More than a couple critics have located both the climax and requisite decline of an “architectural epoch” in the last decade. During that time, the United States - and by extension, much of the world - built up for itself a real-estate bubble just begging to be popped. And popped it was.
Among the high-profile development victims were Frank Gehry’s Brooklyn [...]
When I finally began to formulate comprehensible ideas about architecture (am I assuming too much?), the University of Minnesota’s Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum struck me as a building conceived by a genius who, despite limitations imposed by computational powers equivalent to Windows’ Paintbrush, designed a daring and captivating mass of contorted colors that broke [...]
SHoP Architects stumbled into an impossible situation, really. From Frank Gehry to Ellerbe Becket to them, public approbation toward the Atlantic Yards project was bound to continue unabated, regardless of how sublime their rendering of the Brooklyn Nets arena turned out.
Even an arena worthy of Jerry Jones’ vanity would be incapable of blasting through New [...]
I take Richard Meier’s candid comment that “we don’t have so much work” to be a plea for suggestions on how to spend his (and his firm’s) time during this economy’s lazy summer - and lucky for Mr. Meier, I do have a suggestion!
Does “pro-bono” ring a bell? Strike a chord perhaps? Instead of just [...]
Brooklyners take heart! Floridians have discovered that replacing Frank Gehry with another designer need not inexorably result in ugly warehouses and vapid atmospheres.
Mr. Gehry’s firm was just replaced by West 8 as the lead designer for Miami Beach’s Lincoln Park project, which consists of landscaping a 2.5 acre urban space. As expected, an unfortunate inability to [...]
StructureHub assessment: Not bad, not bad…
Gehry: Hey, Renzo, how’s it hanging!
Piano: Hi Frank, not bad, not –
Gehry: - What’s the deal with the Art Institute of Chicago, eh? I keep waiting for you to let loose all that Italian energy - and stuff - but all your buildings keep giving me the feeling that [...]
Honestly, if you were to tour the top 10 American cities worth visiting because of their architecture (post coming soon!), would Atlanta even be in the top 20? Top 30? Exaggeration (is it really?) aside, I think it is fair to say that even the most pro-Atlanta tourism director would be hard-pressed to compete with [...]
NYTimes: Battle between budget and beauty, which budget won
If you haven’t already, be sure to read Niccolai Ouroussoff’s excellent display of frustration over the events leading to Frank Gehry’s dismissal as architect for the New Jersey Net’s new Brooklyn arena.
His review perfectly describes the seemingly inevitable (and confusing) tugs-of-war between developer, city, neighborhood, economy, and [...]
Flexibility and durability are virtues sought by builders in all elements of construction. Few materials possess as much of these particular qualities as corrugated metal. As this interesting history notes, it began as a utilitarian building form; popular in the pioneer classes of the 1800s, it roofed barns and outhouses and walled in animals and dry [...]
Architecture fans got a twofer last week. Charlie Rose recently spoke with Renzo Piano about the newly-finished Art Institute of Chicago (a 21st-Century version of the lightness embodied by 19th-Century Chicago skyscrapers) and to a lesser extent, the California Academy of Sciences (oneness with nature). Interestly, when asked what he had learned since designing the [...]