NEIL M DENARI ARCHITECTS

CONTENT:

•WHO IS HE?

•HOW DID HIS ARCHITECTURE JOURNEY

BEGAN?

•HIS MAJOR INSPIRATION – IMPACT ON

HIS WORK

•TO QUOTE FROM HIS INTERVIEWS

•ARTLESS DRAWINGS

•PROJECTS

HIGH LINE 23

NEW KEELUNG HARBOUR SERVICE

BUILDING

WHO’S HE?

•Neil Denari is an American architect, professor, and author.

•Based since 1988 in Los Angeles, Denari emerged in New York during the 1980s with a series of theoretical projects and texts based on the collapse of the machine aesthetic of Modernism.

•His office, Neil M. Denari Architects (NMDA) is dedicated to exploring the realms of architecture, design, urbanism, and all aspects of contemporary life.

•As a teacher for more than 20 years, Denari has held visiting professorships at UC Berkeley, Columba, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas at Arlington. Since 2002, he has taught at UCLA where he is a tenured professor

•Denari received a Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1980 from the University of Houston and in 1982,

•He earned a Master's degree from Harvard University.

•While at Harvard, he studied the philosophy of science and also art theory with the expatriate Austrian artist Paul Rotterdam, whom Denari has cited as his most influential teacher

•After graduate studies, Denari worked for five months as an intern in Paris for Aerospatiale – now Airbus – one of Europe’s largest aviation contractors.

•Following this, Denari lived and worked in New York from 1983 to 1988, first at James Stewart Polshek & Partners as a senior designer, before beginning to teach at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture and Planning in 1986.

HOW DID HIS ARCHITECRURE JOURNEY BEGAN??

Denari founded his firm in Los Angeles in 1988.

Denari has used the city of Los Angeles as a resource and laboratory for urban and cultural experiments.

In 1990 and 1991, he worked on several small projects and taught architecture in Tokyo.This period of time, prior to the collapse of the Japanese bubble economy, gave Denari the opportunity to study both the historical and contemporary aspects of Japanese culture. These experiences have had a continued impact on his work.

Gyroscopic Horizons, a book written by Denari documenting his architectural projects as well as his ideas and theories on contemporary culture, was jointly published in September 1999 by Princeton Architectural Press and Thames and Hudson.

Denari worked on a monograph entitled Speculations On which was published in 2011 by AADCU of Beijing.

HOW DID HIS ARCHITECRURE JOURNEY BEGAN??

HIS MAJOR INSPIRATION – IMPACT ON WORK:

Art theory – paul rotterdamJapanese culture and architecture

Culture and language of architecture at los angeles

•Monochromatic paintings•Abstraction•Three-dimensionality is an important feature in his work with forms often protruding from the pictorial plane into actual space

Aviation

Your buildings have been described as "graphic," "contoured" and "aerodynamic." What term or phrase do you think best describes your work?

ND: Formagraphic is a term I invented that attempts to place in close proximity to one another the depth and fullness of form and the immediacy and vividness of the graphic. Our work is a unique merger between 2D and 3D, so really the term tries to capture the essence of that world

TO QUOTE FROM HIS INTERVIEWS

TO QUOTE FROM HIS INTERVIEWS

“I think every architect deals with abstraction at one level. Even though my work looks more complicated, it’s deeply simple. It’s a pretty sophisticated form of simple geometry in a way. I learned to edit and to have the simplicity of color field painting find its way into my work.There’s something deep down that’s disciplining about architecture. I like to think abstraction and scale allow you to be rigorous and open-ended at the same time. You can do it with hunches and guesses but at least you’re governed by something. I know I have that kind of spirit with how I approach work. I try to be free but I also work within a set of hard and fast rules that are very loose”

There’s a very graphic, abstract element to all your work.

