Interview between Vladimir Belogolovsky and Michael Maltzan of
Michael Maltzan Architecture in Los Angeles, USA:
"One of the most spatial problems of our generation is simultaneity."
(Unabridged)
March 22, 2024
Content
00:00 Highlight clips
01:50 Saying hello
02:52 Observations about the current moment in the profession
06:00 Looking at architecture through the lens of the profession and discipline
07:20 "I believe more in architecture's capacity from the discipline standpoint."
07:30 "I am skeptical about architecture as a profession more than ever."
11:00 "Debates about architecture are related to contemporary debates overall."
12:36 "The roles of architecture are being rethought, recast, reinvented."
13:35 About the initial interest in architecture from the age of 12
17:50 "Architecture can be a physical manifestation of how you see the world."
18:00 About Rodolfo Machado
20:28 "Rodolfo developed an extraordinarily spirited and critical culture at RISD."
20:45 On working for Machado Silvetti on and off for a number of years
22:23 On going to GSD at Harvard
23:30 Moving to Los Angeles
24:00 On Los Angeles as a city open to cultural possibilities
26:00 On LA radical architects: Morphosis, Owen Moss, Gehry, Mangurian.
27:42 On growing up in a post-war New York suburb, Levittown.
28:48 On working at the office of Frank Gehry at a pivotal moment
32:42 I was hired to work on the design of Disney Concert Hall
33:40 On learning from Gehry
34:20 "Frank created a place where there is a sense that anything is possible."
35:18 About Frank Gehry's house in Santa Monica
36:20 "In LA, the most adventurous architecture resides in single-family houses."
36:55 "The house is the experimental form for architecture."
38:37 On houses by Rudolph Schindler
39:58 "How do you see what's around you and see it in a different way?"
40:29 "An artist jumpstarts your mind to see something in a fresh way."
40:42 "Your work is to breathe new life into stereotypes."
41:40 On Richard Serra's work
41:55 Post-Modernism versus Modernism
43:44 More on Serra's work in relation to its context
45:33 Architecture as a cinematic choreography and narrative
46:20 On architectural education at RISD in the middle of an art school
47:05 On Bruce Nauman and the provoking ways he put forms together
49:32 On photographer Catherine Opie
50:50 On his favorite building, San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane
51:58 "It feels like that form is alive and completely elastic and breathing."
53:23 "It is both an object and space at the same time."
54:25 What kind of architecture do you try to achieve?
56:06 "Architecture has the potential to be at the center of connecting disparate things."
57:28 "I am not interested in answering a question with a singular answer."
1:01:02 "I am interested in the way form charges space."
1:02:35 On the design process and working with physical models
1:03:10 "One of the most significant spatial problems is simultaneity."
1:04:25 On space versus form
1:06:43 "The beginning of a project can come from almost anything."
1:08:28 On the importance of place/site/context
1:12:10 On ephemeral characteristics that identify a place
1:13:42 On continuity in the architect's work
1:15:00 "From the moment you receive a project, you start to play with ideas."
1:16:26 "As an architect, your mind needs to be intertwined with your larger project."
1:19:20 On the relationship between a house and a city
1:21:18 On designing art galleries and affordable housing
1:23:30 On social frictions
1:25:15 "The city was not a multicultural city; it was a city of many cultures."
1:27:42 On permanent supportive housing for homeless
1:30:20 On Pittman Dowell House
1:33:43 "The Pittman Dowell House is an alter ego of the Neutra House next to it."
1:35:45 "It was an experiment representing a form of what a contemporary life is."
1:37:24 On current preoccupations
1:37:46 "I come to the studio every day anticipating a breakthrough."
1:38:30 On understanding early formal ambitions from a different form of maturity
1:42:23 "Has architecture become too good?"
1:42:48 "It's extraordinary what architecture as a formal practice has achieved."
1:44:06 What's your favorite building?
1:45:18 "It is important to look at architecture's deep ambitions and motivations."
1:45:58 "We have a rule not to look at design precedents newer than twelve years old."
1:51:20 "Looking at things built yesterday will make architecture deeply self-referential."
1:52:04 The End
Thank you.
