Not “Enough” — Clarity

Pinks, blues, and greens washed the architecture presented as part of this year’s Kenneth Frampton Endowed Lecture at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Wonne Ickx of the Mexico City based firm Productora presented nine projects at a range of scales. The lecture yielded a variety of topics for discussion, but the two terms Ickx favored the most, “enough” and “clarity,” seemed in tension.

“We’re really interested in creating buildings that are legible at a number of levels. That doesn’t mean it’s understandable. It’s a manifestation of clear intentions and clear goals. It allows for people to react to architecture in a direct way,” shared Ickx. But how does an architect know when they’ve “done enough” in design, especially in relation to a building’s legibility? Should a term related to taste and minimalism, like “enough,” have a place in public-space design?

That’s not to say that PRODUCTORA’s nine projects were not clear. New interventions nestled into appropriate relationships with existing urban and historical contexts. Color an…