Architecture and war are not incompatible. Architecture is war. War is architecture. I am at war with my time, with history, with all authority that resides in fixed and frightened forms. I am one of millions who do not fit in, who have no home, no family, no doctrine, no firm place to call my own, no known beginning or end, no “sacred and primordial site.” I declare war on all icons and finalities, on all histories that would chain me with my own falseness, my own pitiful fears. I know only moments, and lifetimes that are as moments, and forms that appear with infinite strength, then “melt into air.” I am an architect, a constructor of worlds, a sensualist who worships the flesh, the melody, a silhouette against the darkening sky. I cannot know your name. Nor you can know mine. Tomorrow, we begin together the construction of a city.
-from War of Architecture by Lebbeus Woods
Lebbeus Woods, American architect, theorist and artist, has passed away. Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic and senior critic of The New York Times broke the news of his death via Twitter.
A proponent and figure of the Deconstructivism movement, the bulk of Woods investigations dealt with the designing of systems in crisis. In Woods’ investigations, the alignment and order of what was existing was impeded and challenged by the introduction of the new. You could say, in Woods’ view, the intervention of architecture was a deliberate act which would act as a cultivated virus, much like a growing culture within a Petri dish.
Lebbeus Woods was a visionary and provocateur, whose work was brazenly political and stunning. He influenced my work as an artist, designer and architect as he influenced my heroes, such entities as Thom Mayne, Neil Denari and Zaha Hadid. His influence and legacy lives on.
- from August 24, 2008: The New York Times: An Architect Unshackled by Limits of the Real World
- ArchDaily: Lebbeus Woods, Experimental Architect, Dies
- Why I Became an Architect by Lebbeus Woods Part 1 and Part 2
- Lebbeus conducted a course at my graduate school at SCI-Arc, in Fall of 2003
- The New York Times: Arts Beat: Lebbeus Woods, Architect of the Imaginary Realm, Dies
- Popular Science: Lebbeus Woods, Futuristic Architect, Dies
- BLDGBLOG: Lebbeus Woods 1940-2012
Deeply sorry to have just heard that Lebbeus Woods, a true visionary architect and astonishing draftsman, died this morning. A great loss.
— Michael Kimmelman (@kimmelman) October 30, 2012
Yes to Michael Sorkin’s writing:Woods’”ever-expanding discourse of the almost possible is an inspiration not just to build but to think.”
— Michael Kimmelman (@kimmelman) October 30, 2012
Recent survey of Woods’s drawings at Friedman Benda Gallery was among the most beautiful, inspired drawing shows I’ve seen in years.
— Michael Kimmelman (@kimmelman) October 30, 2012
Woods had been fading for some months, sadly, but he kept teaching to the end. Died in his loft in his sleep.
— Michael Kimmelman (@kimmelman) October 30, 2012
What’s now needed is a serious museum show of Woods’s work, which includes a NY venue.
— Michael Kimmelman (@kimmelman) October 30, 2012
Lebbeus Woods lecturing and speaking about work, practice, buildings, acting upon ideas, the role of architecture, radical and experimental architecture and space, house, design, art, rules, norms and habits of use, meaning, usage, transformation, and memory. Leecture at the European Graduate School (EGS), Media and Communication Studies department program, Saas-Fee, Switzerland, Europe, 2006.
