10(+) MORE architects i have been thinking about

I always shout at the TV - WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING!!!??? - and it always turns out to be "consultant" or "interior designer".

I think when an architect says a project is "low cost" it means the client didn't spend as much as the architect wanted them to.

Ha! Everyone OTM.

I used to (as penance for my sins) be responsible for an historically very important Georgian building for more than five years (on top of my day job). Having dealt in parts with conservationists, architects and general "ooh the past was so great why would you ever need CAT-5 cabling?" types of people I now err on the side of modern. Case in point: I'm off in May to check out the Vitra design museum on a visit to the parental units. Why is this a case in point? Well, if I ever have to deal with another sacrosanct building again at least I'll know what fun can be had with a hangar and a bit of money. Bloody architectural sacred cows...

I will admit that I am now a total wood snob. It behoves on on such occasions to be able to spot one's cuban mahogany (phwoar!!!) from one's stained oak.

I will admit that I am now a total wood snob. It behoves on on such occasions to be able to spot one's cuban mahogany (phwoar!!!) from one's stained oak.

co-sign! I'd be lost without my American Woodwork Institute Quality Standards Handbook.

http://spaceinvading.com/bookmarklet/Images/resized/2603091238108405frame_bar.05.jpg
http://spaceinvading.com/entry/project_id/Frame_Bar200903261238108397

okay, this seems to be a nice enough design but descriptions like this...

The main aim of the design was to recreate the usual typologies of chairs, benches, bars stands, tables and coffee tables using forms that morph from one geometry to the other, thus denying determined typology - activity associations.

...make me insanely angry. You mean the main aim of the design wasn't to create an enjoyable gathering place or a successful business? The client came to you and said "we are seeking to deny determined typology - activity associations, what do you suggest?" Fuck designers who describe their built projects as anything other than the result of a set of very real client, financial, and regulatory requirements.

I don't mean to dismiss larger design concepts - I just want designers to acknowledge that the concept serves the project rather than the other way around.

YAY PRITZKER

http://mamariapapoila.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/peter_zumthor1.jpg

Nice. I'm pretty sure his chapel was put up somewhere else here(perhaps it was on the other thread) but here's another view of it anyway...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/3122721913_bcb11d573d.jpg

Lots of detail on it on the flickr page from whence it came. The photographer,seier+seier+seier, has a big set of architecture photos worth seeing.

Yeah, Seier is the man! Great photos, really selective with what he posts, and obviously a thoughtful writer. Definitely learned a lot from him.

At this point AFAICT the Pritzker is a kind of honorary award for living long enough and doing at least two or three buildings nobody dislikes. It helps that Zumthor lives in a hermit hut in the middle of the Alps (or something to that effect) and hasn't made any enemies. I don't mean to diminish him because I love his buildings - but it's interesting to ask who HASN'T gotten it by now that arguably "should" have... if I ever remember my Archinect login info maybe I'll take it over there though.

^otm

My reaction on hearing who won the Pritzker every year is usually "What? They didn't already have one?"

sure that's partly it but i'm such a staunch fan of zumthor. i really do think he's the best in the world!

plus he was the first architect posted on the 10+ architects thread and that was surely taken into consideration by the panel when they made the decision.

well yeah I mean Zumthor A+ good job well deserved glad it wasn't Pelli etc. etc.

Agreed with all the above.

So perhaps an interesting question would be: who DOESN'T have one yet? The list to date:

1979 Philip Johnson (1906–2005)
1980 Luis Barragán (1902–1988)
1981 Sir James Stirling (1924–1992)
1982 Kevin Roche
1983 Ieoh Ming Pei
1984 Richard Meier
1985 Hans Hollein
1986 Gottfried Böhm
1987 Kenzo Tange (1913–2005)
1988* Gordon Bunshaft (1909–1990)
1988* Oscar Niemeyer
1989 Frank Gehry
1990 Aldo Rossi (1931–1997)
1991 Robert Venturi
1992 Álvaro Siza Vieira
1993 Fumihiko Maki
1994 Christian de Portzamparc
1995 Tadao Ando
1996 Rafael Moneo
1997 Sverre Fehn
1998 Renzo Piano
1999 Lord Norman Foster
2000 Rem Koolhaas
2001 Herzog & de Meuron
2002 Glenn Murcutt
2003 Jørn Utzon (1918-2008)
2004 Zaha Hadid
2005 Thom Mayne
2006 Paulo Mendes da Rocha
2007 Lord Richard Rogers
2008 Jean Nouvel
2009 Peter Zumthor

(Not sure what's up with the two winners in '88 - it's a Wikipedia footnote that doesn't go anywhere.)

Of all these the only complete ???s to me are Portzamparc, Mayne and Murcutt - they just seem a little out of their league, but that might just be my personal taste.

Who's missing? Eisenman obv, but the sense I get is that he's made too many enemies. My friend Evan is betting on Steven Holl...

good bets in the next 10 years:

Ito
Botta
Ban
Diller & Scofidio
Maki
Calatrava

btw today it was announced today that the group led by Adjaye won the Smithsonian African American Museum competition! Official group is Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup which is too many collaborators to ensure a good project.

