Henry N. Cobb: Hypostyle

Hypostyle, Henry N. Cobb, SCI-Arc Gallery, Spring 2015 (Photo: John Southern)

Henry N. Cobb: Hypostyle Opening reception: Thursday, April 2, 7pm Architect Henry Cobb and SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss discuss the installation Throughout recorded history, hypostyles have been constructed as halls wherein ordered arrays of massive columns take pride of place and interstitial spaces are experienced as residual. By contrast, in this installation the hypostyle is populated by planar elements joined to form vertical constructs that shape figural spaces both within and between them, creating a complex interplay that blurs the distinction between solid and void. The installation also departs from precedent by omitting or displacing some of the vertical constructs in such a way as to disrupt the grid and create a variety of spatial configurations, the effect of which is further enhanced by rotating the H-shaped verticals ninety degrees in alternating rows along the length of the Gallery. Above two of the spaces thus formed, roof panels are so positioned as to frame narrow openings through which projected light from overhead sources is admitted, spending itself on the vertical and horizontal surfaces below. Finally, the installation provides a spatial setting for eight color photographs mounted on the Gallery’s perimeter walls and four black-and-white images displayed in the hypostyle’s central space, all depicting built works representative of my practice. About Henry N. Cobb Henry N. Cobb is a founding principal of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, based in New York City. During the six decades since his firm was established in 1955, his practice has embraced a wide variety of building types in cities across North America and around the world. Throughout his career, he has coupled his professional activity with teaching, most intensively during a five-year term (1980-85) as Studio Professor and Chairman of the Department of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he continues to teach occasionally as a visiting lecturer. He is a recipient of the Gold Medal for Architecture, awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education, awarded jointly by the American Institute of Architects and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. http://sciarc.edu/exhibition.php?id=2384