A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble
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0:00 - 0:04We conventionally divide space
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0:04 - 0:05into private and public realms,
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0:05 - 0:08and we know these legal distinctions very well
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0:08 - 0:10because we've become experts
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0:10 - 0:14at protecting our private property and private space.
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0:14 - 0:15But we're less attuned
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0:15 - 0:20to the nuances of the public.
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0:20 - 0:24What translates generic public space into qualitative space?
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0:24 - 0:26I mean, this is something
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0:26 - 0:27that our studio has been working on
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0:27 - 0:28for the past decade.
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0:28 - 0:30And we're doing this through some case studies.
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0:30 - 0:32A large chunk of our work
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0:32 - 0:34has been put into transforming
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0:34 - 0:36this neglected industrial ruin
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0:36 - 0:39into a viable post-industrial space
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0:39 - 0:41that looks forwards and backwards
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0:41 - 0:42at the same time.
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0:42 - 0:45And another huge chunk of our work
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0:45 - 0:47has gone into making relevant
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0:47 - 0:49a site that's grown out of sync with its time.
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0:49 - 0:53We've been working on democratizing Lincoln Center
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0:53 - 0:56for a public that doesn't usually have $300
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0:56 - 1:00to spend on an opera ticket.
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1:00 - 1:02So we've been eating, drinking,
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1:02 - 1:04thinking, living public space
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1:04 - 1:06for quite a long time.
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1:06 - 1:08And it's taught us really one thing,
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1:08 - 1:12and that is to truly make good public space,
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1:12 - 1:15you have to erase the distinctions
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1:15 - 1:18between architecture, urbanism,
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1:18 - 1:20landscape, media design
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1:20 - 1:22and so on.
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1:22 - 1:24It really goes beyond distinction.
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1:24 - 1:27Now we're moving onto Washington, D.C.
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1:27 - 1:29and we're working on another transformation,
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1:29 - 1:32and that is for the existing Hirshhorn Museum
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1:32 - 1:33that's sited
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1:33 - 1:36on the most revered public space in America,
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1:36 - 1:38the National Mall.
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1:38 - 1:40The Mall is a symbol
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1:40 - 1:43of American democracy.
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1:43 - 1:46And what's fantastic is that this symbol
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1:46 - 1:48is not a thing, it's not an image,
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1:48 - 1:50it's not an artifact,
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1:50 - 1:51actually it's a space,
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1:51 - 1:54and it's kind of just defined by a line of buildings
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1:54 - 1:56on either side.
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1:56 - 2:00It's a space where citizens can voice their discontent
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2:00 - 2:01and show their power.
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2:01 - 2:04It's a place where pivotal moments in American history
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2:04 - 2:07have taken place.
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2:07 - 2:09And they're inscribed in there forever --
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2:09 - 2:11like the march on Washington for jobs and freedom
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2:11 - 2:14and the great speech that Martin Luther King gave there.
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2:14 - 2:19The Vietnam protests, the commemoration of all that died
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2:19 - 2:21in the pandemic of AIDS,
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2:21 - 2:23the march for women's reproductive rights,
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2:23 - 2:27right up until almost the present.
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2:27 - 2:29The Mall is the greatest civic stage
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2:29 - 2:34in this country for dissent.
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2:34 - 2:38And it's synonymous with free speech,
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2:38 - 2:40even if you're not sure what it is that you have to say.
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2:40 - 2:44It may just be a place for civic commiseration.
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2:44 - 2:49There is a huge disconnect, we believe,
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2:49 - 2:53between the communicative and discursive space of the Mall
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2:53 - 2:57and the museums that line it to either side.
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2:57 - 3:01And that is that those museums are usually passive,
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3:01 - 3:04they have passive relationships between the museum
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3:04 - 3:06as the presenter and the audience,
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3:06 - 3:08as the receiver of information.
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3:08 - 3:10And so you can see dinosaurs
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3:10 - 3:14and insects and collections of locomotives
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3:14 - 3:15and all of that,
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3:15 - 3:17but you're really not involved;
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3:17 - 3:18you're being talked to.
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3:18 - 3:21When Richard Koshalek took over as director of the Hirshhorn
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3:21 - 3:25in 2009,
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3:25 - 3:27he was determined to take advantage
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3:27 - 3:30of the fact that this museum was cited
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3:30 - 3:32as the most unique place
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3:32 - 3:34of the seat of power in the U.S.
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3:34 - 3:36And while art and politics
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3:36 - 3:42are inherently and implicitly together always and all the time,
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3:42 - 3:46there could be some very special relationship
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3:46 - 3:50that could be forged here in its uniqueness.
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3:50 - 3:52The question is, is it possible ultimately
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3:52 - 3:54for art to insert itself
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3:54 - 3:57into the dialogue of national and world affairs?
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3:57 - 4:00And could the museum be an agent of cultural diplomacy?
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4:00 - 4:05There are over 180 embassies in Washington D.C.
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4:05 - 4:09There are over 500 think tanks.
