Neil Denari frames his talk as a tribute to Lebbeus Woods, describing his discovery of Woods’s work as a student, and becoming friends later during his years in New York. Denari discusses his early work–the 1983 monastery, the 1986 Solar Clock, a loft–in terms of the fixed and finite, whereas Woods always emphasized the unfixed and infinite.
In the introductory “Facticity” section of his talk, Denari describes his current goals in terms of facts and explanations, citing first the “object oriented” philosophies of Quentin Meillassoux and Graham Harman, and then through the example of Miles Davis’s progression from “I’ll play it now and explain it to you later” (1966) to “Call it anything” (1970).
Under the category of “Fiction,” Denari describes several projects, including the MUFG Umeda “sky space” (2007), and a time capsule. He describes the No Mass House (2011) in detail. He describes in detail the New Keelung Harbor Service Project, a competition for a massive port terminal in a mid-sized Taiwanese town.
The concluding “Finish” section of Neil Denari’s talk is devoted to his HL23 condominium tower in Chelsea, in New York, adjacent to the High Line. He discusses fabrication issues that came up, regarding the windows, and metal panels, pointing out the gap that still exists between digital design and realization.
