WEBVTT 00:00:00.421 --> 00:00:03.511 We conventionally divide space 00:00:03.511 --> 00:00:05.057 into private and public realms, 00:00:05.073 --> 00:00:08.340 and we know these legal distinctions very well 00:00:08.340 --> 00:00:10.348 because we've become experts 00:00:10.348 --> 00:00:14.320 at protecting our private property and private space. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:15.312 But we're less attuned 00:00:15.312 --> 00:00:19.667 to the nuances of the public. 00:00:19.667 --> 00:00:23.575 What translates generic public space into qualitative space? 00:00:23.590 --> 00:00:25.750 I mean, this is something 00:00:25.750 --> 00:00:26.821 that our studio has been working on 00:00:26.821 --> 00:00:28.329 for the past decade. 00:00:28.329 --> 00:00:30.289 And we're doing this through some case studies. 00:00:30.289 --> 00:00:32.081 A large chunk of our work 00:00:32.081 --> 00:00:33.621 has been put into transforming 00:00:33.621 --> 00:00:36.417 this neglected industrial ruin 00:00:36.417 --> 00:00:39.490 into a viable post-industrial space 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:40.733 that looks forwards and backwards 00:00:40.733 --> 00:00:41.679 at the same time. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:44.754 And another huge chunk of our work 00:00:44.754 --> 00:00:46.792 has gone into making relevant 00:00:46.792 --> 00:00:49.488 a site that's grown out of sync with its time. 00:00:49.488 --> 00:00:52.532 We've been working on democratizing Lincoln Center 00:00:52.532 --> 00:00:56.250 for a public that doesn't usually have $300 00:00:56.250 --> 00:01:00.015 to spend on an opera ticket. 00:01:00.015 --> 00:01:01.706 So we've been eating, drinking, 00:01:01.706 --> 00:01:04.000 thinking, living public space 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.940 for quite a long time. 00:01:05.956 --> 00:01:08.240 And it's taught us really one thing, 00:01:08.240 --> 00:01:12.208 and that is to truly make good public space, 00:01:12.208 --> 00:01:15.458 you have to erase the distinctions 00:01:15.458 --> 00:01:18.083 between architecture, urbanism, 00:01:18.083 --> 00:01:19.958 landscape, media design 00:01:19.958 --> 00:01:21.542 and so on. 00:01:21.542 --> 00:01:23.571 It really goes beyond distinction. 00:01:23.571 --> 00:01:26.625 Now we're moving onto Washington, D.C. 00:01:26.625 --> 00:01:28.958 and we're working on another transformation, 00:01:28.958 --> 00:01:31.583 and that is for the existing Hirshhorn Museum 00:01:31.583 --> 00:01:33.208 that's sited 00:01:33.208 --> 00:01:35.500 on the most revered public space in America, 00:01:35.500 --> 00:01:38.433 the National Mall. 00:01:38.433 --> 00:01:40.000 The Mall is a symbol 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.833 of American democracy. 00:01:42.833 --> 00:01:45.833 And what's fantastic is that this symbol 00:01:45.833 --> 00:01:48.042 is not a thing, it's not an image, 00:01:48.042 --> 00:01:49.750 it's not an artifact, 00:01:49.750 --> 00:01:51.458 actually it's a space, 00:01:51.458 --> 00:01:54.308 and it's kind of just defined by a line of buildings 00:01:54.308 --> 00:01:56.339 on either side. 00:01:56.339 --> 00:02:00.083 It's a space where citizens can voice their discontent 00:02:00.083 --> 00:02:01.042 and show their power. 00:02:01.042 --> 00:02:04.292 It's a place where pivotal moments in American history 00:02:04.292 --> 00:02:06.833 have taken place. 00:02:06.833 --> 00:02:09.208 And they're inscribed in there forever -- 00:02:09.208 --> 00:02:11.125 like the march on Washington for jobs and freedom 00:02:11.125 --> 00:02:14.125 and the great speech that Martin Luther King gave there. 