diary: following adam mørk

ways of seeing

the school is undergoing a summer cleaning and is anything but presentable according to the rulebook.  it is dirty, everything is out of place, there are cleaners and builders with all of their equipment running around.  in short, the place is a mess.  and you never want guests round when your house is in such a state.  the pretense that we all live and work in perfect environments, kept up by this show, is one of those funny little lies we tell ourselves that are so blatant and prevalent only mass lunacy can explain how we overlook them.  i doubt very much that 3xn will like the pictures i am taking of the building in this state, but doing so is a learning experience.

i am engaged in  a particularly interesting activity at the moment:  reshooting adam mørk’s pictures of the ørestad gymnasium.  this should be required learning for every architect and photographer is it is an incredible exercise in seeing through another’s eyes and also becoming aware of your own way of seeing things.  invariably you are struck with admiration for a master’s ability to find just the right spots from which to see certain aspects of the site.  at other times, you wonder just what s/he was thinking.  I have done this activity with my studio lighting students many times– all of them have had to learn by imitating.

additionally, i think this is a wonderful example of how photography is useful as data.  by documenting the building from the same spots over a span of several years, you can really asses the wear and tear of certain materials use an as such learn about their suitability for future projects.  photos become clear evidence to make a case, as in a crime scene.

what does all of this say about my battle against convention?  that i am not waging one.  the architectural way of seeing is lovely.  there is no reason to eliminate it.  i would only modestly assert that it could easily and should definitely be expanded.