Why great architecture should tell a story | Ole Scheeren

For architect Ole Scheeren, the people who live and work inside a building are as much a part of that building as concrete, steel and glass. He asks: Can architecture be about collaboration and storytelling instead of the isolation and hierarchy of a typical skyscraper? Visit five of Scheeren's buildings - from a twisted tower in China to a floating cinema in the ocean in Thailand - and learn the stories behind them.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.
Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at www.ted.com/translate
Follow TED news on Twitter: / tednews
Like TED on Facebook: / ted
Subscribe to our channel: / tedtalksdirector

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

As someone who has live in the vertical apartments in Singapore my whole life, I didn't realise why my country is making so many strange buildings until recently. I have been living in a high rise prison my entire life. Many parts of Singapore are now adopting non traditional architecture that greatly increases the infrastructure on a personal level. These buildings aren't just there to look different, they also function on a much higher level than what elongated cubes can do. The fiction he is describing is not fairy tales, but, a narrative of functions, a series of the functions that the people occupying the building perform. A building is not just space that people fill up, it is a space where people do things. And these buildings are designed to allow people to perform a series of functions at greater efficiency than a normal tower. For example, the Chinese news tower is built in a way where the different sections are specifically arranged to allow maximum production efficiency, where all the work will be passed through the production line all the way to the top and meet in the middle where they collect all the materials for broadcasting. This in fact allows architecture to perform functions much more efficiently than a traditional "form follows function" box.

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

+GuyWithAnAmazingHat Traditional "form follows function"? His best example, the apartment complex in Singapore, is all about form follows function. The appreciable form of the complex is a result of it's functionality, it is constructed from the simplest shape possible but aligned in a way that allows high functionality at the same time.

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

TheAnnoyingGunner Of course, I'm not saying that form follows function is gone, in fact form follows fiction is an updated and extended principle of form following function. It is a principle that serves to follow the functions of everyone that occupies the building, the stories and purposes that everyone has.

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

GuyWithAnAmazingHat Maybe the name he used is simply too artsy for me to understand...

[@wchingfong]

You have given a better interpretation of what the speaker wanted to say, people who critic his architecture actually fall into same scenario that only see what is in the surface, or in this case, ugliness. I think real beauty is in the life, not in the eyes.

[@hansrama3485]

@@wchingfong cant believe there are people who dont find his architecture beautiful

[@bradleybruvva3021]

Man, this dude is taking the words out of my head, I think I’m finally in the right profession.

[@royghosn18]

Are you an architect now?

[@alexczrs]

It really is, my brother

[@marcv2648]

Notice the big difference between his words, and the final result of the buildings he produces.

[@Robersora]

TED videos sure must be full of educated, intelligent people who are able to listen and understand, and can formulate a point without insulting. *goes to comment section* *fliesaway*

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

+Robersora Bye, don't fly too close to the sun...

[@Robersora]

+TheAnnoyingGunner Heh, clever comeback.

[@ogi169]

What's more depressing is the fact that the community of TED is getting more conservative and radical.

[@ogi169]

+Robersora I meant the people who are watching the talks

[@Manni5h]

+Ognjen Basic I think its more about the people who decide to comment. They're more likely to share a negative opinion than a positive one.

[@srimansrini]

The renowned German Architect Ole Scheeren gives a breathtaking showcase of his architectural work and shows how the modern buildings to be built. Applying critical thinking with structural designs, his team had created some of the marvelous landscapes across the globe. it's a very fascinating for everyone, including the students of Architecture. Highly recoomended.

[@mrmuh2000]

I salute this guy. He taught me something. And it felt so short. Thanx for uploading.

[@zontenang6046]

15:09 this is a great idea .. especially throughout school buildings . student can interact and collaborate with no partitions at all sure this would ensure a new world of studying

[@hariking22]

as an architecture student. this is amazing work. yes it is not a sustainable building project in a slum somewhere which serves the greater good but this is in a different context. these buildings are for the working middle or upper class. In that context these designs are path breaking

[@fionafiona1146]

As a cultural anthropology student, I too think it's fascinating.

