbusier mentions in one of his books that his sources of inspiration for the Cathedral of Ron Champ was Villa Adriana at Tivoli. The French architect Emile Aillaud describes in his writings that his source of inspiration for 3 office buildings in LA Defense (near Paris) was the Piazza Dei Miracoli with the Tower of Pisa. Louis Kahan eventually got his inspiration to design the Hurva Synagogue from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, and Tadao Ando traveled all over Europe to get inspired by existing buildings as a way to train him self to become an architect..
So far, I have only scratched the surface of this concept, and I am in the beginning of this journey. I believe the journey itself may lead us architects to a more rigorous architectural planning.
Eli Inbar
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