Status Updates From An Engineer Imagines

He calls Nemone his “Beaubourg daughter”!

“Watching a horse race is like anything worth doing: it is something that has to be learned and studied, a frivolous activity maybe, but very rewarding.”

Rice’s last chapter is on the full moon theatre. it’s clear from the way he writes that it’s a very important personal project to him. i’m still confused at how the project fell into his lap in the first place and he doesn’t bother to clarify that - just jumps into the interesting design problem.

I like that he includes these thoughts in a short chapter titled “the chameleon factor” without actually writing more about that term. (or maybe he did and i wasn’t reading carefully enough!)

“What happens when one works with different architects is that each architect’s attitude and opinions become part of the problem being solved. And provided one can introduce an element of engineering exploration in the nature of materials, or structure, or light, or some other physical phenomenon, no loss of identity or independence need be implied for the engineer.”

“I often find I can be working on the same day with two or three architects who would find each other’s architecture very difficult to accept... I find that I actively enjoy understanding the aesthetic position of different architects and exploring what that means in terms of how one should proceed with a solution.”

“But the change in thinking that is needed is great. As I’ve Arup said in his last address, engineers must accept that responsibility for change lies also with them. They must use their muscle as well as their inventiveness to encourage the kind of change that only they can bring about.”

“But change will come... It is important that [computers’] possibility for change is not wasted on goals which will lead only to short-term gains and not to the real benefits we do desperately need. If society can properly identify the goals and engineers are given their head to invent and innovate, then I believe not all is lost.”

Fiat experience - important for Rice to realize two aspects of industry that make change and innovation difficult: defensive lack of information flow between corporate entities, and “rolling investment programme” -i.e., jobs need to get done and there aren’t always resources for spending energy for r&d

(first criticism of japan i've heard in a while) - blames simplicity of construction for high construction speeds that lead to short-life buildings. "On visiting Japan one is aware of a building industry out of control, where buildings become a fashion item like clothes... The only way to absorb and control this power will be by complexity."

"I believe the way in which the critics concern themselves principally with a building's image has contributed to this lack of understanding of the engineer's role and contribution which we can properly make. The search for an epigram, something we all do when we write, is part of the simplification which takes place when architecture is discussed in public." !!!!!!

"... the photograph is a tyrant which is very difficult for architects or others working on the design of a building to escape. Indeed I often wonder whether the photograph does not force architecture into a straitjacket, the straitjacket of being photogenic, or at least comprehensible through photographs."

"The photograph is such a ubiquitous element of modern life that many people presented with something, particularly of a certain size, instinctively compose the photograph in their minds rather than examine its reality... Photography, as an art form and as a means of exploring the nature of things, obviously has its own validity. What concerns me is how it has ... distorted the actual appreciation of architecture."

Rice makes an interesting point that because the public forms a first impression of a building based on photos, architects feel pressure to design towards how a building will be photographed, which can sideline considerations about invisible experiences (i.e. how a material makes a visitor feel)

“I hope this brief description and explanation of the Seville project demonstrates that there is nothing mysterious in the process of innovation. What is needed is just courage, care and attention to detail, and above all belief and getting started.”

“The question of ultimate responsibility is a vital one, particularly if the design is unusual and is using materials, such as glass and stone. We as designers ... have only our power of reason to anticipate and avoid any mistakes, but if an error does occur it must be evident from the very beginning that we will be there to take our share of the responsibility”

“Innovation here was the development of existing ideas and the belief that they were relevant and applicable in the structure we were exploring. Perhaps the missing ingredient is courage. The courage you need is the courage to start... The courage to start and be unshakable belief in one’s ability to solve the new problems which will arise in the development are essential.”

Rice is definitely not in the camp of scorning computer analyses. He appreciates being able to use the computer to generate geometric possibilities from a single standard fabric element. "If ind the idea that the process is an integral part of the design quite interesting, rather than seeking to achieve something that is a predetermined paper form."