[@marcv2648]

As a student of life, I find his architecture to be the building blocks of dystopia.

[@aedaldaniel]

@@marcv2648 why? I think this is more like the ancient cities where the place has all the functions for a people to live comfortably

[@G.N.I.K]

@@aedaldanielI suppose he argues for the progression of technology as a destruction of all humanity in general. Though this is not possible with this post-post-modern architecture where we are instilling history, psychology, and biology in order to conceive new ideas.

[@addo-ajjalani9046]

I really love what he speaks about, however, most of the designs proposed really disregard the human scale. That is what I get sad about. The buildings do tell a story, but they are concrete jungles that I personally would feel lost in and suffocated when passing near them. Especially the horizontally stacked housing.

[@demili2243]

So many thanks to this nice video clip which includes the essence of the story-telling art of architectures! This video had definitely demonstrated 3 confusion about architectures of mine. 1 is: How structure designs associated to so many aspects of informations, such as biology, ministration and collaboration? 2 is: How to identify the group of people and their inhabitants by viewing the outlook of their office buildings? 3 is: What is the Modern Art of buildings nowadays? And I have found the explanation of all of them in this video.🥰

[@AronBagel]

Form follows function. Or, in the case of the Singapore apts, the form defines new functionality.

[@HAPPYplaceQC]

Love you TED! We're actually doing a 30-challenge of TED videos. For the month of Feb (2016) we are well on our way to watching a ted video every single day! 😊

[@thePlum]

Phenomenal talk! I am eternally fascinated by architecture!

[@chishakwer]

This is the stuff that gets my heart pumping differently!!!

[@krucafuks123]

the guy just did a commercial for himself "hire me, hire me, I am such a cool guy" There was no story in his speech or his buildings, he just showcased how great design they do.

[@iaspace7601]

119 dislike are his draftman.

[@mansibabar7492]

IA SPACE 😂

[@Jeffbasill]

u made my day XD

[@RenshenguoSuomessa]

He has even more hater draftmen now.

[@aadhyachintala8532]

well hes hiring more draftsmen xD

[@kaito9330]

and the civil engineers

[@MaxamillianStudio]

Amazing Work! Incredible vision.

[@architettoleonardorusso]

Most of negative comment derive by the fear of people with new things and new ideas to live the Earth. Thank the artchitectes, because they do this work for us. Sorry my english, I was still learning

[@ronaldm.6150]

...perhaps that's because he's pushing postmodern architecture, which wars against the fact that truth is absolute and never changes, which postmodernism counters.

[@SuperHiveProductions]

Hi greetings from 2020, we are in the midst of a pandemic, it kinda concerns me that the goal in most of these buildings were to get people together and be in a community. I hope we can go back to this ideal life.

[@janjeetmazumder3407]

Lol

[@ma.norasoriano6092]

Arch. Scheeren exemplifies a designing and theorizing architect. Kudos!

[@Fjuron]

Wow! Until now, I was only interested in historic Archetecture, but shown and explained this way, modern archetecture is truly intriguing in it's own right.

[@user-cg8fm6wu7h]

日本語字幕ありがとうございます。感謝します。

[@luisstolzespana684]

¡Scheeren es un crack! Soy profesor de estructuras en una universidad en Guatemala (URL) y se decirles que la narrativa de la historia del edificio debe estar en completa armonía con la estructura. Scheeren es audaz y logra el cometido.

[@somerandomedgyguy1723]

fascinating! That makes me wanna drop my current subject and study architecture.

[@PedroGeaquinto]

I like the way it makes buildings more active and compact, just like the trends of urbanism, but I really miss this going to the population in these projects. These buildings are still in kinda isolated spaces and are built for really restricted targets. The London project is a little better in this aspect though, even being located in a more or less sparse place.