00:02:14.125 --> 00:02:18.708 The Vietnam protests, the commemoration of all that died 00:02:18.708 --> 00:02:20.750 in the pandemic of AIDS, 00:02:20.750 --> 00:02:23.292 the march for women's reproductive rights, 00:02:23.292 --> 00:02:26.750 right up until almost the present. 00:02:26.750 --> 00:02:29.250 The Mall is the greatest civic stage 00:02:29.250 --> 00:02:33.583 in this country for dissent. 00:02:33.583 --> 00:02:37.625 And it's synonymous with free speech, 00:02:37.625 --> 00:02:39.958 even if you're not sure what it is that you have to say. 00:02:39.958 --> 00:02:43.500 It may just be a place for civic commiseration. 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:48.833 There is a huge disconnect, we believe, 00:02:48.833 --> 00:02:53.000 between the communicative and discursive space of the Mall 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.042 and the museums that line it to either side. 00:02:57.042 --> 00:03:00.667 And that is that those museums are usually passive, 00:03:00.667 --> 00:03:04.042 they have passive relationships between the museum 00:03:04.042 --> 00:03:05.667 as the presenter and the audience, 00:03:05.667 --> 00:03:07.958 as the receiver of information. 00:03:07.958 --> 00:03:09.708 And so you can see dinosaurs 00:03:09.708 --> 00:03:13.792 and insects and collections of locomotives 00:03:13.792 --> 00:03:14.792 and all of that, 00:03:14.792 --> 00:03:16.542 but you're really not involved; 00:03:16.542 --> 00:03:18.292 you're being talked to. 00:03:18.292 --> 00:03:21.333 When Richard Koshalek took over as director of the Hirshhorn 00:03:21.333 --> 00:03:24.792 in 2009, 00:03:24.792 --> 00:03:27.208 he was determined to take advantage 00:03:27.208 --> 00:03:30.458 of the fact that this museum was cited 00:03:30.458 --> 00:03:32.208 as the most unique place 00:03:32.208 --> 00:03:34.083 of the seat of power in the U.S. 00:03:34.083 --> 00:03:36.292 And while art and politics 00:03:36.292 --> 00:03:41.750 are inherently and implicitly together always and all the time, 00:03:41.750 --> 00:03:45.917 there could be some very special relationship 00:03:45.917 --> 00:03:49.833 that could be forged here in its uniqueness. 00:03:49.833 --> 00:03:52.458 The question is, is it possible ultimately 00:03:52.458 --> 00:03:54.208 for art to insert itself 00:03:54.208 --> 00:03:57.333 into the dialogue of national and world affairs? 00:03:57.333 --> 00:04:00.417 And could the museum be an agent of cultural diplomacy? 00:04:00.417 --> 00:04:05.417 There are over 180 embassies in Washington D.C. 00:04:05.417 --> 00:04:09.250 There are over 500 think tanks. 00:04:09.250 --> 00:04:10.750 There should be a way 00:04:10.750 --> 00:04:13.667 of harnessing all of that intellectual and global energy 00:04:13.667 --> 00:04:15.417 into, and somehow through, the museum. 00:04:15.417 --> 00:04:18.250 There should be some kind of brain trust. 00:04:18.250 --> 00:04:22.208 So the Hirshhorn, as we began to think about it, 00:04:22.208 --> 00:04:24.708 and as we evolved the mission, 00:04:24.708 --> 00:04:26.542 with Richard and his team -- 00:04:26.542 --> 00:04:28.667 it's really his life blood. 00:04:28.667 --> 00:04:33.167 But beyond exhibiting contemporary art, 00:04:33.167 --> 00:04:35.542 the Hirshhorn will become a public forum, 00:04:35.542 --> 00:04:37.667 a place of discourse 00:04:37.667 --> 00:04:39.875 for issues around arts, 00:04:39.875 --> 00:04:44.958 culture, politics and policy. 00:04:44.958 --> 00:04:48.958 It would have the global reach of the world economic forum. 