TED2014
Marc Kushner: Why the buildings of the future will be shaped by ... you
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"Architecture is not about math or zoning -- it's about visceral emotions," says Marc Kushner. In a sweeping — often funny — talk, he zooms through the past thirty years of architecture to show how the public, once disconnected, have become an essential part of the design process. With the help of social media, feedback reaches architects years before a building is even created. The result? Architecture that will do more for us than ever before.
Marc Kushner - Architect
With Architizer, an online hub for architecture, Marc Kushner is breaking architecture out of its insular echo chamber and reconnecting the public with buildings. Full bio
With Architizer, an online hub for architecture, Marc Kushner is breaking architecture out of its insular echo chamber and reconnecting the public with buildings. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
Today I'm going to speak to you
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about the last 30 years
of architectural history.
of architectural history.
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That's a lot to pack into 18 minutes.
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It's a complex topic,
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so we're just going to dive right in
at a complex place:
at a complex place:
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New Jersey.
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Because 30 years ago, I'm from Jersey,
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and I was six, and I lived there
in my parents' house
in my parents' house
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in a town called Livingston,
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and this was my childhood bedroom.
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Around the corner from my bedroom
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was the bathroom
that I used to share with my sister.
that I used to share with my sister.
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And in between my bedroom and the bathroom
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was a balcony that overlooked
the family room.
the family room.
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And that's where everyone
would hang out and watch TV,
would hang out and watch TV,
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so that every time that I walked
from my bedroom to the bathroom,
from my bedroom to the bathroom,
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everyone would see me,
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and every time I took a shower
and would come back in a towel,
and would come back in a towel,
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everyone would see me.
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And I looked like this.
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I was awkward,
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insecure, and I hated it.
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I hated that walk, I hated that balcony,
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I hated that room, and I hated that house.
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And that's architecture.
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(Laughter)
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Done.
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That feeling, those emotions that I felt,
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that's the power of architecture,
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because architecture is not about math
and it's not about zoning,
and it's not about zoning,
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it's about those visceral,
emotional connections
emotional connections
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that we feel to the places that we occupy.
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And it's no surprise
that we feel that way,
that we feel that way,
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because according to the EPA,
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Americans spend 90 percent
of their time indoors.
of their time indoors.
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That's 90 percent of our time
surrounded by architecture.
surrounded by architecture.
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That's huge.
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That means that architecture is shaping us
in ways that we didn't even realize.
in ways that we didn't even realize.
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That makes us a little bit gullible
and very, very predictable.
and very, very predictable.
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It means that when I show you
a building like this,
a building like this,
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I know what you think:
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You think "power"
and "stability" and "democracy."
and "stability" and "democracy."
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And I know you think that
because it's based on a building
because it's based on a building
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that was build 2,500 years ago
by the Greeks.
by the Greeks.
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This is a trick.
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This is a trigger that architects use
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to get you to create
an emotional connection
an emotional connection
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to the forms that we build
our buildings out of.
our buildings out of.
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It's a predictable emotional connection,
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and we've been using this trick
for a long, long time.
for a long, long time.
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We used it [200] years ago to build banks.
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We used it in the 19th century
to build art museums.
to build art museums.
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And in the 20th century in America,
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we used it to build houses.
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And look at these solid,
stable little soldiers
stable little soldiers
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facing the ocean
and keeping away the elements.
and keeping away the elements.
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This is really, really useful,
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because building things is terrifying.
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It's expensive, it takes a long time,
and it's very complicated.
and it's very complicated.
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And the people that build things --
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developers and governments --
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they're naturally afraid of innovation,
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and they'd rather just use those forms
that they know you'll respond to.
that they know you'll respond to.
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That's how we end up
with buildings like this.
with buildings like this.
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This is a nice building.
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This is the Livingston Public Library
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that was completed in 2004 in my hometown,
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and, you know, it's got a dome
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and it's got this round thing
and columns, red brick,
and columns, red brick,
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and you can kind of guess what Livingston
is trying to say with this building:
is trying to say with this building:
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children, property values and history.