[@WorldStuffInni]

That was great, in my city of Swansea where having student apartments built just like this

[@architectureinteriordesign8167]

There are many different ideas and method that architects would be able to design, but so much cases are not built, since it is too hard to convince or even impossible to meet clients who are able to grasp and agree to execute. There landmark proejcts are truly amazing for the city, even if CCTV is required to built up the structure space as much as usuable space, Singapore apartment lost household privacy extensively, and Collaborative Cloud overall mass conflicts with great opening space. Making decision to those ideas and bringing them into realization are an amazing talent as an architect. It is truly great talk and amazing presentation.

[@marianastuart]

Que vídeo maravilhoso!!! 💛

[@brezhnev89]

I am impressed. Amazing projects.

[@titosalas29]

Vaya, estoy sorprendido éste hombre es un genio. Ole Scheeren es un genio.

[@avadash6775]

The people who laughed at the pic (6:26) bet they never taught 4 years later wearing masks and being in the wedding is totally normal thanks to COVID19 :)

[@robbedontuesday]

Just what I thought, and wrote in a different way.

[@tunvm4893]

Well actually no one in the world 4 years ago would think of that either

[@mourtadababoukari9723]

Wow, I'm amazed and at the same time im becoming more appasionate in architecture andunderstanding it more. :D

[@jblue616]

This is exciting , why do so many architects complain so much when there are so many opportunities out there ? It almost makes no sense to say it's a dying field when you see this kind of innovation taking place. Offices and schools will become playgrounds for people to interact more closely. This is amazing

[@annaleipold6863]

amazing work, great ideas for a better future of architecture

[@gerdafundneider2642]

You do a Great work 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@mariaceciliatv]

I LOVE THIS FORM OF THINK THANKS

[@soufiane464]

great work ... I love architecture and you make me love it mooore :)

[@chillchick9984]

Very nice talk, really interesting ✨

[@jajuanmeeks8814]

Great video. Father in law is an architect so I can notice the difference in modern structures. The future is surely amazin!

[@MaZEEZaM]

Awesome design :D Great Ted Talk.

[@vietnowrenegades]

Hi! Does anybody have any tips/ideas on what program or software they use for making those isometric diagrams? It would be much appreciated! Thanks :)

[@nimalibandaraarchitects6899]

You have done great designs and it is pleasing the eye and the mind best wishes to do more creative work Archt. Nimali Bandara

[@henry.pham.vietnam6080]

Thank you very much for your video

[@GarciaJustinBArchPE]

Lots of jealous comments here....such arrigance!! This guy is obviously a very intelligent and passionate architect with something to offer...

[@ParaSpite]

He should keep designing buildings, but shut his stupid mouth. His buildings are awesome. But what his mouth is spewing is a wave of meaningless buzzwords and boundless arrogance.

[@joze838]

Yep he is really arrogant and for real, some of those buildings just looks awefull. He contribute to destroy the citys and still is proud of this.

[@fennycruz6714]

Great minds... thank you Ole.

[@Zepherian]

That singapore apt complex is very cool. If I wanted to live in a box it could be one of those. But imo architecture is at its best designing family homes, not ant farms.

[@jvs333]

Zepherian architecture is solving a human situation. Asia is a high density society. Single family homes does not solve those challenges. In the states single home designs are ok because the density and space permit that approach. Architecture is solving situations for humanity that enrich one’s life as well as that of the community it is serving.

[@marcv2648]

Yes, these are ant farms.

[@wenigmehl]

11:40 looks amazing.

[@makeshd6775]

yeah it is !!

[@khadijahmf8560]

In your opinion, should i take architecture or engineering course when i finish school? also, how should we base on what course is the best for us?

[@freshfacebeauty96]

anyone know what programme he used for the renders? or a process of getting them to that quality

[@prahas777]

What a creative genius!

