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From: 00mtdarrall@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Date: Sat, 12 Nov 1994 12:11:43 -0500
Brian,
Your post made me think of ol' P. Behrens, forced to grapple with the
implications of technology for design when AEG hired him to design their
products and buildings. The Architecture of Electrification:
The Turbinenfabrikwerk of 1908 (?) . Its form was determined by the need
to fabricate and move about the long cylindrical steam turbine sections;
the three hinged arch truss roof made for the clear, high bay. The roof
loads transferred to the earth through the tall bents. All replacing
the Gothic cathedral or the Greek Temple---or restating them in response
to a new call to worship: technology.
Our building forms determined by machine-process, not human needs except
as we "need" the machine!
Behrens and AEG had reason to be optimistic---they weren't thinking
about other machine processes...
Like war.
Mark D.