10(+) architects I have been thinking about

There's a lot of good new building in Berlin but very little great. The Berghain is more impressive than most of it. I like the Hamburgerbahnhof - it's an old train station converted to a modern art museum. The nearby Hauptbahnhof is the big new train station that's not too exciting architecturally but is mindblowing from a circulation standpoint.

All the old Schinkel and Stuler museums are great, of course.

You should check out Watergate - it's a pretty much perfectly designed smaller club with an insane lighting system (lots of videos of it on youtube).

(nobody realizes the New Museum costs that much, mostly because the press release talked about the 'modest budget' and all the reviewers took it at face value)

The Holocaust museum is worth a look both from a content as well as an architectural p.o.v.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/02/nyregion/02rlandmark-600.jpg

this article is a treat: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/02Rlandmark.html

anyone who can dig up great photography/references on the buildings/campuses mentioned in this article -- i will have my virgins shower you with lotus blossoms.

here's the union carbide hq:

http://www.krjda.com/text/projectDetail.cfm?id=149
http://www.krjda.com/images/UnionCarbide_2.jpg
http://www.krjda.com/images/UnionCarbide_1.jpg

congratulations Jean Nouvel on winning the Pritzker

Continuing the "THAT stair" discussion:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1018/880235175_49425ad348.jpg

...Zumthor's own Kunsthaus in Bregenz. (photo by my buddy Evan)

Sorry I missed the "recommend stuff in Berlin" discussion... but for future readers: the Scharoun (Philharmonic & library, both very accessibly located near Potsdamerplatz) and the Libeskind (Holocaust museum) are mustn't-misses. There's tons of miscellaneous nice stuff, and a nice "50's greatest hits" at the Hansaviertel Interbau housing development. Depending on your taste for Cold War monumentalism and Facsist neoclassicism there's also a lot of that around.

Behnisch & co's Akademie der Kunste (across the plaza from the Brandenburg Gate, so very easy to see):

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/932388327_d2c58719f8.jpg

There's a Frank Gehry bank building next door that's completely po-faced on the exterior (accommodating at-the-time very strict, New Urbanisty rules on reconstruction) but has a typical swirly metal horse head feature inside.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1065/933054248_475c5d6e46.jpg

(The space inside the horse head, from published images, is pretty fabulous - sadly it's not open to the public.)

And if memory serves, the Eisenman Holocaust memorial square is just around the corner.

But the thing I liked best in Berlin by far was OMA/Koolhaas's new Dutch Embassy in Mitte. I'm not entirely sure how easy it is to visit this thing outside of a large touring group, but it's extremely worth it... whimiscally cinematic. My photos don't do it justice so I won't bother. (Photos generally from my travel Flickr, as always.)

Architectural afternoon trips from the city - we went to Cottbus for the HdM library and I would STRONGLY recommend that one. Potsdam is relatively close, and good if you're into Schinkel; we also went to the Einstein Tower which is cool to do, but not that different from seeing it in a book. Dessau is about as far away as Cottbus - the Bauhaus is really cool, and there's a lot of miscellaneous Gropius & Co that we got access to through the Bauhaus tour people.

And, just to spam you into going, the Scharoun Philharmonic:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1224/921035988_7fef7cee22.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1347/920033707_8e63e8cffa.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1331/920033173_f3a04baf09.jpg

...and the Libeskind museum. OK I'll stop after this.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1215/919336778_33da7c2cd2.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1332/919336102_9d5aeb0c80.jpg

There's a Libeskind exhibit in Cincinnati right now at Zaha Hadid's contemporary art museum. There's an obvious sympathy between the building and the architecture being exhibited which is kind of fun; the exhibit itself is striking for how much it kind of reveals Libeskind to be stuck in a rut. There's nice things about all four of the current projects being displayed - but even the best ones are plagued with the application of jaggedy-lined stuff as a last-minute dose of motif. It works at the Jewish Museum as a really perfect synthesis of the architect's preoccupations and the program at hand. It really works. The new stuff, I'm more suspicious, but I'm trying to give architects more credit these days so let's say it's great and I just haven't learned to appreciate it yet.

thoughts on berlin soon, Doc.

in the meantime.... is this the best architecture of 2008? Airstar balloons designed these hovering iluminated balloons for the YSL fashion show in Paris. mindblowing.

http://lifewithoutbuildings.net/080328_YSLshow.jpg

http://lifewithoutbuildings.net/080328_YSLshow2.jpg

YES

115. Maggie Mink

H&DeM's CaixaForum Madrid. my favourite building for many many years.

LOOK

http://www.dezeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/0140201-421.jpg

LOOK

http://www.dezeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/0278819-421.jpg

LOOK

http://www.dezeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/0078587-421.jpg

http://www.dezeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/0471719-421.jpg
http://www.dezeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/0518368-421.jpg
http://www.dezeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/0858521-421.jpg

Okay. Wow. That is pretty savage.

I did not mean to sound so sarcastic there. I really liked the building!

Great project. I'm glad they're developing their "crown" addition strategy - I didn't think too much of the Elbe Philharmonic renderings but this is gorgeous. The way they floated the old facade - wow. Not big on the ceiling in the 2nd to last pic, though.

