Windows of the Future

"Punch card" windows along the northern face of Ahmanson Hall at Otis College


How will buildings of the future look? How can an architect in the present discern the shape of an aesthetic yet to come? Is futurism accomplished by an emphatic rejection of the Past? Or is it the extrapolation of modern cutting edge imagery projected into structural design?

We discussed the concept of futurist architecture when visiting the Space Park campus in Redondo Beach. Today, we are visiting the old IBM Aerospace Building in the Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is now part of Otis College of Art and Design, but was originally built for IBM by Eliot Noyes in 1963. Renamed Ahmanson Hall, this structure is a fine example of futurist architecture.

It is a seven story cube with each face segmented into "punch card" patterns. Clearly, Noyes took the look of the computer technology of his day and projected it conceptually as a design scheme for a "futuristic" building. Nearly fifty years later, it doesn't look anything like how the future of architecture actually turned out, but it does eloquently express a "futuristic" forward-looking aesthetic.

Otis' Ahmanson Hall, the "Punch Card" Building, was built in 1963.


In this regard, futurist architecture shares certain qualities with science fiction. The goal of a good SF story isn't to "predict" the future, but to consider a contemporary issue in the light of future potentialities. In the Punch Card Building, Noyes foresees the importance of computation in the future. So, the symbolism of his era's computer technology is utilized as a design principle to enclose the workspace. The residents of the Punch Card are literally surrounded by the presence of computation.

Appreciating Herstory

Otis College is exhibiting "Doin' It in Public" as part of the Pacific Standard Time art event.

There is currently a vast artistic curation and exhibition project underway in the Los Angeles area called Pacific Standard Time. It's premise is to celebrate and display the Los Angeles art scene from 1945 to 1980, the foundational era upon which contemporary LA art builds. Obviously, in an enormous population center like Los Angeles, there will be many narrative and historical strands that will be considered.

So I began my exploration of Pacific Standard Time with a visit to Otis College's exhibit "Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building." It's a fascinating look at the woman's art movement and how the establishment of a feminist institution gave birth to a wide array of creative endeavors, from the aesthetic to the sexual to the political.

In terms of exhibiting original art, there wasn't much. It was more of an anthropological and historical show, which is cool with me. There were plenty of informative media displays. One could spend hours at the exhibit just looking at the videos or listening to recordings. I especially enjoyed the reconstruction of a few performance art installations.

American Dining: A Working Woman's Moment (1987/2011) by the Waitresses

For me, the documentation of the artistic-political collectives was the most compelling part of the exhibit. It seems as if this was where the creative energy of the Woman's Building in forming a community identity and fostering progressive artistic and political activities came together strongest.