Is Daniel Libeskind the worst major contemporary architect? Cheap looking if not cheap to build structures that are notorious for user complaints. A few decent projects mixed in with a ton of shlock.
http://daniel-libeskind.com/sites/default/files/styles/fixed_width_10/public/Key%20The%20Ascent%20at%20Roeblings%20Bridge.jpghttp://daniel-libeskind.com/sites/default/files/styles/fixed_width_10/public/sm1%20%28c%29%20Kim%20yong%20Wong.jpg
― I DIED, Saturday, 5 May 2012 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
http://daniel-libeskind.com/sites/default/files/styles/fixed_width_10/public/Key%20Denver%20Art%20Museum%20Residences.jpghttp://daniel-libeskind.com/sites/default/files/styles/fixed_width_10/public/IMG_3031%28c%29%20Zumtobel%20Lighting%20GmbH_0.jpg
fyi that last lighting sculpture is called "masterpiece"
― I DIED, Saturday, 5 May 2012 15:03 (twelve years ago) link
Libeskind is such a tragedy to me because the Jewish Museum is kind of great (kind of badly flawed but kind of great), and at the very least a kind of definitive study on the idea of trying to use a building to produce certain emotional and perhaps bodily effects - - - and each subsequent piece that reuses the language to no effect at all just cheapens the impact of the one good building. That one in Cincy just blows IMO although I've talked to people that liked it.
Worst major name, I'd have to think about for a bit. There's plenty of people where they are just not to my taste at all but I believe they are competent builders who have something interesting they're trying to do so it's hard to say they should just be tarred and feathered. Hmm.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 5 May 2012 15:24 (twelve years ago) link
yes he's the worst by some distance. "competent builder" is the last way to describe him.
― jed_, Saturday, 5 May 2012 21:22 (twelve years ago) link
I think part of it may be that he just tends to accept the types of projects with questionable clients and budgets that others at his level turn down. But only a part of it.
― I DIED, Sunday, 6 May 2012 02:41 (twelve years ago) link
I do not like those buildings.
― mh, Monday, 7 May 2012 14:25 (twelve years ago) link
so it may read different in person but the photos of the H&dM/Al Weiwei Serpentine pavilion sure are disappointing :(
― I DIED, Thursday, 7 June 2012 17:57 (twelve years ago) link
it looks totally joyless from the pics. i could have forgiven the somewhat forced/undergrad nature of the "excavation" (even though there was nothing to excavate, as it turns out, which should have been obvious) if the result had some sense of fun or any other spatial interest.
― jed_, Thursday, 7 June 2012 19:15 (twelve years ago) link
having said that the nouvel pavillion seemed fun from the images but was kind of oppressive to spend time in.
― jed_, Thursday, 7 June 2012 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
architecture photography is a hell of a field
― mh, Thursday, 7 June 2012 19:27 (twelve years ago) link
I'm pretty stoked by the concept of the pavilion but it definitely pushes up against the limits of a "statement" versus material/space/promenade/detail/whatever else might actually make up an architectural experience. I'm a fan of everybody involved so I want to give it a fair shake... we're taking the students to see it later this month hopefully.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 7 June 2012 21:36 (twelve years ago) link
^ yeah I think my high expectations where part of why I found the result so disappointing. Seems like they felt the need to create a sort of anti-pavilion but SANAA already stripped it back about as far as it could go.
I'm breaking my own rule of trying to ignore things called pavilions or viewing towers in architectural discourse as I generally think just providing shade or a platform is too low a bar to clear in terms of dealing with actual challenges of buildings.
― I DIED, Thursday, 7 June 2012 22:39 (twelve years ago) link
Ha yeah - - they can be nice experiments for ideas though, and at their best they really can have as much thinking and care as a building, in the way that, I dunno, a haiku can take as long to write as a novel (or whatever) but it really is a whole different order of challenges.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 7 June 2012 23:46 (twelve years ago) link
(Viewing towers are the worst though, somehow!)
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 7 June 2012 23:47 (twelve years ago) link
― mh, Thursday, 7 June 2012 20:27 (2 months ago)
Might I recommend the pretty (if boring) Julius Shulman Documentary Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman?
Also since I've spent a couple of days up and down by this building this weekend I have been thinking about (and cussing the budget panel that approved such an ugly monolithic building):
http://www.theccd.ie/images/rotate/ccd-day.jpg
Kevin Roche, you should be ashamed. Actually that entire stretch at the moment is a bit shameful with the empty Anglo Irish building...
http://politico.ie/images/politico/economy/anglo-shell.jpg
― hyggeligt, Sunday, 26 August 2012 08:51 (eleven years ago) link
I really loved the Kevin Roche exhibit I saw at the National Building Museum last month but it really glosses over some of the terrible things he's done and influenced (on the planning side even more than the aesthetic side).