00:04:48.958 --> 00:04:51.500 It would have the interdisciplinarity of the TED Conference. 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:56.375 It would have the informality of the town square. 00:04:56.375 --> 00:04:58.750 And for this new initiative, 00:04:58.750 --> 00:05:00.042 the Hirshhorn would have to expand 00:05:00.042 --> 00:05:01.250 or appropriate a site 00:05:01.250 --> 00:05:03.667 for a contemporary, deployable structure. 00:05:03.667 --> 00:05:06.000 This is it. This is the Hirshhorn -- 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.167 so a 230-foot-diameter concrete doughnut 00:05:09.167 --> 00:05:11.375 designed in the early 70's 00:05:11.375 --> 00:05:13.542 by Gordon Bunshaft. 00:05:13.542 --> 00:05:14.417 It's hulking, it's silent, 00:05:14.417 --> 00:05:16.167 it's cloistered, it's arrogant, 00:05:16.167 --> 00:05:18.500 it's a design challenge. 00:05:18.500 --> 00:05:19.750 Architects love to hate it. 00:05:19.750 --> 00:05:22.083 One redeeming feature 00:05:22.083 --> 00:05:23.792 is it's lifted up off the ground 00:05:23.792 --> 00:05:25.542 and it's got this void, 00:05:25.542 --> 00:05:27.167 and it's got an empty core 00:05:27.167 --> 00:05:30.083 kind of in the spirit and that facade 00:05:30.083 --> 00:05:33.833 very much corporate and federal style. 00:05:33.833 --> 00:05:35.750 And around that space, 00:05:35.750 --> 00:05:37.292 the ring is actually galleries. 00:05:37.292 --> 00:05:39.917 Very, very difficult to mount shows in there. 00:05:39.917 --> 00:05:41.875 When the Hirshhorn opened, 00:05:41.875 --> 00:05:43.042 Ada Louise Huxstable, the New York Times critic, 00:05:43.042 --> 00:05:46.250 had some choice words: 00:05:46.250 --> 00:05:47.667 "Neo-penitentiary modern." 00:05:47.667 --> 00:05:50.542 "A maimed monument and a maimed Mall 00:05:50.542 --> 00:05:51.792 for a maimed collection." 00:05:51.792 --> 00:05:53.333 Almost four decades later, 00:05:53.333 --> 00:05:55.292 how will this building expand 00:05:55.292 --> 00:05:56.583 for a new progressive program? 00:05:56.583 --> 00:05:58.833 Where would it go? 00:05:58.833 --> 00:05:59.875 It can't go in the Mall. 00:05:59.875 --> 00:06:01.125 There is no space there. 00:06:01.125 --> 00:06:02.875 It can't go in the courtyard. 00:06:02.875 --> 00:06:08.083 It's already taken up by landscape and by sculptures. 00:06:08.083 --> 00:06:09.458 Well there's always the hole. 00:06:09.458 --> 00:06:14.000 But how could it take the space of that hole 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:16.000 and not be buried in it invisibly? 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:17.750 How could it become iconic? 00:06:17.750 --> 00:06:20.083 And what language would it take? 00:06:20.083 --> 00:06:24.500 The Hirshhorn sits among the Mall's momumental institutions. 00:06:24.500 --> 00:06:26.667 Most are neoclassical, heavy and opaque, 00:06:26.667 --> 00:06:30.542 made of stone or concrete. 00:06:30.542 --> 00:06:32.417 And the question is, 00:06:32.417 --> 00:06:33.125 if one inhabits that space, 00:06:33.125 --> 00:06:36.333 what is the material of the Mall? 00:06:36.333 --> 00:06:39.458 It has to be different from the buildings there. 00:06:39.458 --> 00:06:41.208 It has to be something entirely different. 00:06:41.208 --> 00:06:43.208 It has to be air. 00:06:43.208 --> 00:06:45.792 In our imagination, it has to be light. 00:06:45.792 --> 00:06:47.625 It has to be ephemeral. It has to be formless. 00:06:47.625 --> 00:06:49.600 And it has to be free. 00:07:00.323 --> 00:07:04.025 So this is the big idea. 00:07:04.071 --> 00:07:07.083 It's a giant airbag. 