Why great architecture should tell a story | Ole Scheeren

For architect Ole Scheeren, the people who live and work inside a building are as much a part of that building as concrete, steel and glass. He asks: Can architecture be about collaboration and storytelling instead of the isolation and hierarchy of a typical skyscraper? Visit five of Scheeren's buildings — from a twisted tower in China to a floating cinema in the ocean in Thailand — and learn the stories behind them.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.

[GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

As someone who has live in the vertical apartments in Singapore my whole life, I didn't realise why my country is making so many strange buildings until recently. I have been living in a high rise prison my entire life.

Many parts of Singapore are now adopting non traditional architecture that greatly increases the infrastructure on a personal level. These buildings aren't just there to look different, they also function on a much higher level than what elongated cubes can do.

The fiction he is describing is not fairy tales, but, a narrative of functions, a series of the functions that the people occupying the building perform. A building is not just space that people fill up, it is a space where people do things. And these buildings are designed to allow people to perform a series of functions at greater efficiency than a normal tower.

For example, the Chinese news tower is built in a way where the different sections are specifically arranged to allow maximum production efficiency, where all the work will be passed through the production line all the way to the top and meet in the middle where they collect all the materials for broadcasting.

This in fact allows architecture to perform functions much more efficiently than a traditional "form follows function" box.

[bradleybruvva]

Man, this dude is taking the words out of my head, I think I’m finally in the right profession.

[Robersora]

TED videos sure must be full of educated, intelligent people who are able to listen and understand, and can formulate a point without insulting.
*goes to comment section*
*fliesaway*

[srimansrini]

The renowned German Architect Ole Scheeren gives a breathtaking showcase of his architectural work and shows how the modern buildings to be built. Applying critical thinking with structural designs, his team had created some of the marvelous landscapes across the globe. it's a very fascinating for everyone, including the students of Architecture. Highly recoomended.

[hariking]

as an architecture student.
this is amazing work. yes it is not a sustainable building project in a slum somewhere which serves the greater good but this is in a different context. these buildings are for the working middle or upper class. In that context these designs are path breaking

[zontenang]

15:09 this is a great idea .. especially throughout school buildings . student can interact and collaborate with no partitions at all sure this would ensure a new world of studying

[demili]

So many thanks to this nice video clip which includes the essence of the story-telling art of architectures!
This video had definitely demonstrated 3 confusion about architectures of mine.
1 is: How structure designs associated to so many aspects of informations, such as biology, ministration and collaboration?
2 is: How to identify the group of people and their inhabitants by viewing the outlook of their office buildings?
3 is: What is the Modern Art of buildings nowadays?
And I have found the explanation of all of them in this video.🥰

[mrmuh]

I salute this guy. He taught me something. And it felt so short. Thanx for uploading.

[avadash]

The people who laughed at the pic (6:26) bet they never taught 4 years later wearing masks and being in the wedding is totally normal thanks to COVID19 :)

[AronBagel]

Form follows function. Or, in the case of the Singapore apts, the form defines new functionality.

[SuperHiveProductions]

Hi greetings from 2020, we are in the midst of a pandemic, it kinda concerns me that the goal in most of these buildings were to get people together and be in a community. I hope we can go back to this ideal life.

[architettoleonardorusso]

Most of negative comment derive by the fear of people with new things and new ideas to live the Earth. Thank the artchitectes, because they do this work for us. Sorry my english, I was still learning

[Fjuron]

Wow! Until now, I was only interested in historic Archetecture, but shown and explained this way, modern archetecture is truly intriguing in it's own right.

[HAPPYplaceQC]

Love you TED! We're actually doing a 30-challenge of TED videos. For the month of Feb (2016) we are well on our way to watching a ted video every single day! 😊

[krucafuks]

the guy just did a commercial for himself
"hire me, hire me, I am such a cool guy"

There was no story in his speech or his buildings, he just showcased how great design they do.

[PedroGeaquinto]

I like the way it makes buildings more active and compact, just like the trends of urbanism, but I really miss this going to the population in these projects. These buildings are still in kinda isolated spaces and are built for really restricted targets. The London project is a little better in this aspect though, even being located in a more or less sparse place.

[luisstolzespana]

¡Scheeren es un crack! Soy profesor de estructuras en una universidad en Guatemala (URL) y se decirles que la narrativa de la historia del edificio debe estar en completa armonía con la estructura. Scheeren es audaz y logra el cometido.

[TotallyGlar]

Surprised to see a Singaporean building as the thumbnail

[chishakwer]

This is the stuff that gets my heart pumping differently!!!

[lazarazal]

architecture can be functional and tell story at the same time, whats the problem ?