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But it doesn't have much to do
with what a library actually does today.
with what a library actually does today.
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That same year, in 2004,
on the other side of the country,
on the other side of the country,
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another library was completed,
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and it looks like this.
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It's in Seattle.
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This library is about how
we consume media in a digital age.
we consume media in a digital age.
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It's about a new kind
of public amenity for the city,
of public amenity for the city,
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a place to gather and read and share.
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So how is it possible
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that in the same year,
in the same country,
in the same country,
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two buildings, both called libraries,
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look so completely different?
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And the answer is that architecture works
on the principle of a pendulum.
on the principle of a pendulum.
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On the one side is innovation,
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and architects are constantly pushing,
pushing for new technologies,
pushing for new technologies,
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new typologies, new solutions
for the way that we live today.
for the way that we live today.
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And we push and we push and we push
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until we completely alienate all of you.
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We wear all black, we get very depressed,
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you think we're adorable,
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we're dead inside because
we've got no choice.
we've got no choice.
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We have to go to the other side
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and reengage those symbols
that we know you love.
that we know you love.
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So we do that, and you're happy,
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we feel like sellouts,
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so we start experimenting again
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and we push the pendulum back
and back and forth and back and forth
and back and forth and back and forth
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we've gone for the last 300 years,
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and certainly for the last 30 years.
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Okay, 30 years ago
we were coming out of the '70s.
we were coming out of the '70s.
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Architects had been busy experimenting
with something called brutalism.
with something called brutalism.
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It's about concrete.
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(Laughter)
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You can guess this.
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Small windows, dehumanizing scale.
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This is really tough stuff.
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So as we get closer to the '80s,
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we start to reengage those symbols.
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We push the pendulum
back into the other direction.
back into the other direction.
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We take these forms that we know you love
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and we update them.
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We add neon
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and we add pastels
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and we use new materials.
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And you love it.
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And we can't give you enough of it.
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We take Chippendale armoires
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and we turned those into skyscrapers,
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and skyscrapers can be
medieval castles made out of glass.
medieval castles made out of glass.
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Forms got big,
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forms got bold and colorful.
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Dwarves became columns.
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(Laughter)
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Swans grew to the size of buildings.
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It was crazy.
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But it's the '80s, it's cool.
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(Laughter)
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We're all hanging out in malls
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and we're all moving to the suburbs,
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and out there, out in the suburbs,
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we can create our own
architectural fantasies.
architectural fantasies.
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And those fantasies,
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they can be Mediterranean
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or French
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or Italian.
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(Laughter)
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Possibly with endless breadsticks.
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This is the thing about postmodernism.
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This is the thing about symbols.
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They're easy, they're cheap,
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because instead of making places,
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we're making memories of places.
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Because I know,
and I know all of you know,
and I know all of you know,
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this isn't Tuscany.
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This is Ohio.
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(Laughter)
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So architects get frustrated,
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and we start pushing the pendulum
back into the other direction.
back into the other direction.
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In the late '80s and early '90s,
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we start experimenting with something
called deconstructivism.
called deconstructivism.
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We throw out historical symbols,
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we rely on new, computer-aided
design techniques,
design techniques,
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and we come up with new compositions,
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forms crashing into forms.
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This is academic and heady stuff,
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it's super unpopular,
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we totally alienate you.
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Ordinarily, the pendulum would just
swing back into the other direction.
swing back into the other direction.
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And then, something amazing happened.
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In 1997, this building opened.
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This is the Guggenheim Bilbao,
by Frank Gehry.
by Frank Gehry.
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And this building
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fundamentally changes
the world's relationship to architecture.
the world's relationship to architecture.
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Paul Goldberger said that Bilbao
was one of those rare moments
was one of those rare moments
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when critics, academics,
and the general public
and the general public
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were completely united around a building.
