Farshid Moussavi thinks the internet is boring - so buildings need to be unpredictable. "Online activities are all reduced to the uniform context of a screen, independent of time and space, so their experience has become very similar," she says. "Our work is about finding ways to liberate unpredictable everyday behaviours."
Moussavi's London-based FMA (Farshid Moussavi Architecture) practice, founded in 2011, made its name in art (Cleveland's Museum of Contemporary Art, completed in 2012) and retail (Victoria Beckham's London flagship store, 2014), designing spaces that could be reconfigured according to the occasion. Now the Iranian-born architect, 51, is applying her theory of unpredictability to commercial and residential projects.
Take her latest office block, currently under construction on London's Fenchurch Street: Moussavi introduced a curtain wall, made from odd-shaped concave glass pieces, to "surprise" people as they pass the building.
Her current housing project in Paris follows a similar principle: apartment blocks are twisted on their axis, giving residents unique (and uninterrupted) views of the city. Moussavi says such designs are intended to stir creative responses. "By making the conventions of how everyday activities are arranged unfamiliar, architects can open up possibilities."
In February 2015 Moussavi, who also teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, released The Function of Style, the third book in her Function series. So, given that all her buildings look dissimilar to each other, what is her trademark style? "I am totally uninterested in the idea that architecture represents the architect," she says. "I am interested in 'responsive architecture'." Predictably unpredictable.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