― Sadly, 99.99 percent of sheeple will never wake up (I DIED), Sunday, 2 September 2012 04:06 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/09/01/united-states-pavilion-at-the-venice-architecture-biennale-2012/
USA pavilion at the Biennale is I guess a wry commentary on the difficulties wheelchair users face in the built environment
― Sadly, 99.99 percent of sheeple will never wake up (I DIED), Sunday, 2 September 2012 04:07 (eleven years ago) link
I already hawked this to I Love Photography, but FWIW I am finally starting in with the 2012 "adventure" photos, this time beginning with a chronologically-organized look at Alvar Aalto. This means opening with the "awkward early stuff for fans only" material but maybe it'll be of interest to some people here. First image here, following ones to the "left" in the Flickr interface. (I only recently realized you could just use the arrow keys to get around - whee!)
Highlights of the limited stuff posted so far:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8456/8025427165_2ccc1065a0_z.jpg
Seinäjoki Defense Corps Buildings, 1924-1926
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8456/8025614912_27c6e26a16_z.jpg
Villa Väinölä, 1926
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8038/8030089021_488d462781_z.jpg
Turun Sanomat Building, 1928-1930
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 27 September 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
(2010 and 2011 "Adventure" collections coming, uh, someday. Just ordered a new film scanner the other day...)
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 27 September 2012 17:07 (eleven years ago) link
that Turun Sanomat photo is great! Did you make it to the Savoy restaurant?
― Sadly, 99.99 percent of sheeple will never wake up (I DIED), Thursday, 27 September 2012 18:28 (eleven years ago) link
Thanks! And nope, sadly. On the trip it felt like we must have seen every Aalto building known to man, but, turns out, guy built a LOT....
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 27 September 2012 19:57 (eleven years ago) link
I watched this film over the weekend: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1233611/
I'm kind of considering a desert/Palm Springs road trip/architecture tour sometime. Has anyone been out that way? It looks like a lot of Palm Springs city buildings are of the period.
I also ended up watching Urbanized (finally) and the contrast between people in the two films who have a love of architecture and an interest in its relation to the surrounding environment juxtaposed with a Phoenix, Arizona house arrangement is depressing.
― mh, Monday, 19 November 2012 22:22 (eleven years ago) link
There is a Modernism Week they hold out there, next one is Feb 2013. this past one included a lautner house tour that looked good, but i just couldn't work up the enthusiasm to go out there (also, the weekend tour sold out pretty quickly).
https://www.modernismweek.com/
― nickn, Tuesday, 20 November 2012 01:50 (eleven years ago) link
thinking of taking my ridiculous architect friend, doing the reverse F&L In Las Vegas drive, go see some architecture
― mh, Tuesday, 20 November 2012 01:52 (eleven years ago) link
Looks like a lot of the home tours are already sold out. There's probably a guide (or maybe use the Gerbhard/Winter So Cal one) that you could do on your own.
― nickn, Tuesday, 20 November 2012 01:54 (eleven years ago) link
Gebhard, that is. It's about a 2-2.5 hour drive for me, but I've never tried just driving out and looking around.
― nickn, Tuesday, 20 November 2012 01:56 (eleven years ago) link
Sounds like a good thing to do if you're bored on a Saturday!
― mh, Tuesday, 20 November 2012 01:59 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib_events/exhibitions/509
upcoming Lebbeus Woods exhibit at SF MOMA
― mh, Tuesday, 27 November 2012 18:33 (eleven years ago) link
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/oscar-niemeyer-brazilian-architect-died-17890045
Rest in peace, Oscar Niemeyer - 1907-2012. The last heroic Modern.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 6 December 2012 00:56 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/arts/design/ada-louise-huxtable-architecture-critic-dies-at-91.html
damn, Niemeyer and now Ada Louise Huxtable, all the greats I thought would live forever are going. When all is said and done I don't know if there will be any 20th century architects seen to have changed architecture more than Huxtable's writing.
― Sadly, 99.99 percent of sheeple will never wake up (I DIED), Tuesday, 8 January 2013 09:04 (eleven years ago) link
[http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib_events/exhibitions/509upcoming Lebbeus Woods exhibit at SF MO MA
upcoming Lebbeus Woods exhibit at SF MO MA
We are almost finished with this show, it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G
opens saturdayplease don't touch, the models are disturbingly fragile (every one arrived broken)
― "Turkey In The Straw" coming from someplace in the clouds (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 15 February 2013 06:23 (eleven years ago) link
how can you even tell if a Lebbeus Woods model is broken
― Sadly, 99.99 percent of sheeple will never wake up (I DIED), Friday, 15 February 2013 13:27 (eleven years ago) link
It made for a very difficult conservation task.
