"Play time" playing with modernism and Louis I kahn in this matter.

"Play time" was a directed by Jacques Tati in 1967, the way this movie interpreted "Modernism" is quite interesting as well as funny. At that time, Americans love modernism because of they wanted to show their power in term of technology as well as the notion of mechanism. And this movie actually capture the dream of modernist especially for Miesian where everything is a box and they are clean, clear, and being in repeated order. People would walk or even dressed in the same style. The movie actually captured the way that the lead actor got lost in the building and trying to find one person but lost in the "boxes".

boxes in box.

apartment units <wow how homogeneous>

Mie's city!

 I really love the way he played with how people was so "into machines and all the popular culture untill they lost their identities" they are all the same!!!! This is really movie depict "Modernism ideology" of how they view over people, convey the notion that people are all the same in every way including their senses, perception, basically everything.

In my opinion, this movie/documentary actually tried to delivered depicting the way the city would became if they still believe in one certain way without giving themselves any other options. This is one thing that I don't really like in "Modernism" where they were being so strict and strubborn with what they were after. The evolution is good and i think most of architects/artists love to see innovative things but with all the limitation that they sat <modernists> and treated people as if the object or sculptures were kind of too much. That's why there is another group of poeple that opposed and then we have post-modernism which totally being opposite to modernism. For example, in early post-modernism, they would just put the decorative elements just to convey or say "HEY LOOK! I'M NOT MODERNISM" which was quite extreme but for me they just led people to see another things that art and architecture can offer.

Louis I. Kahn

                                     
If we say about issue or being controdict with Modernism, we cannot forget this guy "LOUIS I. KAHN" who was in between modern and classical.  In the begining of his career, he was one of modernist but then realized that he was not going anywhere with this "compound" so he went around the world and travelled and made a lot of sketchs that i showed you in previous article about him. Even if he sketched classical building where there are many ornamantal, we did not pay attention to the detail but the shadow and the composition. Most of his building was a combination of the two movements where he still being critical about the geometric shape but for materials as well as the concern over context and surrounding was his best well-known and bring him into the frame.

salk institute

                              

national assembly building in dhaka, bangladesh

 

                                 
People who closed to him knew that he loved his work was first priority for him where he invested his everything to research, design, and build.

I think, Louis I. Kahn is a fine and clear example of architect who stand by their concept and being compromised to what was existed before and use them wisely. He didn't forget about classical/ Renaissance and still doing designing something that people at that time reconized but in his own way. We could really see that the last master piece that he wasn't even there when it actually finished " national assembly building" in Bangladesh had a great impact to people in that region. We could see in the documentary "my architect" that directed by his only son Nathaniel Kahn that people was admired the architect and how they appreciated that he bulit the icon or the landmark in their homeland that was and still poor.

The thing that Kahn had and Modernism and Post modernism lacked was about how he looked to things and researching till knowing the context, people , the way they lived their lives, and using that as well as the things that we learned from existing architecture combining together to form his works. And i think, If there were Kahns' building in "play time" the movie would have more chaotic or variety of people and how they expressed their identities.

  I want to end with a really famous quotes from Kahn that really inspired me,
“I just want to make my last demand in reverence to the work of what has been done by architects of the past. what was, has always been. what is, has always been. and what will be, has always been. such is the nature of beginning.” – louis kahn  


It's ashamed though that he had only short amount of time after people accepted his works so let's keep our mind open to innovation there's nothing right or wrong as long as we have logic and reason and don't forget about aesthetic.


Another nice thing that "I.M. PIER" said during interviewing with Kahn's son that "5-6 masterpieces of architecture is better than building 50-60 building, quality not quantities" he became my idol after this. Very witted and humble architect.