What are the values that inform your practice? The context of a site is very important when designing large buildings. You need to know the context well when generating ideas and processes for the site. When I take on a project, I try to find out more about the site, its history and the activities that have taken place there, which will influence the final design. In this way, people don’t feel that this is just a generic development that you can find anywhere. Using this approach, we won the Keelung Harbor Building Competition because we came up a design that responded well to the site context. - See more at: http://www.aude.sg/features_Neil_Denari.htm#sthash.qDkqsrSY.dpuf

TO QUOTE FROM HIS INTERVIEWS

ARTLESS DRAWINGS

The Artless Drawing focuses on the graphic work of Neil Denari produced between 1982 and 1996, just before digital design became ubiquitous. Although painstakingly made by hand, the perfectly rendered drawings appear to have been generated by a machine rather than by an architect seeking artistic expression.

ARTLESS DRAWINGS The exhibition

showcases the extraordinary range of manual techniques Denari used to create what is now his signature style and reveals that Denari made these drawings less in the manner of an artist or draughtsman than in that of a human computer.

NEW KEELUNG HARBOUR SERVICE BUILDING - TAIWAN

•A multi-functional port facility harmonious with the city and the regional environment•Comprises of a passenger and cargo terminal and a joint office building•Taiwan's largest port of entry serving peak hour flow of 1,500 cruise ship passengers•Up to International Air Transport Association (IATA) standards of the C-class service

OVERVIEW:

NEW KEELUNG HARBOUR SERVICE BUILDING - TAIWAN

Architects: Neil M. Denari ArchitectsLocation: Port of Keelung, Zhongzheng District, Keelung City, Taiwan 202Principal: Neil Denari, AIAProject Architects: James Black, Frank WeeksProject Manager: Yun Yun WuDesign Team: Jonathan Schnure, Jeff Chinn, Lillian Zeinalzadegan, Catherine Pham, Tyler McMartin

Denari's long held fascination with the streamlined forms of mid-century automobile design and chrome-dipped Americana in general here find resonance in the abstract steel basins, wind-swept protuberances, and angled windows which all cast the complex in forward motion.

Various structures, each containing different programs are linked by soaring skybridges and vertiginous ramps--broad circulation bands that are weaved throughout the dense collection of buildings.

A long horizontal wing will house the train terminal while the main building will contain office and hotel spaces. A smaller, pavilion-like tower at the water bank will accommodate the Harbor authority and a police station.

MORPHOSIS AND A HALF

HIGH LINE 23

Architect: Neil M. Denari

Architects

Location: New York, USA

Principal in charge: Neil Denari

Project Architect: Duks Koschitz

Project Designer: Stefano

Paiocchi

Project team: Carmen Cham, Alex

Janowsky, Philipp Traexler,

David Aguilo, Steven Epley,

Paola Vezzulli, Joe Willendra

Land area: 352.5 sqm

Constructed area: 3,642 sqm

“The best part may be the archibabble that results from a question about building luxury residences: "Okay, this is a very high-end building, it's very expensive, but I think for me, I just sort of think it's for the city. And the people who live in this building, I think they know the building is for the city. They're participating in the symbiosis of the High Line and the shift in design culture”

Its design involved a broad knowledge of the site, great understanding of construction details and expansion of space. The building stand out in the surrounding area, attract audience with its exposed steel frames and create a great illusion of height.

The building's east facade will have the appearance of a monumental public sculpture clad with a system of custom-designed, three-dimensionally curving stainless steel panels. The pattern will move along the dramatically shaped skin in much the same way a printed pattern moves across an avant-garde garment, slipping into different visual effects with the change of the body beneath.

The steel surface will also read differently throughout the day and during different weather patterns, glowing and seeming to change color with the movement of the sun and the passing of clouds. At the center of this facade, the structure and its skin will appear to split apart, revealing windows and cast ever changing shadows in a radical play of light

This interest manifests in the form and articulation of HL23, which seems more machine than multi-unit dwelling. Contrary to the typical high-rise form, which tapers from a wide base to a narrower summit, HL23’s form swells upward and outward in response to the zoning envelope and looms above the High Line.

In order to preserve open interiors free from the interruption of columns, Denari designed the concrete and steel structure with perimeter cross-bracing.

The north and south facades feature an aluminum curtain wall with ultra-clear glass, revealing the structural latticework and capturing coveted High Line and Hudson River views.

In order to maintain some privacy for residents, Denari clad the west facade, which directly faces the High Line, with stamped stainless steel panels. These panels were made in a factory in Argentina that manufactures parts for Mercedes trucks