The personal blog of author Kelly Sedinger, chronicling the adventures of one overalls-clad wanderer.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A Random Wednesday Conversation Starter
Frank Gehry: awe-inspiring creator of amazing buildings, or guy who gets lots of press for designing buildings that look like wads of crumpled tin foil?
10 comments:
Thee Earl of Obvious
said...
Look at this thing he designed at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland:
A "guy who gets lots of press for designing buildings that look like wads of crumpled tin foil". Seriously! I like several different styles of architecture and I can easily tolerate many more but I do expect buildings to look like buildings.
Generally, I prefer a different style of architecture, but you have to at least give the guy credit for being able to design buildings that look like that and don't fall down.
Remember, people laughed at Frank Lloyd Wright when he designed the Guggenheim.
Another vote for "wads of tinfoil." I loathe Frank Gehry's designs. They're classic examples of "the emperor's new clothes," monstrosities that people believe are works of genius because the guy who designed them and his sycophants say they are. They're ugly on their own terms, but I find them especially irksome because Gehry never takes the surrounding landscape into account, so they stick out like sore thumbs. Ever hear about the Disney Concert Hall in LA and its deadly heat rays? Seems that Gehry never stopped to consider that highly polished aluminum would reflect uncomfortable levels of sunlight and heat onto nearby buildings and sidewalks.
I totally choose the crumpled tin foil route. He has a building in Cleveland and it's just....goofy. I *want* to appreciate what a lot of other people seem to appreciate but I always get the feeling they've been had.
When FL Wright and Gehry first appeared, their buildings were considered works of genius, and the 40% swing voters loved them. Now others have come along with broader viewpoints plus enough time to catalogue everything that went wrong with Wright and Gehry, so the 40% swing vote now refers to their works as crumpled tin foil. It is a matter of historical fact that they were considered geniuses in their pre-green movement times. I suppose the 40% swing voters also prefer 1970s perfectly boring rectangular structures now, and that's nearly all that would have been seen for several decades had it not been for Gehry's curvy, demanding designs.
Furthermore, what of the interior spaces? Every Gehry interior I've seen has been gorgeous.
All who say "tin foil" are basically saying, "build us a bunch of boring boxes, please," or, alternatively, are limited by an however sublime Puritan ethic which suggests that curves and curviness are inherently bad.
10 comments:
Look at this thing he designed at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland:
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/peterblewis/index.htm
A "guy who gets lots of press for designing buildings that look like wads of crumpled tin foil". Seriously! I like several different styles of architecture and I can easily tolerate many more but I do expect buildings to look like buildings.
Generally, I prefer a different style of architecture, but you have to at least give the guy credit for being able to design buildings that look like that and don't fall down.
Remember, people laughed at Frank Lloyd Wright when he designed the Guggenheim.
I only know him as the only architect (AFAIK) who was ever featured on The Simpsons. So I'd probably lean towards the "wads of tin foil" camp.
I'm still laughing at Frank Lloyd Wright. Or at least he's in my "merely tolerate" category.
Another vote for "wads of tinfoil." I loathe Frank Gehry's designs. They're classic examples of "the emperor's new clothes," monstrosities that people believe are works of genius because the guy who designed them and his sycophants say they are. They're ugly on their own terms, but I find them especially irksome because Gehry never takes the surrounding landscape into account, so they stick out like sore thumbs. Ever hear about the Disney Concert Hall in LA and its deadly heat rays? Seems that Gehry never stopped to consider that highly polished aluminum would reflect uncomfortable levels of sunlight and heat onto nearby buildings and sidewalks.
I totally choose the crumpled tin foil route. He has a building in Cleveland and it's just....goofy. I *want* to appreciate what a lot of other people seem to appreciate but I always get the feeling they've been had.
Ooops, missed Three Earl's comment above. Yes. Look at that thing. Plus, I've heard and read that it leaks like crazy.
I wish Peter Lewis would hire me to do something...
Some of FL Wright's buildings also leaked like crazy, I'm told.
Anyway, tin foil.
When FL Wright and Gehry first appeared, their buildings were considered works of genius, and the 40% swing voters loved them. Now others have come along with broader viewpoints plus enough time to catalogue everything that went wrong with Wright and Gehry, so the 40% swing vote now refers to their works as crumpled tin foil. It is a matter of historical fact that they were considered geniuses in their pre-green movement times. I suppose the 40% swing voters also prefer 1970s perfectly boring rectangular structures now, and that's nearly all that would have been seen for several decades had it not been for Gehry's curvy, demanding designs.
Furthermore, what of the interior spaces? Every Gehry interior I've seen has been gorgeous.
All who say "tin foil" are basically saying, "build us a bunch of boring boxes, please," or, alternatively, are limited by an however sublime Puritan ethic which suggests that curves and curviness are inherently bad.
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