Steampunk

 

Cornu's Helipack (2012, by Joseph Mross), on display in the lobby of the Miner Building.

This week’s edition of Eugene Weekly includes a feature article about the new Museum of Techno Art (MTA), which will open this coming October in the Miner Building. The Miner Building just happens to be where my firm’s office is located. In recent weeks, the building’s lobby has successively displayed pieces by Steampunk artists Steve LaRiccia and Joseph Mross. Until reading the article in the Weekly, I was unaware of the plans to open the MTA in the Miner Building, so I figured the contraptions were simply part of a rotating art program for the lobby. It all makes sense now. 

I am by no means a Steampunk enthusiast. That said, I do find the steampunk premise and subculture fascinating, mostly for aesthetic reasons.
 
Like me, many people have at least a passing familiarity with Steampunk. The genre enjoys a significant following and has influenced various forms of media and culture, including literature, film, fashion, and even some aspects of technology design. It offers a nostalgic yet imaginative view of the past and a creative exploration of how the present and future might have been shaped by the technologies and sensibilities of a bygone era. Steampunk does this by featuring anachronistic and retro-futuristic technologies (such as steam-powered machinery, clockwork devices, and elaborate gadgets) to create a unique blend of the futuristic and the antiquated. Steampunk contraptions are characterized by ornate details, brass, copper, and other materials associated with the Victorian era. Likewise, Steampunk settings are often urban landscapes filled with factories, cogs, pipes, and gears, reflecting the industrialization of the 19th century. Steampunk fashion incorporates Victorian clothing styles, such as waistcoats, top hats, corsets, and petticoats, often adorned with gears, goggles, and other industrial elements.
 
The following quote from the first printing of the now defunct SteamPunk Magazine brilliantly summarizes what modern Steampunk is about:
 
“First and foremost, Steampunk is a non-Luddite critique of technology. It rejects the ultra-hip dystopia of the cyberpunks—black rain and nihilistic posturing—while simultaneously forfeiting the “noble savage” fantasy of the pre-technological era. It revels in the concrete reality of technology instead of the overanalytical abstractness of cybernetics . . . Authentic Steampunk is not an artistic movement but an aesthetic technological movement. The machine must be liberated from efficiency and designed by desire and dreams. The sleekness of optimal engineering is to be replaced with the necessary ornamentation of true function. Imperfection, chaos, chance, and obsolescence are not to be seen as faults, but as ways of allowing spontaneous liberation from the predictability of perfection.”
 
The examples of Steve LaRiccia’s and Joseph Mross’ Steampunk art I have seen so far certainly fit the bill.  

Wozniak's Conundrum (2011, Steve LaRiccia).
 

Steampunk is far from the mainstream of architectural design thinking, but its principles and aesthetics resonate with architects and designers who seek to explore alternative approaches to design, sustainability, and the relationship between technology and architecture.
 
For example, some architects find inspiration in Steampunk's emphasis on intricate detailing and the use of materials like brass, copper, and wood. Buildings that respond to environmental factors or user interactions could incorporate Steampunk-inspired mechanisms. Tom Kundig is a modern-day architect whose work is well-known for including mechanical or kinetic elements, such as large mechanically operated doors, shutters, or windows that allow users to interact with and adapt spaces to their needs. His architectural style is not directly aligned with Steampunk, but he shares with Steampunk its defining affinity for mechanical contraptions.
 

Pivoting window and manual hand-cranking mechanism, Chicken Point Cabin, Tom Kundig, architect (photo from Olson Kundig website).

Other architects might be inspired by Steampunk’s approach to transforming old and discarded materials into functional and aesthetic architectural components. Such repurposing and upcycling aligns with contemporary concerns about sustainability.
 
The characteristic intricacy and playfulness of Steampunk designs holds lessons for architecture as well. Steampunk is a philosophy that finds parallels with the Victorian-era Arts and Crafts Movement, which was largely a backlash against the Industrial Revolution. The Arts and Crafts ethos promoted the skilled work of human hands over mass-produced and commercially made products. We can see in Steampunk an inherent critique of design-thinking that fails to connect people with the making of their useful objects and places. The absence of intensely human qualities is what we too often miss in today’s architecture but find in the Steampunk aesthetic.  

While not a mainstream architectural movement, Steampunk's influence on architecture underscores the genre's ability to spark creativity and dialogue about the intersection of history, technology, and design. As architects face the challenges of creating adaptable and aesthetically engaging spaces, they can find inspiration in the principles and aesthetics of Steampunk to explore new possibilities and push the boundaries of architectural design.

Paris metro station "Arts et Métiers", designed in 1994 to honor the works of Jules Verne (photo by Cramos, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

For the most part, real-world instances of Steampunk architecture are limited to themed exhibits or environments their designers simply intended to evoke the Steampunk aesthetic. Consequently, a certain authenticity is absent. Just as the Steampunk we’re most familiar with is associated with cosplay, we recognize that the contemporary architecture we might label as Steampunk is likewise play-acting rather than entirely genuine. Exceptions to this perception are most often projects that involve the repurposing of older buildings. I can imagine the proposed adaptive reuse of the EWEB Steam Plant as ripe with possibilities, leveraging the building’s historic features (including the boiler equipment) to aesthetic effect. The Spokane SteamPlant renovation is a completed example that does this. Ironically perhaps, what moves us away from regarding such projects as consistent with Steampunk philosophy is that the historical equipment they contain are artifacts past their useful life as opposed to living, functioning elements. 

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As the name Museum of Techno Art implies, the MTA will encompass a wider range of creative expressions than Steampunk alone and embrace a variety of other technological and digital mediums. I suspect these other artforms might include digital painting, generative art, virtual reality experiences, and more, expanding beyond the boundaries of historical aesthetics like Steampunk. I’m looking forward to exploring the museum when it opens in October. That said, the museum is currently available by appointment for tours. You can arrange a tour by contacting Steve LaRiccia at SteamWorksLabs@centurylink.net or Glenn Smith at GlennWSmith@gmail.com.