Book Review: Anne Beim - Tectonic Visions in Architecture
Anne Beim is Associate Professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture, and is head of its Centre of Industrial Architecture. This book - a revised version of her PhD thesis - deals in detail with the issue of tectonic visions, a concept Beim describes as “visionary investigations into new materials, technologies, structures, and practices of construction, as means to construct (new) meaning in architecture.”
The book follows a case study format with introductory chapters outlining the key concepts, central chapters exploring these concepts through six case studies, and a conclusion that reflects on the ethical dimensions of tectonics. Five of the case studies are of well-known examples of built work: Mies’ Lake Shore Drive towers, Corb’s Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, the Eames House, Utzon’s Espansiva House, and Kahn’s Richards Medical Research Building. The sixth case study concerns the lesser-known Alexandria Library proposal by the Smithsons. There are many important points made throughout the book, overwritten by a pervasive, healthy and thought provoking sense that architects have an ethical duty to carefully consider all aspects of construction. Without this consideration, architecture’s potential as a total work of art that can reflect its (and our) context and position in history can never be realised, leading to a series of lost opportunities for society.
However - and this is not intended as a criticism of the author - the book’s production all but prevents these points from reaching the surface. Instead, normally invisible publishing standards constantly demand attention, such as ‘widows and orphans’, and grammar, spelling, and translation errors: the word ‘og’ making numerous appearances, for example in the chapter on Charles og Ray Eames. The distracting result clouds the clarity that the otherwise intelligent discussion demands.
