Exploring a LOST Geometric Wonder [One Half House by John Hejduk]

[@alexandervardanyan6312]

Please never stop making videos, you're the architecture KZbinr we've always needed

[@stewarthicks]

Wow thank you! That made my day.

[@maikocarlo]

Agreed!

[@Kolar95]

Great video as always. Suggestions for future Lost Architecture videos: 1. Resor House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 2. Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe 3. Automobile Objective and Planetarium by Frank Lloyd Wright 4. Hotel Attraction by Antoni Gaudi 5. Cathedral of Freedom Parliament by Jože Plečnik

[@stewarthicks]

Wow great suggestions. Thanks!

[@conor3000]

Agreed Alen. This channel is excellent. Another unbuilt topic - maybe the danteum by Terragni!

[@cheyneowens5528]

Amazing Architect who’s life was cut short. Beautiful analysis systemizing his body of work. These videos function as an example of how to go back and perform a thoughtful analysis of unbuilt works in architecture. Theoretical Forensics. 😁

[@AchalDadhania]

This is amazing work, the way we engage with history has changed so much! Thank you Stewart for doing this.

[@lisakilmer2667]

This looks like a clever mental exercise and has really interesting unified logic points. Because the rendering has no windows or door, it's a little harder to understand the spaces/volumes in this house. Hejduk's drawings indicate that there are a lot of walls of glass, which are pretty invasive for ground-floor bedrooms. Every volume of the triangle looks relatively unusable, and the columns impinge on the use of the spaces. So if we use Vitruvius' measuring stick of "commodity" the house is a failure - a very clever failure. My design aesthetic for living in a house is heavily influenced by having almost always lived in partially open-plan spaces, with living and dining rooms forming an l-shape or u-shape, or pocket doors which removed interior walls, or an actual enfilade of rooms. So I dislike many of the design elements in the One Half House from a "living in it" point of view.

[@michaelmolock]

I’m new to your channel and thoroughly enjoying every entry. As for lost projects, and being a native of Washington DC, I’ve always been curious as to how my hometown would have been influenced architecturally if frank Lloyd weights Crystal Heights project had been built.

[@stewarthicks]

Great suggestion and glad you're enjoying the channel!

[@khushigogia]

Honestly the best KZbin channel for architects there is! The amount of efforts put behind every video is mind blowing. Thank you Stewart for such insightful videos

[@animeaos]

Great Video. I dont know alot about architecture history or any unbuilt masterpieces, so I can't offer up any suggestions. But I do enjoy this series as a way for me to discover them. Thank you and please keep it up.

[@phillyarchdad]

The instructor for my first studio class as a freshman architecture student was Richard Cordts, Hejduk’s assistant for his work published in ‘Five Architects’. He was by far the weirdest and most mysterious person I had ever met in my heretofore small suburban life. The reason for investigation of the 9-square grid remained in fathomable to me, missing completely that the purpose was purely inquiry and exploration. Got a C in the class and probably didn’t deserve that.

[@hichamgara9394]

Another great video..thank you, professor

[@ultimatlegobuilder]

Great video! Loved to know more about Hedjuk's work, he's not really explored in my school. I'd like to suggest Paulo Mendes da Rocha's House in Catanduva for the series, it is his seminal house when it comes to the themes of his late carreer (Mube, Patriarch Square...) and was never built as the original design, as the clients opted for a more traditional approach.

[@stewarthicks]

Great suggestion.

[@lvilliers]

Another incredibly informative video of an amazingly beautiful unbuilt project. Keep up the great work.

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you. Will do

[@Emlizardo]

Thanks so much for this analysis. My take on why Hejduk took bites out of the shapes - 1/4 or 1/2 - was that it yielded surfaces to join them with each other. Especially in the case of the circle, its completeness makes it pretty difficult to gracefully join it with other volumes. But slicing it creates flat surfaces that can be brought into alignment with a larger overall scheme.

[@rtbinc2273]

I really like this sort of video. My study is Archaeology so I'd love to see you tackle the Architecture of Antiquity, especially the less well known ones like Great Zimbabwe.

[@Brian-os9qj]

Fun exercise in inspiration to use part of, or notions presented in this ‘never’-built.

[@0therun1t21]

Even the ads were interesting, one was about something called parametric design, gonna have to look that up!

[@mbs0202]

Great Video_ Hejduk is a major influence in my PhD!!

[@luisesantiago1498]

Incredible analisis, I really admire all the work behind this video.

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you!

[@YouAni-Me]

Next: Arch. Oscar Niemeyer and his fascination on curves, circles and ovals. His interpretation of flowing waves.

