This is a New York Times interview with the founder of Pin-Up magazine, who combines architecture and sex as the basis of the publication. Would a magazine combining sex and golf course architecture work? (I can't wait to read the responses from the Tom Doak fan club on this one.)
Here is the direct link:
http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/for-the-moment-felix-burrichter/#more-806I've pasted the story below.
May 12th, 2008 11:31 AM
For the Moment | Felix Burrichter
By Felix Burrichter
(Kenneth Pietrobono)
This week’s guest blogger is Felix Burrichter, a New York-based architect. Burrichter, who was born in Germany, is also the founder and editor of PIN-UP, an independent biannual magazine launched in the fall of 2006, whose unlikely editorial foundations are architecture and sex.
“Why the name PIN-UP?” It’s a question I am asked every day. Of course, the sexual connotations didn’t entirely escape me, given the magazine’s mission to provide adult architectural entertainment. But to architects and designers, the term also refers to informal creative sessions, called ‘pin-ups,’ which are basically scavenger hunts for great ideas and solutions, for the spirit of a project. Pin-ups are informal reviews of anything and everything, from unfinished drawings to inspirational references (if you work at Frank Gehry’s office, for example, it’s most likely to be a series of crumpled handkerchiefs). We thought the title was perfect for a publication that takes a fun, panoramic look at architecture (and a bit of fashion for good measure) and all its facets, with a focus on great personalities, whether they’re architects, designers, or artists working closely within the field.
The new issue, our fourth, will be out in the US next week and brings you face to face with the concept of flamboyant restraint, a contradiction that architecture has come to terms with in many ways. One of my favorite stories in this issue casts a light on Le Corbusier’s wife, Yvonne, a former hat model and the diametric opposite of her Calvinist, workaholic husband (his controlling demeanor presumably drove her to excessive drinking and a relatively early death at 65). It is a revelatory essay about flamboyance and restraint in the life and work of the 20th century master architect.
While I am sad to report that I have yet to unearth any surviving footage of Yvonne’s hat-modeling, I did recently come across her husband’s “Poème électronique,” an animated visual collage, which he created together with Iannis Xenakis and Edgard Varèse for the Philips pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair. A must see!
For those who find this a tad intellectually high-flying on a Monday, I would like to offer something earthier to close my first entry: a 1984 Heather Parisi dance routine for Italian TV — just the thing for a miserable rainy day. A Hollywood-born beauty and dancer, Heather Parisi was actually discovered on the beaches of Rimini when she was only 19 in the late 1970s. She instantly became an Italian TV sensation and, in a strange way, the clip of her performance also encapsulates the theme of flamboyant restraint: a minimal and rigorous setting (including a giant Rubik’s cube) merged with jazz choreography and over-the-top costumes (multicolored metallic shoes — très Lanvin — and a Mickey Mouse derriere). Enjoy!