On June 25th, 2019 we had a cool and interesting conversation with Davis Richardson.

Davis Richardson is a Masters Fellow at University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a Bachelor on Interior Design from Harding University. He has been featured in podcasts, lectures and conferences, and has even appeared on the TED Talks stage, with his talk: Beyond Sustainable Architecture. He has a book out, called Going Tiny and is known in the architecture community for his innovative Tiny House on Wheels. This is a very interesting conversation, we talk about his background on interior design and how this has enabled him to expand his knowledge as a designer. We touch upon form, and how it can challenge the status quo in our society.Davis also gives his personal insights and advice for architecture students. Let the talk BEGIN!

Listen on:

SPOTIFY
APPLE ITUNES

SOUNDCLOUD
ANCHOR.FM

Transript:

M: Tell me a little about… That background that you have in interior design. How has it helped you right now?

D: Interior design was really good, because it made me think spatially. A lot more than I was predisposed to. As you mentioned, I’m really into object-oriented ontology. I’m very interested in form as a stool for architecture. Interior design was really good because it really taught me not just about form, but also about space. About human experience. About the way people use buildings and use architecture. Which is a really excellent foundation.

Some of my more recent work has been exploring… Thinking a little bit beyond anthro-posentric ways of designing. Thinking about objects and forms as they relate to space. But I don’t think I’d have the freedom to really explore those things and challenge our pre-assumptions about them, if I didn’t have a background in interior design. It was a really great program. It was a good way to go into architecture school, foundationally. And now being able to think differently about things.

M: When you talk about form and new ways of challenging the status-quo… How do you think form can challenge it?

D: Well I think… I think there’s definitely a political agency that underlies all that. To me what is interesting is, architecture never really directly deals with those things. I think we talk a lot in school, especially our generation, the kind of things that we care about now… We talk a lot about the social, political nature and agency of architecture. But to me, it’s always indirect. I think that there’s never a direct correlation of “this building is about… Fighting the Trump Administration” for example. It’s a crazy time we live in. It’s hard for buildings to do that.

M: Like basically to make a statement…

D: Yeah, it’s hard. Even in school it’s the same way, we might not be dealing with constructive realities. But you’re still in a long process that you’re making as a building, not a protest sign. At the end of the day, we’re making a building or we’re making some form of architecture, it’s always indirect. But what architecture does and what it has the capacity to do, is that it’s always the background to everything else in our lives. Especially in urban environments we’re surrounded by architecture on a day to day. It is what we are looking and what we are experiencing. If you think about aesthetics, not just necessarily is how something looks. But the idea of aesthetics as a buffer between what we see and what actually exists outside of ourselves. Architecture is really one of the most prominent aesthetics phenomenon that exists in our world. And when you think about that, there is a real power in the way that buildings present themselves and may re-align the way that we see the world. And so what I’m interested in is -- form for form sake is certainly interesting and valid. But I’m interested in forms which maybe with-hold or reveal some things about themselves and causes to look deeper at them. Which may sound sort of a narcissistic way to look at architecture. Especially today in the ever-fast world we live in on Instagram, where you just flip through and double click and like and you move on. Where you read news headlines but you don’t stop to read the articles. The closest architecture can get to changing those things is developing sensibilities within us that go wait, I actually want to look at this longer and discover what is actually there because there is something that I’m not fully getting. That’s a really powerful thing, that we have the capacity to do. So I think form plays a role in that. I think there’s also a way of diverting form very clear readings of forms. Specific forms that are actually more powerful. So it’s form but it’s also graphic. It’s also surface and also depth and complexity. So there’s a lot of things that go into that. But I think that’s where I’m interested right now.

Q: That’s very interesting. When you talk about the form in general though… What form are you talking about? Is it a shape you produce in Grasshopper (software) or is it more towards form, as in the rhythm or a grid of a building, or even thresholds…

D: ….What I’m interested in is not any kind of given straight-forward formal agenda. I mean I’m interested in blobs… I love Zaha’s buildings, I think the form is very interesting… When I talk about being interested in form, I think about things that seem to arise from internal logics or things which are not necessarily abstract but are unusual. I think when you explore every day-- not vernacular, but commercial architecture, the random stuff that happens in our cities. There’s a lot of strange stuff out there and a lot of it we have grown accustomed to. So I’m interested in form that allows us to think differently. That we’re not used to.

M: Particularly in architecture school it’s so important for people to look for that innovation and stray away from the modern-type thing. Because you’re there to learn how to do things differently. Obviously in the real world, it’s going to be difficult because you have zoning and building codes and stuff like that. But if you actually go into architecture it is to make a difference.

