Alessandra Rao
Prof. Maciuika
2/26/14

You would think the Center for Architecture would have decent architecture.

Unfortunately, the Center for Architecture did not meet my expectations. I was disappointed by the small size of it, and the way it was curated made it very difficult to step back and have enough room to actually look at the photos from a distance. The narrow space forces viewers to look at the photos up close, which can be overwhelming and distracting. This is what ruined the earthquake exhibition for me. I wanted to see the way the photos fit together on the wall, but I couldn’t. So I shimmied my way over to a piece that caught my attention: a table with a small-scale structure on it. That was by far my favorite piece: I appreciate the amount of detail that was put into it. The small wire trees and people really brought it to life, and gave the impression that the architect wanted the building to be harmonious with nature. It had a woodsy feel to it, while still having a strong sense of line and geometry. I wanted to know what the building represented, but again, because the space was so crowded and narrow, I didn’t get the chance to read about it.

Downstairs, again, the space was very small and tried to fit in too much. The giant poster book protruding from the wall was unsuccessful at laying out information for several reasons. First, I felt that it was reminiscent of a giant, monstrous textbook emerging from the wall: too many words, very small font, obscure technical diagrams and saturated with confusing jargon. However, when flipping through the posters, I did appreciate that it featured international structures. It was interesting to see modern buildings with avant-garde designs in large cities like Beijing, Moscow and Sydney.

This would be a great place for architects with agoraphobia – a fear of open spaces – because I’m sure they wouldn’t mind the compact nature of the space. I felt myself zoning out after reading the descriptions, but a lot of the time, the descriptions weren’t even useful. The two pieces by the stairs were extremely obscure to me. They almost seemed like one of Duchamp’s bizarre creations: an structure with tangled spaghetti wires coming out of it, and then a metal canon-looking structure.

Overall, I would not recommend this place to people who are not familiar with the technical language of architecture.