00:07:07.083 --> 00:07:10.738 The expansion takes the shape of its container 00:07:10.738 --> 00:07:12.477 and it oozes out wherever it can -- 00:07:12.477 --> 00:07:14.500 the top and sides. 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:16.250 But more poetically, 00:07:16.250 --> 00:07:18.292 we like to think of the structure 00:07:18.292 --> 00:07:20.042 as inhaling the democratic air of the Mall, 00:07:20.042 --> 00:07:24.125 bringing it into itself. 00:07:24.125 --> 00:07:27.250 The before and the after. 00:07:27.250 --> 00:07:31.250 It was dubbed "the bubble" by the press. 00:07:31.250 --> 00:07:33.792 That was the lounge. 00:07:33.792 --> 00:07:37.000 It's basically one big volume of air 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:39.042 that just oozes out in every direction. 00:07:39.042 --> 00:07:41.075 The membrane is translucent. 00:07:41.075 --> 00:07:43.333 It's made of silcon-coated glass fiber. 00:07:43.333 --> 00:07:48.333 And it's inflated twice a year for one month at a time. 00:07:48.333 --> 00:07:52.333 This is the view from the inside. 00:07:52.333 --> 00:07:53.887 So you might have been wondering 00:07:53.887 --> 00:07:56.004 how in the world 00:07:56.004 --> 00:07:57.958 did we get this approved by the federal government. 00:07:57.958 --> 00:08:01.875 It had to be approved by actually two agencies. 00:08:01.875 --> 00:08:06.083 And one is there to preserve 00:08:06.083 --> 00:08:07.833 the dignity and sanctity of the Mall. 00:08:07.833 --> 00:08:10.750 I blush whenever I show this. 00:08:10.750 --> 00:08:15.000 It is yours to interpret. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.042 But one thing I can say 00:08:17.042 --> 00:08:19.500 is that it's a combination 00:08:19.500 --> 00:08:21.750 of iconoclasm 00:08:21.750 --> 00:08:23.500 and adoration. 00:08:23.500 --> 00:08:27.708 There was also some creative interpretation involved. 00:08:27.708 --> 00:08:31.417 The Congressional Buildings Act of 1910 00:08:31.417 --> 00:08:33.375 limits the height of buildings in D.C. 00:08:33.375 --> 00:08:35.333 to 130 feet, 00:08:35.333 --> 00:08:38.208 except for spires, towers, domes and minarettes. 00:08:38.208 --> 00:08:42.875 This pretty much exempts monuments of the church and state. 00:08:42.875 --> 00:08:46.000 And the bubble is 153 ft. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.625 That's the Pantheon next to it. 00:08:48.625 --> 00:08:51.917 It's about 1.2 million cubic feet of compressed air. 00:08:51.917 --> 00:08:53.833 And so we argued it 00:08:53.833 --> 00:08:55.833 on the merits of being a dome. 00:08:55.833 --> 00:08:57.917 So there it is, 00:08:57.917 --> 00:08:59.000 very stately, 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:02.542 among all the stately buildings in the Mall. 00:09:02.542 --> 00:09:05.583 And while this Hirshhorn is not landmarked, 00:09:05.583 --> 00:09:07.958 it's very, very historically sensitive. 00:09:07.958 --> 00:09:10.333 And so we couldn't really touch its surfaces. 00:09:10.333 --> 00:09:12.000 We couldn't leave any traces behind. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.250 So we strained it from the edges, 00:09:14.250 --> 00:09:16.375 and we held it by cables. 00:09:16.375 --> 00:09:19.750 It's a study of some bondage techniques, 00:09:19.750 --> 00:09:21.333 which are actually very, very important 00:09:21.333 --> 00:09:22.958 because it's hit by wind all the time. 00:09:22.958 --> 00:09:24.833 There's one permanent steel ring at the top, 00:09:24.833 --> 00:09:27.875 but it can't be seen from any vantage point on the Mall. 00:09:27.875 --> 00:09:30.375 There are also some restrictions 00:09:30.375 --> 00:09:31.875 about how much it could be lit. 00:09:31.875 --> 00:09:33.917 It glows from within, it's translucent. 00:09:33.917 --> 00:09:37.083 But it can't be more lit than the Capitol 00:09:37.083 --> 00:09:38.500 or some of the monuments. 00:09:38.500 --> 00:09:39.000 So it's down the hierarchy on lighting. 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:43.000 So it comes to the site twice a year. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:45.958 It's taken off the delivery truck. 00:09:45.958 --> 00:09:47.458 It's hoisted. 00:09:47.458 --> 00:09:49.750 And then it's inflated 00:09:49.750 --> 00:09:51.500 with this low-pressure air. 00:09:51.500 --> 00:09:52.958 And then it's restrained with the cables. 00:09:52.958 --> 00:09:56.667 And then it's ballasted with water at the very bottom. 00:09:56.667 --> 00:10:00.792 This is a very strange moment 00:10:00.792 --> 00:10:03.208 where we were asked by the bureaucracy at the Mall 00:10:03.208 --> 00:10:06.417 how much time would it take to install. 00:10:06.417 --> 00:10:09.000 And we said, well the first erection would take one week. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:12.500 And they really connected with that idea. 00:10:12.500 --> 00:10:16.500 And then it was really easy all the way through. 00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:20.583 So we didn't really have that many hurdles, I have to say, 00:10:20.583 --> 00:10:22.583 with the government and all the authorities. 00:10:22.583 --> 00:10:24.083 But some of the toughest hurdles 00:10:24.083 --> 00:10:25.708 have been the technical ones. 00:10:25.708 --> 00:10:27.000 This is the warp and weft. 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:29.042 This is a point cloud. 00:10:29.042 --> 00:10:31.167 There are extreme pressures. 00:10:31.167 --> 00:10:32.667 This is a very, very unusual building 00:10:32.667 --> 00:10:34.875 in that there's no gravity load, 00:10:34.875 --> 00:10:36.583 but there's load in every direction. 00:10:36.583 --> 00:10:41.167 And I'm just going to zip through these slides. 00:10:41.167 --> 00:10:44.292 And this is the space in action. 00:10:44.292 --> 00:10:47.125 So flexible interior for discussions, 00:10:47.125 --> 00:10:49.458 just like this, but in the round -- 00:10:49.458 --> 00:10:50.917 luminous and reconfigurable. 00:10:50.917 --> 00:10:53.333 Could be used for anything, 00:10:53.333 --> 00:10:55.083 for performances, films, 00:10:55.083 --> 00:10:57.625 for installations. 00:10:57.625 --> 00:11:00.042 And the very first program 00:11:00.042 --> 00:11:01.792 will be one of cultural dialogue and diplomacy 00:11:01.792 --> 00:11:03.542 organized in partnership 00:11:03.542 --> 00:11:06.167 with the Council on Foreign Relations. 00:11:06.167 --> 00:11:07.917 Form and content are together here. 00:11:07.917 --> 00:11:10.583 The bubble is an anti-monument. 00:11:10.583 --> 00:11:13.125 The ideals of participatory democracy 00:11:13.125 --> 00:11:15.250 are represented through suppleness 00:11:15.250 --> 00:11:17.250 rather than rigidity. 00:11:17.250 --> 00:11:18.125 Art and politics 00:11:18.125 --> 00:11:20.750 occupy an ambiguous site outside the museum walls, 00:11:20.750 --> 00:11:23.958 but inside of the museum's core, 00:11:23.958 --> 00:11:27.208 blending its air 00:11:27.208 --> 00:11:29.083 with the democratic air of the Mall. 00:11:29.083 --> 00:11:35.125 And the bubble will inflate 00:11:35.125 --> 00:11:36.750 hopefully for the first time 00:11:36.750 --> 00:11:38.958 at the end of 2013. 00:11:38.958 --> 00:11:41.458 Thank you. 00:11:41.458 --> 99:59:59.999 (Applause)