Τhe Generator: Cedric Price, Gilman Paper Corporation – White Oak – USA, 1976–1980

Sopeoglou, Eva (2017) Τhe Generator: Cedric Price, Gilman Paper Corporation – White Oak – USA, 1976–1980. In: Manis, Thanasis and Panetsos, Georgios, (eds.) Afetitires II. Athens, Greece : Domes. pp. 160-165. (Greek architecture yearbook, (07)) ISBN 9786188365902

Abstract

This is a paper presentation, included in the edited volume of 'Afetiries II' published by Domes International Review of Architecture. It follows the 'Afetitires II symposium, organised on 27 May 2017 in Benaki Museum Athens, Greece. How are the works of great architects recounted by the new generation of Greek architects? 45 Greek architects under the age of 45 present works from around the world, from antiquity to the present, which have been a source of inspiration and a starting point for their own creation. The project presented is "Generator" (1976-1980), an unbuilt project by London-based architect Cedric Price. The research was conducted partly at the project archives in the Canadian Centre of Architecture in Montreal, Canada and partly at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, USA. Cedric Price suggested a cluster that would house company actions, cultural events and cultural hospitality; the site would provide "a list of options for individual or collective use -general spaces, environmental control, protection and enjoyment. A place for work, creation, thought and reflection". Generator would enhance a sense of creative isolation within nature. Apart from being obsessed with time and high technology, the Cedric Price archive also shows his deep sensitivity to its landscape, place and history, and other elements which today characterise the ecological approach to design. Access to Cedric Price's archives gave a new texture to works I thought already familiar. I had the opportunity to discover unpublished drawings, sketches and ideas. I approached the archives not through the eyes of the architect-historian but with that of the architect-designer, that is to say, in making associative links and logical games without being particularly concerned with facts and historical details. I'd like to urge the architects to visit the archives as a starting point personal reading of the work of the elders. When we meet other architects' work in books, by convention, their interpretation has been mediated by the subjective glance of the architect - historian.

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