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4:09 - 4:11There should be a way
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4:11 - 4:14of harnessing all of that intellectual and global energy
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4:14 - 4:15into, and somehow through, the museum.
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4:15 - 4:18There should be some kind of brain trust.
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4:18 - 4:22So the Hirshhorn, as we began to think about it,
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4:22 - 4:25and as we evolved the mission,
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4:25 - 4:27with Richard and his team --
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4:27 - 4:29it's really his life blood.
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4:29 - 4:33But beyond exhibiting contemporary art,
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4:33 - 4:36the Hirshhorn will become a public forum,
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4:36 - 4:38a place of discourse
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4:38 - 4:40for issues around arts,
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4:40 - 4:45culture, politics and policy.
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4:45 - 4:49It would have the global reach of the world economic forum.
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4:49 - 4:52It would have the interdisciplinarity of the TED Conference.
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4:52 - 4:56It would have the informality of the town square.
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4:56 - 4:59And for this new initiative,
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4:59 - 5:00the Hirshhorn would have to expand
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5:00 - 5:01or appropriate a site
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5:01 - 5:04for a contemporary, deployable structure.
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5:04 - 5:06This is it. This is the Hirshhorn --
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5:06 - 5:09so a 230-foot-diameter concrete doughnut
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5:09 - 5:11designed in the early 70's
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5:11 - 5:14by Gordon Bunshaft.
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5:14 - 5:14It's hulking, it's silent,
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5:14 - 5:16it's cloistered, it's arrogant,
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5:16 - 5:18it's a design challenge.
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5:18 - 5:20Architects love to hate it.
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5:20 - 5:22One redeeming feature
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5:22 - 5:24is it's lifted up off the ground
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5:24 - 5:26and it's got this void,
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5:26 - 5:27and it's got an empty core
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5:27 - 5:30kind of in the spirit and that facade
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5:30 - 5:34very much corporate and federal style.
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5:34 - 5:36And around that space,
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5:36 - 5:37the ring is actually galleries.
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5:37 - 5:40Very, very difficult to mount shows in there.
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5:40 - 5:42When the Hirshhorn opened,
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5:42 - 5:43Ada Louise Huxstable, the New York Times critic,
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5:43 - 5:46had some choice words:
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5:46 - 5:48"Neo-penitentiary modern."
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5:48 - 5:51"A maimed monument and a maimed Mall
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5:51 - 5:52for a maimed collection."
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5:52 - 5:53Almost four decades later,
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5:53 - 5:55how will this building expand
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5:55 - 5:57for a new progressive program?
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5:57 - 5:59Where would it go?
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5:59 - 6:00It can't go in the Mall.
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6:00 - 6:01There is no space there.
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6:01 - 6:03It can't go in the courtyard.
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6:03 - 6:08It's already taken up by landscape and by sculptures.
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6:08 - 6:09Well there's always the hole.
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6:09 - 6:14But how could it take the space of that hole
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6:14 - 6:16and not be buried in it invisibly?
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6:16 - 6:18How could it become iconic?
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6:18 - 6:20And what language would it take?
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6:20 - 6:24The Hirshhorn sits among the Mall's momumental institutions.
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6:24 - 6:27Most are neoclassical, heavy and opaque,
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6:27 - 6:31made of stone or concrete.
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6:31 - 6:32And the question is,
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6:32 - 6:33if one inhabits that space,
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6:33 - 6:36what is the material of the Mall?
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6:36 - 6:39It has to be different from the buildings there.
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6:39 - 6:41It has to be something entirely different.
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6:41 - 6:43It has to be air.
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6:43 - 6:46In our imagination, it has to be light.
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6:46 - 6:48It has to be ephemeral. It has to be formless.
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6:48 - 6:50And it has to be free.
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7:00 - 7:04So this is the big idea.
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7:04 - 7:07It's a giant airbag.
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7:07 - 7:11The expansion takes the shape of its container
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7:11 - 7:12and it oozes out wherever it can --
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7:12 - 7:14the top and sides.
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7:14 - 7:16But more poetically,
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7:16 - 7:18we like to think of the structure
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7:18 - 7:20as inhaling the democratic air of the Mall,
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7:20 - 7:24bringing it into itself.
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7:24 - 7:27The before and the after.
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7:27 - 7:31It was dubbed "the bubble" by the press.
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7:31 - 7:34That was the lounge.
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7:34 - 7:37It's basically one big volume of air
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7:37 - 7:39that just oozes out in every direction.
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7:39 - 7:41The membrane is translucent.
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7:41 - 7:43It's made of silcon-coated glass fiber.
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7:43 - 7:48And it's inflated twice a year for one month at a time.
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7:48 - 7:52This is the view from the inside.
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7:52 - 7:54So you might have been wondering
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7:54 - 7:56how in the world
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7:56 - 7:58did we get this approved by the federal government.
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7:58 - 8:02It had to be approved by actually two agencies.
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8:02 - 8:06And one is there to preserve
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8:06 - 8:08the dignity and sanctity of the Mall.
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8:08 - 8:11I blush whenever I show this.
