MMM Skyscraper: I Love You

a funny thing happened on the way through the forum archives

2009-12-10T17:18:00.004-05:00

This thread isn't without its duds, but those (and cold Hadid dis) aside, this is a very good effort from the Archinect forums on the subject of Celebrity Lookalikes. My mind is reeling imagining an Alvar Aalto biopic starring Abe Vigoda.

something about hating michael graves makes me feel like an idiot

2009-02-15T21:07:00.000-05:00

The O'Reilly Theater (Pittsburgh, PA) Michael Graves 1999 (Should be called the O RLY Theater, IMO)

Do people exist who consider this building strictly beautiful? Serious question. This is not an implication that beauty is or should be the premier objective of architecture (more a bitchy indictment of the above building for being, in this writer's very, very humble and n00bish opinion, actually strictly hideous).

There is something in my viscera that rejects anything and everything Michael Graves. When I see one of his pieces, be it teapot, adobe or skyscraper, my skin crawls. This bothers me for a few reasons. One, it pains me that I find post-modern architecture so intriguing in theory (in fact, reading the architecture chapter in a catch-all book of post-modern theory is what got me into the subject in the first place) yet so often repugnant in practice. Two, I have thought and thought about why this might be, that something as innocuous as a pastel-colored blocky building could fill me with such abhorrence, and come up with essentially nil. Three, this last fact makes me feel like a predictable, spontaneous idiot.

Could it be that I am a child of the 80s, and was glutted with architecture (vaguely) of this type in my youth? Maybe, but that's hardly an explanation in itself. I do find his style unimaginative, often plundering architecture I adore (Art Deco, for example) of everything but its uncanny splendor. Perhaps that's it, just an Art Deco beef blown way out of proportion. In my notes about Graves, I have scrawled "followers have ruined the world, basically." I don't really believe this, but perhaps the fact that every boring, cookie-cutter strip mall in my part of the world looks like a Graves homage explains a kernel of my loathing. I know that none of these "explanations" are fair critiques of Graves or his buildings, but the feeling that he is an evil presence lives on unwounded in the chinks and crannies of my mind.

And something really wrenches my guts about that bromidic pastel blue he repeatedly coats his shit in.

Your Graves opinions? Ever hated an architect's work for no discernible reason?

2009-02-14T21:18:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day, architecture stans.

[via Project Blinkenlights]

haased

2009-02-10T05:53:00.007-05:00

Rem,

I'm sorry that your building burned down, and I promise that I did not commit an act of arson on it. I am hurt that you're hurting, seriously.

Let's all admit that it looked like a balled-up busted-ass chair, though.

Big fan anyway,
Rox

so

2009-01-18T05:36:00.003-05:00

Does the design for the new British Library put anyone else in mind of the Usera Public Library?

Maybe I've just got Abalos and Herrera on the brain. Does anyone know if this is really their website? I've seldom, nay never, seen a worse homepage for an architecture firm.

googlism

2009-01-04T01:48:00.020-05:00

I asked googlism what architecture is. Reply herewith (I italicised the ones I agree with):

architecture is about people
architecture is a major pitfall
architecture is prominent in iowa communites
architecture is interesting and challenging
architecture is the difference
architecture is not a thing
architecture is right for you?
architecture is donnelly & o neill
architecture is required
architecture is not a seismograph
architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space
architecture is a profession on the move
architecture is dead
architecture is a political act
architecture is a political act by lebbeus woods

[Sidenote: If you don't know about Lebbeus Woods, now would be a good time to look him up. He loves Zaha Hadid and says things like "I am the melody." He also sued the producers of Twelve Monkeys for ripping off one of his ideas(!) and worked under Saarinen when he was young. Class act, IMO.]

architecture is the most delightful of all pursuits
architecture is about meeting needs and making lives better
architecture is weird
architecture is breaking down
architecture is the most practical and the most dangerous of the arts
architecture is required for a human
architecture is the art of how to waste space
architecture is the architecture of choice (?)
architecture is the craft of balancing form and function
architecture is the art or science of designing the built environment
architecture is generally considered an art but is differentiated by it in one respect

turrets syndrome

2008-11-30T03:20:00.010-05:00

Let's take a look at Dubai, the city that today boasts several of the the world's tallest skyscrapers (including number one) and is home to the largest, most expensive hotel on Earth, as it was in 1991:

And as it is now:

I've begun to notice that criticism of the megacity's sudden development tends to glaze the topic in an apocalyptic or even vaguely propagandist light, as if there is something implicitly terrifying or even morally wrong about a (completely unsustainable) metropolis springing up (over a weekend, literally built on sand). Ok, there is something scary about it, but what, exactly, is it that frightens us? I think it's common that we look at Dubai's skyline and the buildings proposed to be added to it and feel a reeling sensation. What do we feel? Too much too young. Icarus! Too big for their britches. They're going to fall down! Etc.

