Photo: Hufton + Crow

It’s remarkable that all three million square feet of Steven Holl’s Sliced Porosity Block in Chengdu ever managed to get built at all. The fact that is was is a testament to Holl and his office and to contemporary architecture as a whole. Since many of us will never make the trip to Chengdu—it’s worth a visit!—we’ll have to make due with more mediated forms of experience. We’ve previously published exquisite photos of the complex, but now we’ve got our hands on two short films that explore the massive project in much more detail. The first is a walk-through of sorts with Holl himself, who gives a bit of background to the project’s beginnings, its formal cues, and its performance, as well as enlightening the more cryptic elements embedded within the complex. Most touching, perhaps, is his tour of the interior of Lebbeus Woods’s”Light Pavilion”—the latter’s only realized structure—which has already become a kind of local landmark. Click through for more video!

Sliced Porosity Block – A Conversation with Steven Holl from Steven Holl Architects on Vimeo.The second video offers a different, more atmospheric take on the subject matter. Establishing shots interspersed with traffic and pedestrian crossings help substantiate the project’s link to the urban fabric beyond, while time lapses are put to good use in demonstrating how light does really “slice” through, or more accurately, leak out from each of the mixed-use towers. (“Leaky Porosity Block” doesn’t have the same ring to it.) Both videos feature beautiful photography and high production values, making for a very nice afternoon break.

Sliced Porosity Block from Steven Holl Architects on Vimeo.

by Samuel Medina

posted in Uncategorized

tagged Archifilms, chengdu, china, mixed-use, Sliced Porosity Block, steven holl, Steven Holl Architects, video

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