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8:11 - 8:15It is yours to interpret.
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8:15 - 8:17But one thing I can say
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8:17 - 8:20is that it's a combination
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8:20 - 8:22of iconoclasm
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8:22 - 8:24and adoration.
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8:24 - 8:28There was also some creative interpretation involved.
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8:28 - 8:31The Congressional Buildings Act of 1910
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8:31 - 8:33limits the height of buildings in D.C.
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8:33 - 8:35to 130 feet,
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8:35 - 8:38except for spires, towers, domes and minarettes.
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8:38 - 8:43This pretty much exempts monuments of the church and state.
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8:43 - 8:46And the bubble is 153 ft.
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8:46 - 8:49That's the Pantheon next to it.
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8:49 - 8:52It's about 1.2 million cubic feet of compressed air.
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8:52 - 8:54And so we argued it
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8:54 - 8:56on the merits of being a dome.
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8:56 - 8:58So there it is,
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8:58 - 8:59very stately,
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8:59 - 9:03among all the stately buildings in the Mall.
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9:03 - 9:06And while this Hirshhorn is not landmarked,
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9:06 - 9:08it's very, very historically sensitive.
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9:08 - 9:10And so we couldn't really touch its surfaces.
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9:10 - 9:12We couldn't leave any traces behind.
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9:12 - 9:14So we strained it from the edges,
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9:14 - 9:16and we held it by cables.
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9:16 - 9:20It's a study of some bondage techniques,
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9:20 - 9:21which are actually very, very important
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9:21 - 9:23because it's hit by wind all the time.
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9:23 - 9:25There's one permanent steel ring at the top,
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9:25 - 9:28but it can't be seen from any vantage point on the Mall.
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9:28 - 9:30There are also some restrictions
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9:30 - 9:32about how much it could be lit.
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9:32 - 9:34It glows from within, it's translucent.
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9:34 - 9:37But it can't be more lit than the Capitol
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9:37 - 9:38or some of the monuments.
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9:38 - 9:39So it's down the hierarchy on lighting.
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9:39 - 9:43So it comes to the site twice a year.
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9:43 - 9:46It's taken off the delivery truck.
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9:46 - 9:47It's hoisted.
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9:47 - 9:50And then it's inflated
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9:50 - 9:52with this low-pressure air.
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9:52 - 9:53And then it's restrained with the cables.
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9:53 - 9:57And then it's ballasted with water at the very bottom.
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9:57 - 10:01This is a very strange moment
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10:01 - 10:03where we were asked by the bureaucracy at the Mall
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10:03 - 10:06how much time would it take to install.
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10:06 - 10:09And we said, well the first erection would take one week.
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10:09 - 10:12And they really connected with that idea.
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10:12 - 10:16And then it was really easy all the way through.
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10:16 - 10:21So we didn't really have that many hurdles, I have to say,
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10:21 - 10:23with the government and all the authorities.
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10:23 - 10:24But some of the toughest hurdles
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10:24 - 10:26have been the technical ones.
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10:26 - 10:27This is the warp and weft.
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10:27 - 10:29This is a point cloud.
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10:29 - 10:31There are extreme pressures.
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10:31 - 10:33This is a very, very unusual building
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10:33 - 10:35in that there's no gravity load,
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10:35 - 10:37but there's load in every direction.
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10:37 - 10:41And I'm just going to zip through these slides.
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10:41 - 10:44And this is the space in action.
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10:44 - 10:47So flexible interior for discussions,
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10:47 - 10:49just like this, but in the round --
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10:49 - 10:51luminous and reconfigurable.
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10:51 - 10:53Could be used for anything,
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10:53 - 10:55for performances, films,
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10:55 - 10:58for installations.
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10:58 - 11:00And the very first program
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11:00 - 11:02will be one of cultural dialogue and diplomacy
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11:02 - 11:04organized in partnership
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11:04 - 11:06with the Council on Foreign Relations.
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11:06 - 11:08Form and content are together here.
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11:08 - 11:11The bubble is an anti-monument.
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11:11 - 11:13The ideals of participatory democracy
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11:13 - 11:15are represented through suppleness
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11:15 - 11:17rather than rigidity.
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11:17 - 11:18Art and politics
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11:18 - 11:21occupy an ambiguous site outside the museum walls,
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11:21 - 11:24but inside of the museum's core,
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11:24 - 11:27blending its air
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11:27 - 11:29with the democratic air of the Mall.
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11:29 - 11:35And the bubble will inflate
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11:35 - 11:37hopefully for the first time
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11:37 - 11:39at the end of 2013.
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11:39 - 11:41Thank you.
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11:41 -(Applause)
- Title:
- A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble
- Speaker:
- Liz Diller
- Description:
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How do you make a great public space inside a not-so-great building? Liz Diller shares the story of creating a welcoming, lighthearted (even, dare we say it, sexy) addition to the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 12:06
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble | ||
Krystian Aparta approved English subtitles for A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble | ||
Wei Wu accepted English subtitles for A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble | ||
Wei Wu edited English subtitles for A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble |