As Found

Peter Reyner Banham, quite a notorious architectural writer, historian and critic, was the author of the 1982 book Scenes in American Deserta, an anthology of images of the American desert with his own running commentary..this was probably a culmination of his life-long taste for rough, as-found textures and materials...which could sometimes be brutal..

I'm much influenced by that ethic or aesthetic(depending on ya point of view)...look at that maintenance shed behind the Newcastle University Fine Arts Studios..storm damage (the same as that which beached the Pasha Bolga on Newcastle Beach) caused that...one can say that ruins look awesome and fantastic if captured well (i, of course, have failed terribly)...its a record of the events in life and that reality is often not manicured and perfect...having said that, they look no less beautiful than perfectly manicured French gardens..

Are the pictures brutal? yes they are..is the condition of the building brutal? of course..but is it attractive and eye-catching? why, yes one admits...is it really because they're ugly or because there is something strangely human about seeing a broken building and goin, "siao liao! simi lan ch***?"

As-found...thats wats lacking in most modern design today...as-found materials, qualities and textures add a human dimension to spaces and places..you touch the rough, coarse texture of a coconut husk and you know that is something intensely human and immensely satisfying..enough of that minimalist Zen sterile laboratory rat living...give us sensuous, warm, rough and hairy spaces! If decoration can help acheive that or amplify that as-found aesthetic, so much the better..

a word about the pictures..i dun think our university is going to get that damage repaired anytime soon..it is, afterall...a case of having to fork out money rather than receive money so understandably...the delay...but i think they stand as good reminders of storms and not always needing to be perfect...and that buildings are immensely strong, such that they'll still being used and i dun think anyone seriousli entertains the thought that the roof is goin to collapse anytime soon..it looks worse than it actualli is..never judge a book by its cover...or rather judge a book by its cover onli if u can understand the idea that went into the design..