[@MyMeTube]

I was one of his many students at Cooper. RIP Prof. Hejduk.

[@kappagrapes]

Wow, that's fantastic. I like the hidden geometric secrets, like the places where the extended lines meet the other shapes. I'm curious how the thickness of the walls interacts with the geometry. If you built a house like this, would you extend the corner-to-corner line of the half-square from the centers of its walls, or from their outer or inner edges? Would they meet the outer edge of the half-circle's walls, or the center line? Or would it be inexact, with some lines going off course? On paper it looks so tidy and simple, but real walls aren't made of red pen!

[@imadasmone8915]

Loving these videos

[@GhostedStories]

Brilliant work!

[@the_ranchtv]

STEWIE! The GOAT. Harvard on Halsted’s finest. Fantastic content.

[@joegotz1971]

Hejduk is one of the 5 architects, with Meyer, Graves, Eisenman, Gwathmey. The one problem is that their buildings do not weather well. Apparently it rains on all buildings. Even mine where I never want to drive by them ever again due to acid rain. These white boxes are great in theory you have to have a client who is willing to buy in to it.

[@95GuitarMan13]

Mies' Mansion House Square project has a fascinating history around why it was never built. The tower itself is about as interesting as any of his towers but this one was proposed in a very particular time and place and includes quite the cast of characters (including Prince Charles and eventually James Stirling), it's a fascinating case study in the lifecycle of the modern movement and lays the ground for PoMo to emerge on the scene, Mansion House Square is now better known as No 1 Poultry. Lots to draw on for a future Lost Architecture video perhaps!

[@archiegoodwinjr]

I encountered this one late. Thank you, Mr Hicks, for posting this analysis that explains a house that had puzzled me for years. Now I understand how the forms came about. But I still don't understand its value other than as an exercise in 3D thought. As important as thinking in 3D is for a student, would the One Half House be considered such a masterpiece if compared to works by fine artists? Imagine "living" inside a sculpture (suitably scaled up or down) by Richard Serra, Louise Nevelson or Anish Kapoor (including concealed structure) or a 3D version of flat art by MC Escher, Piet Mondrian or even Heironymus Bosch. Considering how brief formal education is (usually upper division undergrad and 2 years grad that most students do not complete), I worry that students (and the society they will serve) are not being immersed in an architectural curriculum that concentrates on the enormous complexity of building sustainably (instead of architects and their clients paying USGBC to certify it on a bronze tablet).

[@ArkMaDuke]

I'm loving these type of vidoes, so yeah I was here too

[@rudrarajani8629]

Is it relevant to use strong geometrical forms in today’s time, where other aspects might more relevant like sustainable buildings, or is there any way that we architects achieve sustainable design through geometric shapes? @Stewart Hicks.

[@vvMathematicalvv]

Fascinating.

[@Raffleseducationcorp]

沒有建模的話很難看得懂他的東西，感謝老師的介紹❤ I had hope my architectural history teacher would build 3D models like this.

[@G3tFunky]

May u analyse the Barcelona Pavillon by Mies and explain how to create flowing space? That be great!

[@simonbates3987]

Great video thanks. May I suggest O.M Unger's illegally demolished Steimel House, Germany for a future Lost Architecture video.

[@peterbrook329]

I wish I could have been with the architect when he was designing the half house - intricate thought process. Too bad it was never built.

[@buffyvanburen8688]

Hello, Mr. Hicks! Thanks for this intriguing material. If I may make a suggestion, some of the music is significantly louder than your speech which has me scrambling to turn the sound up and down to keep from becoming a nuisance to others around me. That's my only concern and I truly enjoy and am enlightened with your content. You're awesome! Thanks!.

[@stewarthicks]

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, in some of these older videos I wasn't as focused on the levels as recently. I think I hopefully learned the lesson. But unfortunately I can't go back and fix these...

[@wendy2263]

Hi, do you have any video for Alberto Campo Baeza? For Casa Domus Aurea, in Mexico? It would help me a lot, cause you explain them soo good and I really need this casa for my study project.

[@soulboy5596]

Im currently trying to develop a concept for my architecture project idk how 😪 but this kinda video kinda help i guess thanks

[@Dev1nci]

Keep going man. You’ll eventually get there 😁

[@SaiSantoshMARU]

If my senses are right, at 6:54 if the half-square is drawn towards, the location of the staircase is justified to be on the top left corner of the complete square. Just eyeballing it, I could be wrong.

[@hurleycowboy]

Keep it up, these are great

[@eastudio-K]

Kahn, Roosevelt Island Proposal or Lebbeus Woods, but that would not be easy for other built works Scarpa Cemetery Ronchamp

[@brown-brettstgermain9166]

Do the enscape links still work? I load into a vast white space with white clouds and blue sky. Do I need to do something else to get to the house?

