Today, at 3pm EST, Steven Holl will give a lecture as part of Construcciones Planificadas's project of talks on architecture and urbanism called 'Arquitectour.'
This talk is free and open to the public using the link: here.
"Good afternoon to everyone. It is a pleasure and an honor to introduce to you a good friend, and one of the great American Architects of the XXI Century; a professor well-known for his generosity and enthusiasm towards Architecture and life.
It is difficult to separate an Architect´s work from his personality, and in the case of Steven Holl, it is still more difficult; we, who have had the privilege of sharing as teachers, his enthusiasm at Columbia University, or be with him at his small work shop, full of his drawings and water color paints, have been able to verify that his marvelous work is indissoluble from his personality. His Architecture is generous and human by excellence; features that characterize Steven Holl in his daily life, and each one of his partners as Chris Mcvoy, his co-workers, and friends constantly transmit it.
I could mention Steven Holl Architects´ endless prizes and multiple projects, but I rather explain his work from his love and passion for drawing as a form of thinking; drawing is his way to understand the world; his water paintings are not only representations of a possible building; they are ideas summarizing a philosophy and a way to build humanity. His architectural work and his drawings are, by themselves, ideas; if drawings are ideas, to visit his office in New York is an experience that fill us with new thinking and fill us with enthusiasm; every centimeter of his work shop is a drawing….a water painting….a concept….a metaphor….a place….a new material….a color….a geometry. His work is a constant discovery, producing emotion and by which infinite windows of learning are opened for us.
His work is characterized for the respect and knowledge of the place; each project is a different drawing; his buildings are unique as they belong to that place, to that climate, or a specific culture that characterizes it. His Architecture is not only the beautiful game of forms under the sun; his relation with Art and the metaphorical construction of his projects make them unique. To wander and to go through his buildings are a sensorial and space experience; where movement generated by light is the big protagonist. His Architecture seemed to be alive; shades, reflections, and transparencies are effects of light; and the material also would seem to be alive; it tears it up, it compresses it, it meshes it, it expands it; material is something malleable and is at the service of a phenomenological and atmospheric Architecture transforming the world and the people in something better each time, and with social meaning.
His conviction that Architecture can transform the world and the people is a reflection of his optimism for a better world; ultimately Architecture is, by nature, an optimistic work. I will leave you with a great Architect, but most of all, with an example of enthusiasm and generosity."
– Introduction by Giancarlo Mazzanti (Aug. 3, 2020)