Bernard Tschumi and Infrastructure

(video produced for Architectural Record by Bryant Rousseau, McGraw-Hill Construction's digital media editorial director)

Grand Central was way ahead of its time in its use of a double-envelope design. Tschumi takes us on a very rare visit inside the walls--to a glass catwalk that has inspired his own work. Tschumi also tells us that he admires how Grand Central functions both as a monument--and as a living piece of architecture--the "archetype of the city building... the epitome of urbanity." And lessons for today's architects? The building serves as a prime lesson, says Tschumi, that architecture is "not only about what it looks like, but really about what it does."

(video produced for Architectural Record by Bryant Rousseau, McGraw-Hill Construction's digital media editorial director)

Watch as Tschumi takes us on a tour of this turn-of-the-last-century bridge, whose "hypnotic repetition" of forms and "relentless scale" make it an "infrastructure cathedral". His favorite detail? How the juxtaposition of scales between major infrstructure and everyday architecture coexist beautifully--just as they did in Roman times. Tschumi also uses the bridge, which makes an extraordinary urban space, as an example of why it's often unnecessary to make any distinction between engineering and architectural projects.

"Architecture is the materialization of a concept."