D: Absolutely, and that’s one of the biggest things I would tell students. Don’t design buildings that you think can get built. If you go to a good architecture school, you’re gonna get a good job, you’re gonna work for some firm that is probably gonna do some cool modern stuff. And you’ll get to see buildings realized, that you enjoy…. All that stuff is important, I’m not saying forget that stuff. But what is really powerful about architecture school -- employers might disagree with this but I don’t really care -- What is really important, the value of architecture school is to push the discipline forward. To think about new ideas and new ways of thinking about architecture. And o expose both the industry and the world to new possibilities. What you design… I wouldn’t worry about constructibility, feasibility, whether you feel like you can get some client to sign off on it. I wouldn’t be concerned about those things. I think the role of architecture school, especially in school, if it’s about re-aligning our sensibilities. It doesn’t matter if it’s a building or not. The drawing you put on the wall, the model you make, is just as real and in the world and just as much architecture as the last Herzog & De Meuron building. So, I think keeping that in mind and understand that the projects you do now are just the precincts into your career. Like they are architecture on their own. And there should be freedom in that. In knowing that this is a cool opportunity that I have now and just to take advantage of it.

M: Yeah, I always tell my students… You know what? Just forget about the rules. Just don’t look at the setbacks… I mean obviously you have to abide to the dimensions of the site. But if they tell you it has to be top 10 feet, you can just make it 11 feet. You know? The world is not gonna end, just do it. And sometimes they’re scared.

D: Sure, we have a professor here who is really amazing. His name is David Heymann. And he talks about “the only rule you have in school is gravity.”

M: I’m gonna start using that quote.

D: Yeah! You can’t… Like that would be the only thing that wouldn’t be a fruitful discussion, like “well gravity doesn’t apply to this building.” Outside of that… Zoning and any law… The way that architecture -- And he actually wrote a really good publication on ISSUE, is that the way that architecture functions and has functioned historically, is that it pushes the world forward through challenging the law, through zoning, through variance to the zoning law. And you almost could make an argument that there’s almost an obligation to break the rules in some way. There’s an obligation if you care about not accepting the status quote as is… We almost have an obligation in school to break the rules and to say “no, it can be different, it should be different, this is the world we are proposing…”

M: The last question I have for you is… How does architecture change the way we see the world? (Goes over Instagram responses to the question).

D: ...The aesthetic level is what happens first. You’ve already lost a piece of resolution when you start explaining or describing, or thinking about or theorizing… We have already lost a step behind the real experience of architecture. I mean, nobody else goes around looking at our buildings thinking “oh I wonder what the concept behind this was” They look at them and go “oh that’s cool” or “oh that sucks.” It serves to make things more attractive. And that’s not a superficial thing.... Again, architecture’s role in that is super indirect, I’m not trying to say that we’re gonna save the world by making complex buildings…

M: But it definitely can. I think architecture is so much more than just construction and building. Architecture is psychological, political, social, cultural… You have to know about these things in order to be a good architect. Architecture is a very well-rounded profession… You have about a lot of things in order to actually design something that is gonna aesthetically pleasing and so that people have a nice experience when they go in it and for people to actually want to go inside.

D: Yeah, I agree…. I think it’s a beautiful thing about being an architect. It’s bigger than architecture, that sort-of juggling. It would only make richer cities, richer places to be in and a better world.

M: Alright, one last question… Just thought about it. What is a piece of advice you would give to someone starting architecture right now?

D: If you’re starting architecture school… I felt like I couldn’t design anything until I knew how big doors were… Or how big windows are. I just had no concept of scale, of space in order to even get started. So I would say to someone who is just starting in school, to someone starting architecture… If you’re like “ah! I wanna design an actual building not these stupid design excercises.” Because I remember being frustrated with those too… I was like “I wanna design architecture, not these compositional stuff.” Now, looking back on it, I love those exercises so much. I wish I had enjoyed those exercises more because they just open up possibilities that you didn’t think were possible. So my advice to somebody who is just starting school would be: don’t feel like you have to know anything to design stuff. Your background, your up-bringing, your way of seeing the world… Whatever, your intuition about architecture, design and composition is valuable and we need it. So you have as much right to be here as I do in my 8th year of school now. So that’s the first thing.

Second I would say… Use those things to develop something we have never seen before. Don’t be worried about getting it wrong. Even pleasing your professors. Your professors are there for a good reason, and they know a lot. But if you have a clear idea about stuff, don’t think you have to stick to the cannon of what you’re being thought. I think that’s really important…To develop for yourself a sense of “what do I want my architecture to be? What ideas do I want to explore?” And I think most professors will help you understand and realize those things… Sometimes it’s okay to piss off your professors a little bit.