Lebbeus Woods

The Architect: Lebbeus Woods

By: Brad Hoepfner

        I honestly don’t think that I have ever written about an architect in particular and I am fairly certain that I will not be able to remotely describe how the famous architects of our recent history think or approach problems, but I think writing about Lebbeus Woods would be very appropriate for this blog.

Lebbeus Woods recently passed away this year on October 30, 2012. To give everyone a little background information from Wiki, he studied architecture at U of I and engineering are Purdue. Lebbeus even became a professor of architecture and taught at Cooper Union in New York and in Switzerland.

        Wood’s designs were rarely constructed, but they were very influential to other architects and students alike. Much of his work was put on display in museums around the globe. Many of these designs did seem and look outrageous but he did believe that many of these designs could have been built. Blogging even became an important part of his life, encouraging debates and conversations about architecture and other subjects.

        Woods is best known for his radical re-imaginings of cities in crisis: the order of the existing being confronted by the order of the new. Woods stated, “the interplay of metrical systems establishing boundaries of materials and energetic forms is the foundation of a universal science (universcience) whose workers include all individuals.” Woods was a great thinker and architect that worked within our lifetime, please take a look at some of his work and try to consider the way he thought about the city in crisis and what we could do in the future.