Moshe Safdie 1: Building uniqueness

TED 2002

Moshe Safdie 1: Building uniqueness   (transcript)

Summary

What a strange building it is!

I was attracted to the first picture in this TED and I was sorry that I didn't know who designed and where this building was.

The building has been “Habitat’ 67” designed by Moshe Safdie in Canada. It's the famous monolithic apartment built about 50 years ago and it's now a  heritage building.

In this TED talk, the speaker is an architect Moshe Safdie who explains his other four design projects.

This is a bit unfortunate because I wanted him to explain about Habitat more and the world’s longest swimming pool in Singapore, in the hotel Marina Bay Sands.

It seems to be built after the talk.

He tells us that only buildings and museums are unique is not very meaningful. It's important for its side, its users and its places to be truly unique. The finding of their uniqueness is the key.

His thoughts is that his buildings are only complex and capricious are not satisfied. He thought that they should be some kind of a geometry generating idea.

Therefore, his geometry generates beauty. Something that people can't digest or understand is canceled or stopped. When places and understanding are prepared, he started his projects.

Designing is a search for beauty, so there is the beauty that is profoundly in the sense of fit. There's no fitness there, beauty isn't expressed. Only seeking truth leads to finding beauty.

We can see true beauty in his unique buildings.

Words in this story

capricious /noun/  freak, unusual, odd, strange, funny

vanity /noun/  conceit, narcissism, self-love, self-admiration, egotism

compatible /adj/  adaptable