[@mares3841]

WoW!

[@wadeguidry6675]

I've watched a lot of your videos and you the ones I like the best are your humorous ones. I wouldn't be surprised to come around a corner and see some homeless cartoon people painting graffiti on the walls of one of the rooms in your 3D renderings.

[@invencibletheory]

Even though it has a lot of geometric simplicity behind it, it seems that spatially it’s all gone and feels too cluttered?

[@linageseviciute589]

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Love the video btw. And loved the model as well! Thank you for sharing.

[@ooDirtyMickoo]

Why does it matter that the lines are tangent or touch or are on a grid? What are we supposed to learn from that? It seems like an arbitrary personal decision.

[@stewarthicks]

It relates to Hejduk made geometric decisions in plan. They may or may not be perceptible when you experience the building, but architects like to look at and compare the plans.

[@lglomo]

What I miss most from hejduk is the humanity

[@jake9674]

Architecture as a field of study is largely an intent to subvert the norms of westernkind. To that end this design succeeds. In terms of making a livable space that someone would enjoy experiencing, not so much. This design is rootless, detached from tradition, and maliciously so. On the other hand, I do enjoy your videos and appreciate the content, even if I come at if from what your view must seem like an antagonistic perspective.

[@ralphdubongco1841]

May i ask what 3d software you use?thanks

[@95GuitarMan13]

Is geometric rigour an end in itself? This flavour of architectural theory always struck me as a bit solipsistic but I'm probably missing something.

[@stewarthicks]

Well, sometimes architects like to practice to do drill rather than always playing a scrimmage. I see these as exercises for him to craft his skills, not necessarily fully flushed out house designs.

[@95GuitarMan13]

@@stewarthicks- great analogy, thanks. I guess the follow up is what skills are being practiced here and how do they translate to gameplay? It's not obvious to me what's worthwhile about arranging simple shapes on a grid with subtle alignments and relations. Can these formalist practices be translated into goals or values (broadly speaking) or is that missing the point?

[@user-it4rt8tj8r]

I want to ask the app you use for building the house~

[@stewarthicks]

Rhino

[@lucdup5]

Would like to know what Peter eisenman thiks about John hejduk works

[@James-pi8mr]

That house would suck to live in

[@viciousna]

Nice, reminds me of Villa Haans by Joe Coenen

[@stewarthicks]

Ooo, I wasn't familiar with that house. Thank you for mentioning it!

[@afrancolaura]

What software do you use to model?

[@stewarthicks]

Rhino!

[@michaelparise9712]

As someone who has been presenting orally for 40 years I have a few suggestions to enhance your excellent content: 1. SLOW DOWN. I know you have a of material to cover, but how about giving us a break and slowing down your speech by adding a few more minutes to your vids? I'd hate to be in your lectures unless you were giving out the notes! Most people cannot listen process, much less write, that fast. 2. SLOW DOWN the visuals. You're jumping from image to image to the point of my getting dizzy. I really wanted to see more about the half house without rushing through it. 3. Keep in mind a lot of us are seeing you on TV, not cell or PC. This means we cannot control the progress of the vid without having to start it all over. Otherwise keep up the good work in raising our consciousness about the intricacies of architectural design. Thank you.

[@WIImotionmasher]

I'm glad it's completely impractical

[@MR-zq5gt]

I would need a map to get to my bedroom I would get so lost 😂

[@limonx987]

The music it's Not the best choice for the 3d tour

[@AntneeUK]

Not gonna lie, Stewart, but I don't get this place. As an experiment, sure, it's interesting. But it feels jarring to me. It's either too claustrophobic, or too open, and feels unfinished. I appreciate it was never meant to be built, but I guess I don't understand its place in history, or the context. I don't know. This one leaves me confused

[@jasminehaha3712]

great video and thank you for making it. very good introductory material as I am looking into Hejduk s work. however i find your use of grandiose language ("masterpiece") arbitrary and concerning especially in context of architectural education. would appreciate it if you can take it into consideration. warm regards.

[@rtbinc2273]

Also, the static video cuts, not good. They are distracting and annoying. If they have some meaning to you they are not being communicated to me.

[@Dev1nci]

The halfway house for architectural students 😂😂😂

[@johndonahue4777]

Half hass would be like living in a Picasso crazy painting. You would have to have a schizophrenic plastic surgeon work you over first to fit in. I don't like it much. Ok?

[@marianarojano4104]

Vaina pa' fea.

[@zyxwvutsrqponmlkh]

Thanks, I hate it.