Ask any American (and most Brits) and they'll eventually verbalize the elephant in the room: that the tallest of the skyscrapers are a clear invitation to devastating terrorist attack. Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office has officially warned citizens that travel to the UAE puts one at high risk for being involved in a terrorist act. Is an architectural climate of fear brewing, emanating from the tacit, shared feeling that rapid development is an boon to terror activity? If we put ecological issues aside, is there anything implicitly dangerous about rapid development? Are tall, ambitious buildings "asking for it?"

Also: is the fear-mongering regionalist or even racist (i.e. "I can't believe they're building those buildings OVER THERE")? If the fear is based solely on the fact that the UAE is situated in the Persian Gulf, is it justified or not?

Whether you believe the highrises are headed for a crash or not, you should look at these vertigo-inducing photos of Dubai from The Boston Globe here and check out this photo taken from above the clouds, atop the Burj.

spatial effects

2008-11-28T22:17:00.011-05:00

"I actually want to play at being an architect, instead of only recording the buildings of others." -Filip Dujardin, Mark Magazine

Belgian photographer Filip Dujardin generates unreal, fantastic buildings from pictures of actual ones, a process often resulting in mind-bending or impossible architectural images. Visit his website and read more about Dujardin at the excellent, excellent BLGBLOG. (Oh, and if you run across the issue of Mark Magazine featuring Dujardin, your postage will be duly reimbursed if you mail it to us. Promise.)

talking to the textman about architecture

2008-11-24T05:34:00.009-05:00

A friend recently told me about Cha Cha, a text messaging service that supposedly provides "free mobile answers" to whatever questions are asked of it. Having decided to test Cha Cha's architectural chops, I started off vague: Q: "What are some prevalent schools of architecture?" Cha Cha's response ran the gamut: "Art Deco, Bauhaus, Victorian, Edwardian, Beaux Arts, Neo Gothic and Romanesque are some of the main architecture styles." Bizarre selections to say the least. Next, I got personal: "Who is the most important architect of all time, in your robotic opinion?" Cha Cha quickly became indignant: "I am not a robot, but here are a few famous architects: Frank Lloyd Wright, Fumihiko Maki, Carlo Scarpa, Alvaro Siza, Aldo Rossi." Wright I expected, but the other four? I was amazed that Cha Cha chose to drop the name Maki in place of Gaudi, Gehry, or Le Corbusier. Impressed, I got specific and requested the phonetic pronunciation of the latter: "Le Kor-Boo-Zya is the phonetic pronunciation of Le Corbusier. [note: it isn't.] Thanks for using Cha Cha today!"

(Maki, yesterday.)

Dubai: The Cloud

2008-11-24T05:11:00.007-05:00

In an attempt to aid Dubai's skyline in becoming more elaborately demented by the hour, Nadim Karam of Lebanese architecture firm Atelier Hapsitus designed The Cloud Resort (presented at the Dubai's International Design Forum in May of 2007):

The delicate, inspired Cloud differs sharply from Atelier's other projects (largely blocky, modernist extensions and residences) and could be an interesting foil to Dubai's increasingly characterless horizon of desperately upward-stretching monstrosities. The project is old news to proposal enthusiasts, but according to Hapsitus's epilepsy-inducing website, The Cloud has now officially "entered phase two" and is presently being developed by London engineering firm ARUP.

Kengo Kuma: "Architecture is like sushi."

2008-11-24T04:03:00.014-05:00

Recovering postmodernist Kengo Kuma railed against mass production, industrialization and Frank Gehry while speaking at the Royal Academy of Arts this July, stating that contemporary architecture would do well to take a cue from Japanese cuisine: "Sushi is a good metaphor for my architecture. The importance in sushi is to choose the best material from the place, in season. If the journey of the ingredients is too long, the taste of the sushi is compromised. That is a problem that can't be solved by modern technology, and that programme of using local material in season is the secret of good taste, and the secret of my style."

This praise of the natural and inhabitable structure is pretty rich talk coming from the man who once designed this (one can't get much more divorced from day-to-day life than a building shaped like a massive Doric column, can one?), though Kuma's newfound devotion to organic inspiration is clearly apparent in the similarities between his inflatable teahouse (pictured above) and an ika roll.

Full article from The Architects' Journal here.