Fragmentation and Imperfection

Imperfection and fragmentation are concepts that share certain qualities. Although fragmentation may become a perfection in itself, it is also capable of acting as a mistake that occurred in the communication of an idea. Sometimes these qualities make a work a "not this, but not this either". The great magnitude of opportunities that imperfection offers can leave the exact classification of a work adrift. Some examples of this are Frank Gehry and Rafael Moneo, who represent opposite poles of the same spectrum.

Frank Gehry works a deconstructivist approach, where the design seems to be fragmented. The relationship part of a whole is always present in his works. However, this unconventional approach has left the nature of his projects up for debate. Will it be sculptural or is it architecture? A good example to explain the character of Gehry's products is the Horse's Head located in Berlin, Germany. This project left a huge impression on the architects of the time who had different opinions about it. Many architects did not consider the work architectural, arguing that it was too subliminal to be functional and that its plastic materiality only supported its classification as sculpture. Yet Gehry's Horse's Head is a perfect combination of both worlds, it is itself a vehicle for the study of various modernist techniques of fragmentation. Quality that defines the authorship of the architect. Although its materiality can turn the work into a sculpture, the regulations, regulating lines and the traditional logic of architectural drawing keep it as a symbol of the advancement of architecture. Frank Gehry's Horse's Head is at root a creative expansion of the field of architecture, as well as that of sculpture, a project so revolutionary that it opened new doors to a new style of art.

Rafael Moneo works architectural compactness and overhead light ambitiously. Compactness in architecture allows room for the cumulative, the random, the arithmetic or inorganic, the summative or juxtaposed while favoring the individuality and diversity of the elements in the face of the richness or sophistication of their relationships, and organizations schematic versus articulated. The entrance systems that Moneo designs as wells or capillaries allow lighting and ventilation to penetrate his works in a compact way. In Rafael Moneo's projects, the walls have a constructive and coherent role. With these walls he manages to formulate a personal seal or the identity of his organization and construction. The walls define the nature of your spaces. Also the covers of it manage to strongly express the individuality of the enclosures and the architect. Many Moneo projects present skylights, blind facades, many overhead lights, fragmentation, free plans, neoplastic spaces, and plans blocked by strong walls. All elements form repetitions and compositions of individuality on the part of the architect.

In conclusion, we can observe fragmentation and imperfection at different points of the spectrum with two of the most influential architects of modern architecture. Two of the professionals who waded into the uncertain waters of a new style and brought amazing innovations to architecture. Gehry's ability to combine the world of sculpture with architecture to generate a new language and Moneo's methodical study of forms and the incorporation of arithmetic for the purpose of a structured composition gives us new ways of thinking. The authorship, arrangement and style of these two architects is precise and clear, formed over the years with the study of forms and the leading incorporation of adjacent branches of architecture.