Okay - so I'm going to give you the same advice as I've given many of your classmates at this early stage of thinking about this project. While I like your idea of a 'city of signs', I need you to think a bit more about the project title. The 'What If' refers to 'What If Herbert Leupin was an architect/maker of worlds?' as opposed to 'What If Leupin's existing artwork was used to make a city?' They're not exactly the same thing, and the former question is more challenging and more 'design-led' than the latter. The first question asks you to look at Leupin's work and determine a set of design principles from his work - a set of visual rules or principles running throughout his work that you can then apply to the creative task of figuring out how Leupin would approach this brief. This doesn't mean you're wrong to conceptualise Leupin Land as a space dominated by commercial language, typography and larger-than-life characters, but it does mean that you need to think about how Leupin's principles might relate to architectural ideas too. It does seem that Leupin would want architecture to be fun, and for this reason who could and should look at postmodern architecture, which is characterised by its playfulness and its relationship to popular culture and commercialism:
There is an obvious cartoon-y quality to his work, so maybe looking at theme park design might be interesting, and given the time period, vintage theme parks and vintage Vegas etc all might be useful in determining how Leupin and architecture might correspond:
So, in short, I'd just ask you to seek to answer the question 'What If Leupin was an architect and was designing a world' as opposed to 'Design a world using stuff from Leupin's posters' - yes, there's a relationship between the two approaches (you might decide that a constantly repeating motif could and should feature as a design principle and inspire a building or two), but looking out of Leupin's eyes requires a but more effort and should lead to some fascinating conclusions.
OGR 06/11/2016
ReplyDeleteHi Anabel,
Okay - so I'm going to give you the same advice as I've given many of your classmates at this early stage of thinking about this project. While I like your idea of a 'city of signs', I need you to think a bit more about the project title. The 'What If' refers to 'What If Herbert Leupin was an architect/maker of worlds?' as opposed to 'What If Leupin's existing artwork was used to make a city?' They're not exactly the same thing, and the former question is more challenging and more 'design-led' than the latter. The first question asks you to look at Leupin's work and determine a set of design principles from his work - a set of visual rules or principles running throughout his work that you can then apply to the creative task of figuring out how Leupin would approach this brief. This doesn't mean you're wrong to conceptualise Leupin Land as a space dominated by commercial language, typography and larger-than-life characters, but it does mean that you need to think about how Leupin's principles might relate to architectural ideas too. It does seem that Leupin would want architecture to be fun, and for this reason who could and should look at postmodern architecture, which is characterised by its playfulness and its relationship to popular culture and commercialism:
https://www.stevenbrooke.com/wp-content/uploads/galleries/post-216/full/GRAVES%20swan%201.jpg
http://www.industrytap.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/640x667xFun-Ka-Fun-da.jpg.pagespeed.ic.axVGNbpsrP.jpg
https://openhousebcn.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/openhouse-barcelona-architecture-design.jpg
http://assets.inhabitat.com/files/bioscleave1.jpg
http://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5808/d797/e58e/ce68/aa00/03aa/medium_jpg/randys-donuts-600x400.jpg?1476974484
There is an obvious cartoon-y quality to his work, so maybe looking at theme park design might be interesting, and given the time period, vintage theme parks and vintage Vegas etc all might be useful in determining how Leupin and architecture might correspond:
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/bananaphone5000/media/GreatGorilla/01%20Palis.%20Park%20Sky%20Ride%20amp%20Cyclone.jpg.html
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3iL9rOBpYD0/UUldacfl2tI/AAAAAAAAHXo/viTBI8OUDFg/s1600/palisades+amusement+park+midway+new+jersey.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/63/4d/65/634d653787be79a176209705be2ecca1.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A2d-B9ay9ZQ/T93oWuSjXBI/AAAAAAABTf0/51a0TuY_Cfo/s1600/Vintage+Photos+of+Las+Vegas+in+the+1950s+and+1960s+(1).jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ak9BEvHZJK8/TuToJpGXd6I/AAAAAAAAmnk/QBsown4gKTE/s1600/avenida_hidalgo_ciudad_acuna_mexico.jpg
So, in short, I'd just ask you to seek to answer the question 'What If Leupin was an architect and was designing a world' as opposed to 'Design a world using stuff from Leupin's posters' - yes, there's a relationship between the two approaches (you might decide that a constantly repeating motif could and should feature as a design principle and inspire a building or two), but looking out of Leupin's eyes requires a but more effort and should lead to some fascinating conclusions.