David Benjamin, founding principal of The Living, finds inspiration in natural phenomena. His largest project to date, a temporary tower in the courtyard of MOMA/P.S.1, the Museum of Modern Art’s contemporary art space in Queens, New York, was composed of bricks created from hemp and corn stalks bound together by mycelium (mushroom filaments). The goal, he said, is to create building materials using organic processes with “no energy, no waste, and almost no carbon emissions.” By contrast, Marlon Blackwell finds his inspiration in the culture of his home state, Arkansas. Blackwell’s Saint Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church has a dome made from a recycled satellite dish: “I traded some beer for that,” said Blackwell, adding that the building cost about $100 a square foot. “Part of our mission is to demonstrate that architecture can happen anywhere at any scale and any budget.”
But some of the architects who spoke questioned the very need for new ideas. Brian MacKay-Lyons, the Canadian born principal of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, said, “I think innovation is overrated. It’s not something you should go chasing. You could be waiting a long time.” Instead, he said, his goal is “timelessness.” He decried the “cult of the compelling object,” even when showing slides of houses that have tilted and cantilevered their way onto magazine covers. Rick Joy, the Tucson architect, agreed with MacKay-Lyons, saying, “I’m not Madonna, so I don’t feel I need to reinvent myself.” In fact, he said, now that he’s working on more and larger projects than ever before, his goal is to stick to core principles: “ensuring that the details support the concept” and “striving for an heirloom quality of craft.”
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