The House and the City: Architecture by Diener & Diener

Exhibition

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Forum 3 Hauptsitz Novartis Pharma Basel  CH 2005 photo: Christian Richters

D&D's architecture is created in dialogue with, while remaining a subjective part of, the city. Proportion and material are intimate considerations. Visible elements, such as a building's exterior, can become expressions of the architecture when building the relationship between the city and its inhabitants. They can also become tools to communicate D&D's architectural philosophy, returning the discussion to principles. Therefore color, material, proportion and detail are thoroughly examined throughout the designing process.

In Section 3, photography of D&D's work is projected, to see the architecture in both whole and detail, in a proofing of how they form actual streetscapes.

Section 4 focuses on 5 works, following the process of execution, introducing D&D's design methods and each project in detail; with study models, mock ups, and sample materials alongside their construction diagramsdrawings.

One example, the Novartis Headquarters was selected as the first block of a redevelopment plan in an old factory area for a global pharmaceutical firm based in Basel. Later, architects such as Peter Maerkli, Frank Gehry, and Alvaro Siza, as well as SANAA, Tadao Ando, Yoshio Taniguchi, and Fumihiko Maki from Japan, were selected to design other blocks, making this redevelopment plan an important topic in the architectural world. These headquarters, by D&D, are in the shape of a rectangular lantern, with colorful handblown glass used for its membrane. This is a project with a literally brilliant approach to materials. Over 100 samples and models will be exhibited, includingfrom 20 kinds of glass, to furniture mock-upsseveral bricks and wooden facade mock-up.

This exhibition posits the venue as a city, in order to better read D&D's architecture and philosophy in both urban and physical scales. Thus inhabiting this exhibition will provide an excellent opportunity for the viewer to re-think the relationship between architecture and the city, architecture and its inhabitants, and the city and its inhabitants.

Forum 3 Hauptsitz Novartis Pharma Basel  CH 2005 photo: Christian Richters

Galerie Gmurzynska KoNln  DE 1991 photo: Christian Vogt

© 2009 Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery