Close
  
Close

Issue 32

Character
Welcoming a New Character Why We Got Into Character Character and Composition, A Response The Space of Representations Character Plotting Michael Meredith Wants to Be Horizontal and Fuzzy Assemblages of Ordinary Life Growing up Modern: A Family Story Micro-Modifications: Stories of Dingbat Dwellers The Classy Order Playing With Paint and Space Looking to Introduce Something Inconvenient Legendary Acts Dead Ringers Getting Cute Makin’ It My Dad is Better Than Yours: Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Interviews with Three Shortlisted Contestants at the 9th Annual Architecture Awards Alma de Rímel & The Glammatics Character and the Character Breaking Bad: When Architecture is Turned into a Criminal Character and Cities of To-morrow I on the Streets Drawing Soane’s Is Romanticism Alive and Well and Living in America? Construction of an Architect The Forensic Criticism of N. Ratsby in The Architectural Review Lequeu’s Characters Introducing the Black Bird

Photo Essay

I on the Streets

September 14, 2020

“I on the Streets” documents every windowless street façade in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Contributors

Mas issue character i on the streets 01

2042 J St, Lincoln NE 68510, I on the Streets. © Jason Griffiths.

“I on the Streets” documents every windowless street façade in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the antithesis to Jane Jacobs’s maxim on inclusive and socially coherent urbanism, and on first sight, an abject architecture in its most characterless form. However, the anonymity of a sightless façade defers to a minority of architectural photographers who reveal something more problematic about the relationship between photography and architectural character. Despite its better intentions, the notion of objective photography is quite often and quite quickly subsumed by a broader cultural commentary (William Garnett construction science, Bernd and Hilla Becher postindustrial typologies, and so on) that leads to refined aesthetic informant of architectural design. This appreciation lies in an inadvertent allure of the solitary spaces and the sublime pleasure of “ordinary” environments.

In truth, so much significant architecture draws upon this allure (MVRDV/Andreas Gursky, Robert Venturi/Ed Ruscha, Caruso St John/Thomas Demand, Diller Scofidio/Joel Sternfeld, and so on). However, this contemplation and aesthetic consideration is only possible from a position of extreme anonymity. The kind of anonymity that allows the photographer to work unobserved (in this case by windowless façades) in an environment that would be unavailable in the socially vibrant urbanism of “Eyes on the Street.”

Naturally great architecture must be socially coherent, but its breadth is equally inclusive of an ambiguous relationship to objectivity and perhaps the more problematic allure of characterless “ordinary” architecture.

Mas issue character i on the streets 02

816 G St, Lincoln, NE 68508. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 03

923 S 10th St, Lincoln, NE 68508. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 04

727 S 9th St, Lincoln, NE 68508. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 05

840 C St, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 06

1334 S 10th St, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 07

1334 S 10th St, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 08

2020 G St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 09

1930 G St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 10

656 S 19th St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 11

650 S 19th St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 12

644 S 19th St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 13

2037 F St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 14

2124 E St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 15

2325 E St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 16

2310 E St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 17

2338 E St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 18

2444 E St, Lincoln, NE 68510. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 19

1235 S 26th St, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 20

2301 S 33rd St, Lincoln, NE 68506. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 21

Rock Island Trl, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 22

2200 Winthrop Rd, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 23

5515 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 24

2941 Tierra Dr, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 25

5515 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 26

5515 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 27

5515 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 28

5523 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 29

5523 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 30

5519 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 31

5519 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 32

5519 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 33

5503 S 31st St, Lincoln, NE 68516. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 34

1938 Garfield St, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 35

1938 Garfield St, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 36

1938 Garfield St, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Mas issue character i on the streets 37

1938 Garfield St, Lincoln, NE 68502. © Jason Griffiths.

Comments

Contributor Bios

Contributor

Bio

Contact

Jason Griffiths

Jason Griffiths is an architect, teacher, and writer. His book Manifest Destiny: A Guide to the Essential Indifference of American Suburban Housing (Architectural Association Publications, 2011) is among his numerous award-winning projects, public art installations, publications, and competitions. He held the 2015 Hyde Chair for Excellence and is currently associate professor and the W. Cecil Steward Professor at UNL.