April 9, 2010
Hirshhorn Bubble Update
The proposed bubble at the Hirshhorn Museum. Image courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
This February, when the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts reviewed the Hirshhorn Museum‘s plan to create a seasonal, bubble-like pavilion in its courtyard, the organization’s chairman Earl A. Powell encouraged the museum to “go forth and inflate.”
Now, the National Capital Planning Commission, a 12-member group that decides the fate of proposed architecture in the Washington, D.C. area, adds its support. “The semiannual transformation of the museum’s central courtyard will create an exciting and unanticipated attraction along the National Mall,” wrote Marcel C. Acosta, executive director of NCPC, in his recommendation.
Unanticipated, for sure. The 122-foot tall globular auditorium, which looks like something you might see in a Ghostbusters movie, will balloon through the whole of the donut-shaped museum and be a sight to see from all vantage points along the National Mall. The Hirshhorn envisions using the space during the year’s warmer months from May to October to host conferences and promote the discussion and exchange of ideas.
The estimated cost for the initial construction of the pavilion is $5 million, with additional expenses expected for its biannual installation and storage. The NCPC did recommend that the museum continue to work with the architectural firm, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, on two possible designs before making the final decision.
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In a house whose garden is dedicated to sculpture, architects should not try to compete, but with simplicity and un-adornment provide a sanctuary where the sculpture can stand on its own and be showcased. This is certainly a difficult task in an arena of competing spacial forms and collected diverse sensibilities for any museum. The refined cylindrical insula of the Hirshhorn with its open oculus is a pure and inviting shape that speaks with a Zen sensibility, which is as much interior as it is exterior – open and yet closed, floating yet fixed. The architecture is very much in keeping with how sculpture begs to interface with the environment. The proposed roof bubble detracts from the pure shape and statement of the building’s original designers. While its proposed succulent mammary form is inviting; as a sculptural statement it is lacking. It cries out for a nipple to be complete. If form follows function, this attempt at providing a solution to a practical design need, mocks the well constructed and thoughtful intentions and of the buildings’ architect. This proposed new form is one of architectural ego and personal statement at its worst.
The design review committee that approved this solution should be ashamed of their judgment. The arts are suffering, more than any other demographic, in the poor economy that we are all experiencing. Does the review committee feel that it can boost the interest of the common man in sculpture, the most difficult of all the artistic media in which to make a living, or increase museum visitation by repackaging the Hirshhorn’s spacial presentation – and turning it into a circus tent? Are things so bad that the nation needs to bring itself to such a level of shame? For all artists I say, give us bread, but do not denigrate us with your circus. Do not demean the Peoples Mall, the urban landscape and the architecture of our nation’s capital with a visual affront of such silliness, folly and poor taste.
“The proposed roof bubble detracts from the pure shape and statement of the building’s original designers.” -cliff
Change is the only constant. To create a work of sculpture or bring to fruition an architectural vision and expect it to exist within a vacuum of its own spatiotemporal point of conception for eternity is ultimately far beyond in orders of magnitude the ego presence of the bubble. The organizations and individuals who portend to defend the original vision of the artist, designer, architect, choreographer, photographer etc etc.. miss the point of such a layering of time and space as the bubble represents. The bubble represents change. It represents the possibility of an alterable future. It is creative commons as architectural manifest. It represents a new potential while non-destructively re-framing the past in a temporary manner. No ego is more destructive than that of the obstructionist, preservationist with no sense of whimsy to toss to the wind. If you think its hard to make a living in sculpture.. try dancing. If you think its difficult to defend the original vision of a physical form such as sculpture, try preserving the original vision of a choreographer. Its all relative. More Banksy less Bankster
“Castles made of sand melt into the sea…eventually” Hendrix
I agree with Bill!
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