Zaha

Interview with Alvin Boyarsky - Part III

AB: What if we were to take a sequence of sketches – any sequence, six, a dozen, fifteen sketches – lay them out like decks of cards, and discuss the significance?

ZH: The plan develops from a composite of my early sketches. The Peak (Hong Kong, 1982–83), Parc de la Villette (Paris, 1982–83), and the Irish Prime Minister’s Residence were each done differently, but there are also many similarities between them. The Residence was done through cut-outs; at that point I was opening the space by eliminating elements.

The notion of layering the plan and the building came accidentally in the case of La Villette, but deliberately in The Peak. The building was represented in the geological plane of Hong Kong. In the beginning, I didn’t know that the building would be dug into the topography of the island. From there I became aware of differences between a linear space that is cellular and a linear space that is fluid. Every project has certain limitations. The architect’s relationship to those limitation is very interesting. You can study these limitations and responses.

AB: Let’s say we’re planning a document that would lead you to what you’re thinking about right now. We would begin by looking at a few paintings and drawings by other people, and also plans and drawings. We would use Mies, Oscar Niemeyer, and perhaps Le Corbusier. A variety of significant examples could be discussed in terms of the content that interests you; it would tersely but effectively demonstrate your plan. Next to this we would place another, almost parallel sequence of some of your own experiments.

ZH: Fundamentally one has to expose the idea that there is a modern culture and that it never came to full fruition. It’s not a matter of borrowing from here and there and blending it all together in a composite. Rather, there’s a stream of events, each of which is an experiment. In the end all these projects are a kind of experiment. My own work tests the realm of possibilities. It never stays at the same point.