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The New York Times
called this building a miracle.
called this building a miracle.
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Tourism in Bilbao increased 2,500 percent
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after this building was completed.
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So all of a sudden, everybody
wants one of these buildings:
wants one of these buildings:
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L.A.,
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Seattle,
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Chicago,
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New York,
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Cleveland,
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Springfield.
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(Laughter)
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Everybody wants one,
and Gehry is everywhere.
and Gehry is everywhere.
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He is our very first starchitect.
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Now, how is it possible
that these forms --
that these forms --
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they're wild and radical --
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how is it possible that they become
so ubiquitous throughout the world?
so ubiquitous throughout the world?
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And it happened because media
so successfully galvanized around them
so successfully galvanized around them
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that they quickly taught us
that these forms mean culture and tourism.
that these forms mean culture and tourism.
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We created an emotional
reaction to these forms.
reaction to these forms.
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So did every mayor in the world.
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So every mayor knew
that if they had these forms,
that if they had these forms,
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they had culture and tourism.
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This phenomenon
at the turn of the new millennium
at the turn of the new millennium
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happened to a few other starchitects.
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It happened to Zaha
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and it happened to Libeskind,
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and what happened
to these elite few architects
to these elite few architects
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at the turn of the new millennium
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could actually start to happen
to the entire field of architecture,
to the entire field of architecture,
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as digital media starts
to increase the speed
to increase the speed
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with which we consume information.
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Because think about
how you consume architecture.
how you consume architecture.
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A thousand years ago,
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you would have had to have walked to
the village next door to see a building.
the village next door to see a building.
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Transportation speeds up:
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You can take a boat, you can take a plane,
you can be a tourist.
you can be a tourist.
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Technology speeds up:
You can see it in a newspaper, on TV,
You can see it in a newspaper, on TV,
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until finally, we are all
architectural photographers,
architectural photographers,
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and the building has become
disembodied from the site.
disembodied from the site.
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Architecture is everywhere now,
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and that means that
the speed of communication
the speed of communication
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has finally caught up
to the speed of architecture.
to the speed of architecture.
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Because architecture
actually moves quite quickly.
actually moves quite quickly.
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It doesn't take long
to think about a building.
to think about a building.
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It takes a long time to build a building,
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three or four years,
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and in the interim, an architect
will design two or eight
will design two or eight
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or a hundred other buildings
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before they know if that building
that they designed four years ago
that they designed four years ago
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was a success or not.
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That's because there's never been
a good feedback loop in architecture.
a good feedback loop in architecture.
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That's how we end up
with buildings like this.
with buildings like this.
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Brutalism wasn't a two-year movement,
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it was a 20-year movement.
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For 20 years, we were producing
buildings like this
buildings like this
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because we had no idea
how much you hated it.
how much you hated it.
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It's never going to happen again,
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I think,
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because we are living on the verge
of the greatest revolution in architecture
of the greatest revolution in architecture
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since the invention of concrete,
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of steel, or of the elevator,
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and it's a media revolution.
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So my theory is that when
you apply media to this pendulum,
you apply media to this pendulum,
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it starts swinging faster and faster,
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until it's at both extremes
nearly simultaneously,
nearly simultaneously,
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and that effectively blurs the difference
between innovation and symbol,
between innovation and symbol,
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between us, the architects,
and you, the public.
and you, the public.
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Now we can make nearly instantaneous,
emotionally charged symbols
emotionally charged symbols
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out of something that's brand new.
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Let me show you how this plays out
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in a project that my firm
recently completed.
recently completed.
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We were hired to replace this building,
which burned down.
which burned down.
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This is the center of a town
called the Pines
called the Pines
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in Fire Island in New York State.
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It's a vacation community.