The balcony geometry in the last pic reminds me of Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki.

H&dM are my favorite starchitects.

Oh wow, that Madrid thing is great. Found some video here http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/caixaforum-madrid-by-herzog-de-meuron-architects-madrid-spain/7036279/ .

i got a bit carried away with this. there are a lot of buildings in recent years i prefer to this one but yes, it's great!

i'm off to Berlin again on wednesday. i may even see the Libeskind this time even though i loathe his work in the way the only someone who once loved his work (as a student) can. i did a 180!

i saw the crystal at the ROM in Toronto. one of the worst, maybe thee worst, building i have ever entered.

Incidentally, don't know if this has really circulated outside the architect school/blogger set, but, check out this video of a Romansch rap group called Liricas Analas, filmed entirely at the Zumthor baths in Vals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRvM2KKDeGA Really captures the spirit of the place!!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3266/2570890064_dc0c061bcf.jpg

afgh, "concrete home"

very nice, would like to see more before i commit to buy.

Dr Casino, the Scharoun Philharmonic building went on fire in May. it seems the main hall has escaped the worst of the damage but the building is expected to be closed for an extremely long time. :-(

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3352629,00.html

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/05/20/world/20berlin-600.jpg
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44674000/jpg/_44674563_firefighters_ap466.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3151/2570889912_cd8d8e99f9.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2570063557_e48f6dfd7a.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2570063485_f2d2491b2a.jpg

is in berlin

http://www.afgh.ch./bilder/vna/04.jpg

I love the herz de meu caixa forum btw

[edit: not in berlin, which I had read elsewhere, but in vnà, switzerland]

i'll take it! where did you find it?

the interior is incredible.

http://design-milk.com/concrete-home-switzerland-by-afgh/#comments

I love the envelope, not feeling the interior, so cold. Except for maybe the dining area but that's because of the windows, not the furniture.

The interior feels a bit too Spartan and, lord help me, Swiss!

I don't know where to put this lego model of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye but it seems too good not to draw attention to!

http://mocpages.com/user_images/10605/1213809820_DISPLAY.jpg

More here.

fantastic.

:-o

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i207/modernlover62/ALBUM%208/1-20.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i207/modernlover62/ALBUM%208/5-14.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i207/modernlover62/ALBUM%208/3-17.jpg

Klein Bottle House by http://www.mcbridecharlesryan.com.au/core.html

Australian architecture is so hot right now.

I was reading about that house a while ago and had the woah hawt reaction. One thing that has become clearer to me now that I've had to do it: how the hell are you meant to paint these things!? So beautiful though.

everybody thought 2000s was going to be the blob but it was the facet

that's a nice way of putting it. i think blobitechture is the only area of modern design that's a total no-no for me so i'm quite thankful for that.

Love this thread! Of all the architects I've got the most love for Zumthor. His buildings could have been built yesterday or 1000 years ago. They look timeless.

museum castle freudenstein in Freiberg by AFF architekten

http://www.designboom.com/tools/WPro/images/08julyblogs03/castle01.jpg
http://www.designboom.com/tools/WPro/images/08julyblogs03/castle02.jpg
http://www.designboom.com/tools/WPro/images/08julyblogs03/castle04.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/tools/WPro/images/08julyblogs03/castle05.jpg
http://www.designboom.com/tools/WPro/images/08julyblogs03/castle06.jpg
http://www.designboom.com/tools/WPro/images/08julyblogs03/castle07.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/colinohara/images6-aff.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/colinohara/img-5981.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/colinohara/img-5524.jpg

the middle image in the last post is a model of the volume inside the old building.

Haus 9×9, Stadtbergen, Bavaria, Germany by Titus Bernhard Architekten

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i207/modernlover62/ALBUM%202/ALBUM%203/ALBUM%205/ALBUM%206/4-9.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i207/modernlover62/ALBUM%202/ALBUM%203/ALBUM%205/ALBUM%206/1-9.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i207/modernlover62/ALBUM%202/ALBUM%203/ALBUM%205/ALBUM%206/3-10.jpg

try again, sorry.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i207/modernlover62/ALBUM%202/ALBUM%203/ALBUM%205/ALBUM%206/4-9.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i207/modernlover62/ALBUM%202/ALBUM%203/ALBUM%205/ALBUM%206/1-9.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i207/modernlover62/ALBUM%202/ALBUM%203/ALBUM%205/ALBUM%206/3-10.jpg

i've never seen a gabion wall used like this. a gabion roof too!

It's that time again, folks! As before, links are to my flickrblog babbling in pointless sophomoric detail about these things.

Miralles & Tagliabue - Cemetery in Igualada (1984-1994)
(speaking of gabion walls!)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/2707442635_242b2572a0.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/2707441075_22e073c801.jpg

Jose Oubrerie (picking up from the unfinished work of Le Corbusier) - Eglise Saint-Pierre in Firminy (1960-2006)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3235/2746368473_1b06677aac.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2050/2746373271_7626204edd.jpg

i've never seen a gabion wall used like this. a gabion roof too!

jed, what about H&dM's Dominus Winery from 1997?

http://digilander.libero.it/mary.rag/winery.jpg

http://digilander.libero.it/mary.rag/winery.jpg