Still, glad they beat out the others and excited about the building

http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2009/04/14/PH2009041401230.jpg

maybe Predock also for upcoming Pritzker

also adjaye? maybe in ten years.

morphosis?

I'm really thrilled by Adjaye's work but he's at a really critical point in his career where he's got more on the boards than he's built in total - can he keep up the quality control and the material/light sensitivity that have made him so good so far or it he growing much too fast? If he comes out of the next three or so years without a dropoff in quality he's a lock for pretty much every award there is.

i can't see him going all zaha.

don't insult zaha she's a very good painter.

changing the subject... this thing is unbelievably hideous:

http://www.spaceinvading.com/bookmarklet/Images/02040912387166573395621835_c7680bfa1a_b.jpg

i knid of didn't want to sully the thread with it but wtf?

Oh god I don't want to see/talk about that thing. There was a time when I wanted Ito to break out of his neat white geometric solid/void facade thing, but be careful what you wish for...

wtf is that?

it looks like an office building that got drunk at the christmas party and is trying to do a mean impression of Torre Agbar because it's jealous.

it looks like a red plastercast

cozwn: http://www.spaceinvading.com/index/page/9

I DIED - i'm guessing that ice-cold bar thing upthread that you hated so much has been usurped as an unfavourite?

Botta = missed his chance I think - last ten years have not been sympathetic to this kind of stuff

Ban = agreed, total lock

Diller & Scofidio = after a few more buildings, yeah

Maki = already got one

Calatrava = oh god please no

Predock = plausible but not adding much

Morphosis = Thom Mayne, already got one

I DIED - i'm guessing that ice-cold bar thing upthread that you hated so much has been usurped as an unfavourite?

nope! I think my intense hatred of that wine bar is based on the fact that I do a lot of bar/restaurant/nightclub design, so I know damn well I can do and have done better than that. When I look at even the ugliest 30 story building I think "well, it got built, it's standing up and it's probably waterproof, got me beat".

I agree that Holl is almost certainly getting a Pritzker in the next few years.

"well, it got built, it's standing up and it's probably waterproof, got me beat".

qft.

When I look at even the ugliest 30 story building I think "well, it got built, it's standing up and it's probably waterproof, got me beat".

I really should print this out and pin it up at my desk as a reminder to be humble..

c'mon, it's not like he did it himself.

can someone explain all the massive ooohing and aaahing that goes on whenever someone builds a catilevered stair? sometimes it seems like the only reason a design gets any attention. it doesn't always look bad, sometimes the more blocky ones look very good but when i see something like this

http://materialicious.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/17/samalot_4.jpg

i find it not only unsafe-seeming but actually fairly ugly too. also i kind of wonder to what end the trick is being performed in the first place. it just seems so one-note and joyless to me.

oops - like this:

http://www.stairporn.org/images/2008/08/17/samalot_4.jpg

OOOOH:

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/650127592_em2n-022-lie-070720-047023-cg-0720-047035-hannes-henz.jpg

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/1961022048_em2n-022-lie-070720-046546-cg-0720-04655830-hannes-henz.jpg

incredible

Yeah that stair is sexy as hell. The room, of course, is playing a big part in that - not so bad to be surrounded by a striated wall cove lit from top and bottom.

I would love a video compilation of the first time people with new badass cantilevered stairs in their house have to carry something heavy on them or try to navigate them while drunk.

omg

http://www.spaceinvading.com/bookmarklet/Images/30040912411331892017396872_selgascanooffice2381.jpg
http://www.spaceinvading.com/bookmarklet/Images/30040912411331901035034548_selgascanooffice2507.jpg
http://www.spaceinvading.com/bookmarklet/Images/3004091241133192339777624_selgascanooffice2885.jpg

i'm in love again. and i can't rise above it. i'm in love again. and i love, love, love it.

!!!!

just imagine... working there!

http://www.archdaily.com/21049/selgas-cano-architecture-office-by-iwan-baan/

So, I been a-travelin' again. As always, continuing coverage at my Flickr, and links below take you to lengthy babble by me...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3647/3491589926_62d4dea3d4.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3304/3491547738_b1e76c3630.jpg

Future Systems - Metropolis Tower

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3301/3495061524_bc508c3ea3.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3623/3494992794_8e30934402.jpg

PLOT (now BIG and JDS) - VM-Husene

(More and better to come! A lot of this batch are kind of dingy and gray - Copenhagen weather turns on a dime, so I have tons of gorgeous photos of buildings I wasn't in love with, and then by the time I got to the real treats the clouds had swung overhead.)

love this! http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3302/3494169041_a1f622eb9f.jpg?v=0p9

Ouroussoff brings the hammer down on the latest version of Calatrava's WTC transit hub:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/arts/design/11calatrava.html

God I loathe Calatrava, honestly, one of my least favorite architects. Instinctive challops to some degree, but also I just have never been stirred by the soaring poetry of big white strutty things. It just doesn't do anything for me, and it's always the same damn thing. That said, I wouldn't wish the WTC quagmire on my worst enemy - see the very accessible popular-press book Sixteen Acres for a painfully thorough discussion of that...