Robert Somol’s “12 Reasons to Get Back into Shape” (2005)
Dialogue
SUMMARY
This AE Dialogue addresses the essay, “12 Reasons to get back into Shape” by Robert E Somol. Somol had for years been advancing arguments about the power of graphic legibility in architecture as an alternative to what he perceived as the belabored manipulation of form–particularly as it was embodied in the work of Peter Eisenman. This essay captures his larger arguments of the time, in a succinct 2-page form, and it does so around the concept of “shape.” Somol had long held up the work of Rem Koolhaas as an alternative model to that of Eisenman, and the publication of this essay in OMA’s new book Content makes clear the connection between this idea which had impacts on architectural schools and discourse in the USA and the larger movement known as SuperDutch.
BIOGRAPHY
Joseph Bedford is Associate Professor at Virginia Tech and the founding director of the Architecture Exchange.
Kyle Miller is Associate Dean and an Associate Professor at Syracuse University School of Architecture.
Jimenez Lai is the director of Bureau Spectacular.
Christophe Van Gerrewey is a writer and critic. From 2015 to 2024, he thought architecture theory at EPFL Lausanne.
CATALOGUE
With Joseph Bedford, Kyle Miller, Jimenez Lai and Christophe Van Gerrewey
25/07/2024
Format
Dialogue
With Joseph Bedford, Kyle Miller, Jimenez Lai and Christophe Van Gerrewey
INDEX