[@davetv4705]

Great achievement there! Kudos

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

I'd appreciate highrise architecture that is a bit more intertwined. Not two buildings but a whole bunch of towers and smaller buildings that are close to each other and are connected by bridges on various heights. Streets on the ground are pretty much designed for vehicles instead of pedestrians in this modern world. Those bridges enable the whole city to grow vertically and can be used for small shops, cafe's and so on. It'd be pretty cool.

[@TotallyGlar]

Surprised to see a Singaporean building as the thumbnail

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

+TotallyGlar It was the best one, you don't want to advertise yourself with your worst piece of work...

[@joyjoyoo]

What is that building called? It does look neat

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

***** It is called "The Interlace", in Singapore.

[@joyjoyoo]

+TheAnnoyingGunner thank you

[@mohamedhafizh5512]

haha i know right. i clicked this video because of thumbnail,and the first thing i did was to look up for this comment.

[@user-us9sv7gc7t]

정말 잘 보고 갑니다. ^^

[@exas4791]

So build regularly shaped modules and stack them according to functions ?

[@exgeeinteractive]

When I was starting my career I've always thought of myself as an artist. As I start to delve deeper, a lesson hit me "Lookin pretty is not top priority" and boy that was tough to swallow. Aesthetically pleasing work wows people but it opens a ton of questions. What's this? what's that? what is that for? this doesn't look right? FUNCTION first. FORM follows. And you can always maximize BOTH. It's also more feasible and offers a bigger challenge in terms of creativity. I'm an artist but I'm a designer first (web tech).

[@chuangkou101]

The building in Beijing is name big short pants in China. A wonderful story to tell.

[@lazarazal6539]

architecture can be functional and tell story at the same time, whats the problem ?

[@mubarak4856]

Nice My elder bro is doing last year in Architect

[@antonshvydkyi8551]

All his renders look like this building would stand somewhere in heaven

[@HalbleeresGlas]

I actually like the hexagonally stacked housing blocks. The other buildings I didn't really care for, but damn, if Berlin-Marzahn was build that way instead of all the Plattenbauten...

[@alexczrs]

Congratulations on architects day!

[@etv4975]

What a great video.

[@jdkhan5441]

waw I m so empressed from this video

[@Daimo83]

You built a Borg Cube in Germany? Nice.

[@robbedontuesday]

15:56 Big British Brother is watching you. Always. So the structure that serves fishermen to earn their sustenance, now it's been con(per)verted into a floating entertainment follie... Good job.

[@davidmayhew4818]

Brilliant.

[@joodradwan3517]

i loooovvveee this

[@user-qy9pj6sy8g]

Architecture jet.net.ua/category/architecture/

[@vishalrs1129]

wow just wow

[@jesusfreites6393]

I love architecture ❤

[@iiree1764]

Amazing as always 👌 thank u so much for ur videos cuz it helps me alot .. nd i'm so proud to be 25like nd 3th comment :3 😂😂

[@83PHK]

Great clip

[@robbedontuesday]

2021: When you see wedding photo with all members wearing masks... and you don't understand the laughs.

[@belikeprateek]

amazing

[@yuxiguo242]

Does interpretation influences the design quality itself? Everyone call that CCTV building "big underpants" in China, what a nice story for us to share.

[@wangqimei3954]

To have the best understanding of the Absurd, just combining this guy's idealism speech about CMG Headquarters and the banner shows in 5:37 - "欢迎各位领导莅临指导" （“it's our honor that each leader could come to visit and guide us”）

[@olgayadchuk8098]

thanks

[@AsiqueIkbalAnsari]

He is a great architect!

[@user-iz8cm3nd2e]

그냥 랜드마크고, 유명해져서 그렇다는 소리를 저렇게 장황하게 부풀려서 설명하는 사기에 가까운 발언에 박수를 보낸다. 역시 건축은 포장이 최우선인듯.

