Mike Davis introduces Mario Gandelsonas.
Gandelsonas discusses topics from his upcoming book, X-Urbanism: Architecture and the American City, which approaches “the city as the architect’s desire,” or “the urban text as the object of desire.” He discusses Le Corbusier’s “love/hate” feelings for American cities and talks about the development of city grid. He also discusses the relevance of Marcel Duchamp. Gandelsonas shows drawings of city grids, which he calls “readings,” because he is both writing and reading them. He highlights drawings of Boston, New Haven, CT, and Chicago and details his “vision plan” for Des Moines, Iowa, distinguishing it from a master plan. He also shows photographs of a multi-building house he designed and calls it a “neurotic house,” for the way it creates, “relaxation and anxiety.” Speaking about city grids, he says, wherever there are breaks in the grid, there is “a point of entrance into the enigma of the city.”
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