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We proposed a building that was audacious,
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that was different than any of the forms
that the community was used to,
that the community was used to,
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and we were scared
and our client was scared
and our client was scared
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and the community was scared,
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so we created a series
of photorealistic renderings
of photorealistic renderings
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that we put onto Facebook
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and we put onto Instagram,
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and we let people start
to do what they do:
to do what they do:
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share it, comment, like it, hate it.
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But that meant that two years
before the building was complete,
before the building was complete,
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it was already a part of the community,
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so that when the renderings
looked exactly like the finished product,
looked exactly like the finished product,
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there were no surprises.
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12:46
This building was already a part
of this community,
of this community,
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and then that first summer,
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when people started arriving
and sharing the building on social media,
and sharing the building on social media,
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the building ceased to be just an edifice
and it became media,
and it became media,
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because these, these are not
just pictures of a building,
just pictures of a building,
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they're your pictures of a building.
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And as you use them to tell your story,
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13:11
they become part
of your personal narrative,
of your personal narrative,
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and what you're doing
is you're short-circuiting
is you're short-circuiting
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all of our collective memory,
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and you're making these charged symbols
for us to understand.
for us to understand.
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13:25
That means we don't need
the Greeks anymore
the Greeks anymore
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to tell us what to think
about architecture.
about architecture.
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We can tell each other
what we think about architecture,
what we think about architecture,
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13:34
because digital media hasn't just changed
the relationship between all of us,
the relationship between all of us,
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13:39
it's changed the relationship
between us and buildings.
between us and buildings.
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13:44
Think for a second about
those librarians back in Livingston.
those librarians back in Livingston.
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If that building was going
to be built today,
to be built today,
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the first thing they would do is go online
and search "new libraries."
and search "new libraries."
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13:55
They would be bombarded by examples
of experimentation, of innovation,
of experimentation, of innovation,
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14:00
of pushing at the envelope
of what a library can be.
of what a library can be.
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14:04
That's ammunition.
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14:06
That's ammunition
that they can take with them
that they can take with them
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14:09
to the mayor of Livingston,
to the people of Livingston,
to the people of Livingston,
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14:12
and say, there's no one answer
to what a library is today.
to what a library is today.
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14:16
Let's be a part of this.
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14:18
This abundance of experimentation
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14:21
gives them the freedom
to run their own experiment.
to run their own experiment.
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14:26
Everything is different now.
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14:28
Architects are no longer
these mysterious creatures
these mysterious creatures
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14:32
that use big words
and complicated drawings,
and complicated drawings,
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14:34
and you aren't the hapless public,
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14:37
the consumer that won't accept
anything that they haven't seen anymore.
anything that they haven't seen anymore.
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14:42
Architects can hear you,
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14:44
and you're not intimidated
by architecture.
by architecture.
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14:47
That means that that pendulum
swinging back and forth
swinging back and forth
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14:51
from style to style,
from movement to movement,
from movement to movement,
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14:54
is irrelevant.
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14:55
We can actually move forward
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14:58
and find relevant solutions
to the problems that our society faces.
to the problems that our society faces.
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15:03
This is the end of architectural history,
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3442
15:07
and it means that
the buildings of tomorrow
the buildings of tomorrow
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15:10
are going to look a lot different
than the buildings of today.
than the buildings of today.
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15:14
It means that a public space
in the ancient city of Seville
in the ancient city of Seville
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15:18
can be unique and tailored
to the way that a modern city works.
to the way that a modern city works.
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4184
15:23
It means that a stadium in Brooklyn
can be a stadium in Brooklyn,
can be a stadium in Brooklyn,
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911992
4419
15:28
not some red-brick historical pastiche
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2762
15:31
of what we think a stadium ought to be.
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2480
15:34
It means that robots are going
to build our buildings,
to build our buildings,
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15:37
because we're finally ready for the forms
that they're going to produce.
that they're going to produce.
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3617
15:41
And it means that buildings
will twist to the whims of nature
will twist to the whims of nature
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15:45
instead of the other way around.
