Justin Davidson: Why glass towers are bad for city life -- and what we need instead
Justin Davidson: Por que as torres reluzentes de vidro são ruins para a vida urbana
Justin Davidson writes about a broad range of urban, civic, design and arts issues. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
entraram aqui esta noite,
in here this evening,
looked almost exactly the same:
nesta plateia eram todas parecidas:
poderia ter a vida interior mais singular,
idiosyncratic inner life,
the same blank expression all the time.
expressão vazia o tempo todo.
that is taking over cities,
que as cidades vêm sofrendo,
aos edifícios, e não às pessoas.
de rugosidades e sombras,
of great individuality and character
superfícies arquitetônicas
splendor of cities.
is that the need for shelter
the human desire for beauty.
humano pela beleza.
give us a touchable city.
nos dão uma cidade tátil.
com os dedos tijolos e pedras.
over brick and stone.
cada vez mais difícil,
quase sempre feitas de concreto e aço
made of concrete and steel
all over the world --
das cidades pelo mundo
of high-gloss robots
the full range of available materials.
toda a gama de materiais disponível.
and limestone and sandstone
o calcário e o arenito,
and terra-cotta and brick
a terracota e o tijolo,
all of the world's cuisines
todas as culinárias do mundo
like this one in Moscow
como esse aqui em Moscou,
and communal aspects of urban living.
cívicos e comunitários da vida urbana.
to enrich their owners and tenants,
a enriquecer seus donos e inquilinos,
the lives of the rest of us,
the spaces between the buildings.
pelos espaços entre os edifícios.
and killing off public space.
e matando os espaços públicos.
as being like makeup,
como se fosse uma maquiagem,
to a building that's effectively complete.
num edifício já pronto.
profunda também.
affect the way we live in it.
afetam a forma como vivemos.
em horários diversos.
sunlight rakes the facades,
varre as fachadas,
segments the buildings
segmenta os edifícios
of visual activity.
de atividade visual.
where the generations can meet.
onde as gerações se encontram.
sprawling on the pavers,
like an opera set.
a um cenário operístico.
about the exteriors of buildings,
do exterior dos edifícios,
nem da função, nem da estrutura,
give texture to our lives,
dão textura à nossa vida,
criam os espaços a sua volta,
create the spaces around them,
tanto atrair as pessoas
with the quality of those exteriors.
com a qualidade desses exteriores.
of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca
da Plaza Mayor de Salamanca
pelo vento, de paredes de vidro,
atravessam apressados
to their cubicles
a caminho de seus cubículos,
as little time in as possible.
o menor tempo possível.
the architect Philip Johnson
o arquiteto Philip Johnson
European plaza in Pittsburgh.
praça europeia em Pittsburgh.
encircled by commercial buildings
cercado de edifícios comerciais,
with metal trim and bays
com placas e nichos de metal
de um lado para o outro da fonte
through the fountain
of a leisurely hangout.
de um ponto de encontro descontraído.
you really want to just hang out and chat.
onde queremos passear e bater papo.
for many different reasons.
ou declinam por razões diferentes.
excessively on glass.
excessivamente do vidro.
from enormous, ultraclear sheets
enormes, ultratransparentes,
com que ele mude de aspecto
it has the magical power
ele tem o mágico poder
real estate values by allowing views,
dos imóveis, graças à vista,
that developers have to offer
que os construtores podem oferecer
of the Crystal Palace in London,
de Cristal, em Londres,
of quintessentially modern substances.
dos materiais modernos por excelência.
the downtowns of some American cities,
de algumas cidades norte-americanas,
de escritórios realmente espetaculares,
really spectacular office buildings
designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
do escritório Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
advanced to the point
a ponto de os arquitetos
structures so transparent
tão transparentes
of the high-rise city,
mais comum da cidade vertical.
powerful reason for that.
converge on cities,
convergem para as cidades,
into jerry-built shantytowns.
amontoam-se em favelas.
precisam de um lugar
need apartments and places to work
em edifícios cada vez maiores.
to put up towers
faz sentido construir torres
and practical curtain walls.
baratas e práticas.
in southern Mexico.
no sul do México.
of high ritual significance.
tinha um grande significado ritual.
a historical and textural continuity
uma continuidade histórica e textural
the mountains all around
as montanhas circundantes
on top of the ruins
no topo das ruínas,
até os edifícios comuns de argamassa
even ordinary plaster buildings
bright colors, political murals
murais políticos
would simply wipe out.
varreria totalmente.
that architects and developers
the joys of texture
for old materials like brick
para materiais antigos, como o tijolo
like the molded panels that Snøhetta used
como os painéis moldados que Snøhetta usou
Museum of Modern Art
de Arte Moderna de São Francisco
even created living facades.
até criou fachadas vivas.
a pair of apartment towers in Milan,
duas torres de apartamentos em Milão,
mais visível é a vegetação.
para Nanquim, na China.
for Nanjing in China.
were as ubiquitous as glass ones
tão numerosas como as de vidro,
chinesas seria muito mais limpo.
in Chinese cities would become.
são, em sua maioria, isolados,
that these are mostly one-offs,
numa escala mundial.
that have a local significance,
que têm significado local,
tenham todas o mesmo aspecto.
from all looking the same.
história em Nova Iorque
to cover the American Copper Building,
para cobrir o American Copper Building,
on the East River.
sunset lights up that metallic facade,
ilumina aquela fachada metálica,
à medida que envelhecer.
pretty much the same way it did before
aspecto que tinha antes,
have the ability
têm a capacidade
de história e de memória
in Salt Lake City in copper and zinc,
de Utah, em Salt Lake City,
in the area for 150 years
naquela área ao longo de 150 anos,
num fundo de morros cor de argila,
against the ochre hills
natural history.
Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu
do Prêmio Pritzker chinês,
um museu de história em Ningbo,
a wrapper for the past,
uma embalagem para o passado,
nas próprias paredes,
that had been demolished.
que tinham sido demolidas.
de formas igualmente líricas e inventivas.
um de Jean Nouvel e esse de Frank Gehry,
and this one by Frank Gehry
that they toss back and forth
provocam um com o outro
of concentrated variety
de variedade concentrada,
and languages and lifestyles
as línguas e os estilos de vida
toda essa variedade
of crushing sameness,
de uma monotonia esmagadora,
toda a gama da experiência urbana.
the full range of the urban experience.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Justin Davidson - Architecture criticJustin Davidson writes about a broad range of urban, civic, design and arts issues.
Why you should listen
Justin Davidson is the author of Magnetic City: A Walking Companion to New York (Spiegel & Grau), which leads readers through a portrait of the city told through its history, architecture, music, art and literature.
Davidson has been the architecture and classical music critic at New York magazine since 2007. Before that, he spent 12 years as classical music critic at Newsday, where he also wrote about architecture and was a regular cultural commentator. He won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2002, an American Society of Newspaper Editors criticism (ASNE) award and the 2015 Stephen A. Kliment Oculus Award for Architectural Journalism from the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter.
A native of Rome, Davidson graduated from Harvard and later earned a doctoral degree in music composition at Columbia University. He has contributed to many publications, including The New Yorker, Smithsonian, W., The New York Times Book Review, Travel & Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler and Pursuits. He was a columnist for the website Wondering Sound and has appeared regularly on WNYC and other radio and television outlets. He has taught at the Design Criticism program at the School of Visual Arts, the Goldring Arts Journalism Program of Syracuse University and NEA Arts Journalism Institutes. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Justin Davidson | Speaker | TED.com