― "Turkey In The Straw" coming from someplace in the clouds (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 15 February 2013 14:56 (eleven years ago) link
Planning on seeing this when I'm in SF on vacation in March (please do not break them before then)
― mh, Friday, 15 February 2013 15:59 (eleven years ago) link
Guys, this Woods thing at SF MOMA is so awesome
― ☠ ☃ ☠ (mh), Saturday, 23 March 2013 17:59 (eleven years ago) link
lebbeus?
― jed_, Sunday, 24 March 2013 01:26 (eleven years ago) link
Of course!
― ☠ ☃ ☠ (mh), Sunday, 24 March 2013 01:51 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.archdaily.com/346374/can-we-please-stop-drawing-trees-on-top-of-skyscrapers/
TRUTH
― Sadly, 99.99 percent of sheeple will never wake up (I DIED), Tuesday, 2 April 2013 18:18 (eleven years ago) link
Hahaha, totally. Also I would live in terror of branches, or whole trees, ripped loose and careening down 50 stories to the street. Would make a good moment in a disaster, superhero, or shit Transformer movie, but otherwise, yikes.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 12:22 (eleven years ago) link
Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas in the 1970s
http://25.media.tumblr.com/a4f39c2e50dad17a667faa6a63776b38/tumblr_mlf9qcFGoD1qdi0ydo1_500.jpg
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 21 April 2013 21:16 (eleven years ago) link
DEMONS
― i lost my shoes on acid (jed_), Sunday, 21 April 2013 22:23 (eleven years ago) link
haha yeah, love young Rem
http://www.tomorrowstarted.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Architects-rem-koolhaas-young-480x651.jpg
late 60s?
http://www.dorothyalexander.com/assets/architects/Koolhaas%20Harrison/Harrison%20Koolhaas500px.jpg
with dear old Wallace Harrison, 1977
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 22 April 2013 01:03 (eleven years ago) link
http://archpaper.com/uploads/arch_institute_07.jpg
Ken Frampton & Peter Eisenman, 1970
http://sma.sciarc.edu/wp-content/uploads/video_pimages/1528_tschumi_bernard-1978_2of2.jpg
Bernard Tschumi, 1978
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 22 April 2013 01:07 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.marvin.com/images/architectchallenge/2013/showdown/0873/02_Vermont-Mountain-House-2_412x273.jpg
My best friend’s firm is competing in the following contest.
I think about her work a lot. If you like it, you should vote for M4rcu5 Gl3y5t33n Architects.
― Allen (etaeoe), Wednesday, 3 July 2013 20:07 (ten years ago) link
My ongoing obsession with Roosevelt Island has put Josep Lluís Sert back on my radar:
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5530/9217686723_9148b604b6_z.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7342/9226352450_5e005300f2_z.jpg
Lots more pics linked from my sprawling Roosevelt Island Flickr project starting here but also check out his buildings at Harvard - best kind of Brutalism perhaps. Real presence in these, good sense of relief and texture.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 6 July 2013 20:57 (ten years ago) link
Cool photos. I have a vague obsession with Roosevelt Island too - probably from watching Nighthawks as a kid. It's the only place in the states I've been that feels Soviet - especially in winter.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 8 July 2013 00:05 (ten years ago) link
Thanks! Yeah, it's so unusual as a world in the States, even most other big urban renewal schemes of that period don't have that kind of sequence of spaces. Apparently it also was a shooting location for the Bruce Willis/Tracy Morgan picture Cop Out but I haven't seen that so I have no idea what exactly it looks like. The tramway seems to figure incidentally in a lot of movies (notably Spider-Man) but I think the only thing really "set" on the island is Dark Water which I've heard good things about...?
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 8 July 2013 01:35 (ten years ago) link
check out his buildings at Harvard - best kind of Brutalism perhaps. Real presence in these, good sense of relief and texture.
Can totally get behind this - love the Holyoke Center and Peabody Terrace (skip-stops, neighborhood hatred, and all). It was a great experience to interact with these places long before, during, and after a design education - what seemed like some uneasy but mysteriously lively spaces came to seem like little miracles of civility wrought out of HVD hegemony.
― bentelec, Monday, 8 July 2013 02:08 (ten years ago) link
I think the only thing really "set" on the island is Dark Water which I've heard good things about...?
I haven't seen the original version to compare, but i liked it. Check it out, especially with the R.I. connection.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 11 July 2013 10:05 (ten years ago) link