[@harenterberge2632]

In the end it is just another soulless concrete box with a sheet of mirror-glass, just with a slightly different shape and a lot of architectural Blabla to make it sound more than it really is.

[@jiggablackshine]

My architecture professor at the architectural school always told us, the best architects can tell you a great story with their buildings

[@sorsamnang6280]

Thank for this video I like it.

[@alkrardaghfal2172]

VERY GOOD PROJECT.

[@IDislikeTheNewYoutube]

The "greatness" of a thing is implicit within it's usefulness. Simply having form has it's place, in a fucking gallery and for the exclusively rich.

[@quackcement]

16 mins shortened to one line " I make buildings with gaps in the middle"

[@seag1492]

90 IQ alert

[@wchingfong]

This is where the story begins = Form follows Fiction

[@gs2tab]

haha, he has totally found his niche design point! Whatever buzzword, jargon-filled justification he gives, at least it is a novel approach to design and produces some interesting architecture.

[@mohsenmoradi3502]

perfect

[@scottweale4740]

Great Architecture is Fundamental this is perfect.

[@oldcowbb]

i don't understand why this comment section is so angry, someone explain?

[@lmonk9517]

+oldcowbb I think it is the overuse of meaningless buzzwords and the fact the some of the Buildings didn't look so great. I thought they looked okay, I liked the floating cinema but not a fan of the London olympics building.

[@arvinpan1705]

+oldcowbb those are really excellent designs. why they are angry ?

[@roiferreach100]

maybe it's new in their ears or some are so self-absorbed with their designs, they forget to consider the stories of people and their experiences they are designing for. The speaker is great he is bringing up the User Experience Design principles in his architectures.

[@etrebelle9812]

Because the talking is wordy but obvious and the architectures are ugly

[@TheBeltroy]

two side of a coin; the idealist and the not..

[@MissSudangirl]

Wow he is really inspiring. He has the same architectural style and values as me. The concept of hybrid architecture

[@dyingangelo]

same could be said to our couches and chairs. it doesn't matter if it's beautiful if your back hurts when you sit in it

[@prayuk_rain]

WOW...!

[@CaptureAsia]

The Interlace building is not selling well from what i heard, the design is out of the box from a design perspective. but honestly i heard a lot of feedbacks and this building is not well-received by the locals. Great design architecture may not be the most functional architecture.

[@ViniciusVaccari]

I think we shoud to look for a new way to live and the architecture of the nowdays is helping us to do that. Of couse, everything sounds good when he's talking or when we see the pics but I wished know the opinions of the people that live right there! Everything really works? When he said that in "the interlace" all departaments have a natural light or ventilation I trhoug... "all?" Btw, Its very beatiful see new buildings like that around the city. JUST GIVE ME A JOB PLEASEEEE, OLE!

[@ankurparashar9045]

any1 knows about other buildings which have a similar concept as the looped hybrid?

[@Desenhos_para_arquiteturA]

Sensacional !!!!

[@ghassankanaan1767]

Very interresting as a concept and in theory...But what about the result in real life?...i hope to know how much the reality confirms the concept.

[@RafaelCovarrubiasRico]

Sin palabras es real

[@billalhossainfrancis7685]

Wow

[@CUBETechie]

Did his project get copied in other places in Singapore or other places? And is this an individual location which works only in Singapore or can be used everywhere in the world?

[@georgewu5]

My idea of architecture is never just vertical ( Vertical City ) nor jus horizontal ( like this one); but horizontal-vertical. Because the land is never dead flat, land is ups and downs. But they don't manufacture land any more, therefore we are forced to go vertically. Therefore, I have been working on a container housing project for over 18 years by now, called Great Wall Village. Facebook / George Wu, 2019-7-1, George Wu, ARCHITECT, A.I.A., NCARB.

[@MK-fw4to]

I once lived in a block of flats. It had 9 stories.