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1803
15:48
It means that a parking garage
in Miami Beach, Florida,
in Miami Beach, Florida,
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3604
15:52
can also be a place for sports
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2484
15:54
and for yoga
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1379
15:56
and you can even
get married there late at night.
get married there late at night.
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2579
15:58
(Laughter)
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15:59
It means that three architects
can dream about swimming
can dream about swimming
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16:04
in the East River of New York,
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1920
16:05
and then raise nearly
half a million dollars
half a million dollars
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2490
16:08
from a community
that gathered around their cause,
that gathered around their cause,
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3328
16:11
no one client anymore.
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1730
16:14
It means that no building
is too small for innovation,
is too small for innovation,
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2901
16:17
like this little reindeer pavilion
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2198
16:19
that's as muscly and sinewy
as the animals it's designed to observe.
as the animals it's designed to observe.
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5091
16:25
And it means that a building
doesn't have to be beautiful
doesn't have to be beautiful
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2738
16:28
to be lovable,
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1293
16:29
like this ugly little building in Spain,
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3015
16:32
where the architects dug a hole,
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2481
16:35
packed it with hay,
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1382
16:36
and then poured concrete around it,
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2333
16:39
and when the concrete dried,
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1640
16:40
they invited someone to come
and clean that hay out
and clean that hay out
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3560
16:44
so that all that's left when it's done
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2931
16:47
is this hideous little room
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2675
16:50
that's filled with the imprints
and scratches of how that place was made,
and scratches of how that place was made,
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5954
16:56
and that becomes the most sublime place
to watch a Spanish sunset.
to watch a Spanish sunset.
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4484
17:01
Because it doesn't matter
if a cow builds our buildings
if a cow builds our buildings
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3355
17:05
or a robot builds our buildings.
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1810
17:06
It doesn't matter how we build,
it matters what we build.
it matters what we build.
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3348
17:10
Architects already know how
to make buildings that are greener
to make buildings that are greener
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3425
17:14
and smarter and friendlier.
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2158
17:16
We've just been waiting
for all of you to want them.
for all of you to want them.
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2574
17:20
And finally, we're not
on opposite sides anymore.
on opposite sides anymore.
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3328
17:23
Find an architect, hire an architect,
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2972
17:26
work with us to design better buildings,
better cities, and a better world,
better cities, and a better world,
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5817
17:32
because the stakes are high.
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2240
17:35
Buildings don't just reflect our society,
they shape our society
they shape our society
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5190
17:40
down to the smallest spaces:
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2052
17:42
the local libraries,
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2004
17:44
the homes where we raise our children,
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2429
17:47
and the walk that they take
from the bedroom to the bathroom.
from the bedroom to the bathroom.
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3193
17:51
Thank you.
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1100
17:52
(Applause)
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3000
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marc Kushner - ArchitectWith Architizer, an online hub for architecture, Marc Kushner is breaking architecture out of its insular echo chamber and reconnecting the public with buildings.
Why you should listen
Marc Kushner is a practicing architect who splits his time between designing buildings at HWKN, the architecture firm he cofounded, and amassing the world’s architecture on the website he runs, Architizer.com. Both have the same mission: to reconnect the public with architecture.
Kushner’s core belief is that architecture touches everyone -- and everyone is a fan of architecture, even if they don’t know it yet. New forms of media empower people to shape the built environment, and that means better buildings, which make better cities, which make a better world. To that end he wrote the TED Book The Future of Architecture in 100 Buildings, published in March 2015, to challenge the public to help shape tomorrow's designs.
More profile about the speakerKushner’s core belief is that architecture touches everyone -- and everyone is a fan of architecture, even if they don’t know it yet. New forms of media empower people to shape the built environment, and that means better buildings, which make better cities, which make a better world. To that end he wrote the TED Book The Future of Architecture in 100 Buildings, published in March 2015, to challenge the public to help shape tomorrow's designs.
Marc Kushner | Speaker | TED.com