29 : On Conceptual Practice: Conversation with Rob Hutchison

““I think it’s so important to just do things and let our intuition lead us somewhere.””

We discuss the value and challenges of conceptual architectural practice with Seattle based architect Rob Hutchison. Discussion topics include: death and memory, memory versus intuition, dedication, client relations and the emotional engines of design.

Timestamp Outline

1:46 Memory Houses: Nine Allegorical Works of Architecture show at 4Culture
11:11 “Memory is integral to me being an architect, to the creative process. The memories that I have reside in everything that I design. Sometimes I know what they are, and sometimes there are things that I will never know.”
12:02 Columbarium (House for Remains) and Memory House for a Widow
13:30 Mosque of Córdoba, railway roundhouse
14:40 Typology vs program
18:30 Photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher and the quirks of typology: like people
19:40 Precise drawing vs the fuzziness of memory
28:44 Aesthetic connection between the models and his mother's’ collection boxes..
29:09 “I think there’s a danger to always having attention to what we do. And this relates to intuition. I think it’s so important to just do things and let our intuition lead us somewhere.”
30:40 Winery (House for Winemaking) and Telescope House
34:24 Memory vs intuition
37:12 What is your emotional engine for design?
38:16 Chesapeake Bay lighthouses, Borromini's San Carino
39:08 Architects as problem-solvers or as space-makers?
46:26 On clients vs conceptual practice: “By allowing them to be in two different realms, it allows clarity for them to work. Maybe, I’m worried that if I start trying to merge the two, they will become saturated and I will lose the clarity of them...They do support each other.”
49:51 Teaching as a third realm
51:47 Conversation with Javier Sánchez
56:52 “I’m happiest when I’m able to push in as many directions as I can, what architecture means to me.”
1:00:35 Peter Zumthor