With the year and the decade soon ending, we're dedicating this final Design Thursday in 2010 to an assessment of the best architecture and interiors of the decade (2001-2010), and likewise providing some thoughts on what you can expect in 2011 and soon thereafter.
On point, the late 1990's were an electrifying period of time for architecture-related progress, with marvels such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao designed by Gehry Partners; in fact, upon visiting Bilbao in 1998, Philip Johnson, arguably the leader of modern architecture, announced Gehry "as the greatest architect we have today," and subsequently described Bilbao as "the greatest building of our time." In my view, that's quite an achievement to close out the millennium. Source: Vanity Fair.
Following this triumph and unmistakable thrust, major architectural commissions in the early and middle decade emerged from obsession with innovation, including use and application of materials, structural system advances, technology and computer-aided design, and of course sustainability. In fact, the scale of innovation often felt like it was accelerating. But as credit markets imploded in September of 2007, so did architectural headway and construction. Therefore, without wanting to sound hackneyed or dated, I contend that architecture of the decade is best described by the following thesis: Bull, Bubble, and Bear. While there have been scattered diamonds in the rough (projects that had already secured financing pre-bubble), the last three years of the decade have been (comparatively) hollow and void of momentum.
That all said, here are the ten most-meaningful architecture moments from a exceptionally topsy-turvy decade. Apologies to any readers or architects who disagree with my findings. Without doubt, this has been one of the more challenging assignments I've accepted this year, possibly this decade.
Designed by Bernard Tschumi Architects (http://www.tschumi.com/). Rouen, France. 2001. Tschumi is an architect, writer, and educator (former Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University), and his tripartite background comes through in his works. The concert hall aims to foster economic expansion and cultural development to Rouen, a region approximately an hour outside Paris. From the exterior, its shape and use of material feels intrepid. Suitably, the structure comprises three masts that support tension cables, holding the bulk of load across the middle of the span, permitting a lighter interior truss system.
Designed by Foreign Office Architects (http://www.f-o-a.net/). Yokohama, Japan. 2002. The Yokohama Port Terminal represents a radical rethinking of architectural conventions. A folded undulating landscape, fluid, uninterrupted and multi-directional, it blends city and sea, inside and outside; hybridizing circulation, program and structural system. The project was generated from a complex circulation diagram: a series of programmatically specific, interlocking circulation loops, merging a passenger cruise terminal with a mix of civic facilities, eliminating the directionality of circulation and the linear structure characteristic of piers. The structure, wholly integrated within the tectonic system of folded surfaces, and thus the project itself, is hugely indebted to the computer as a design tool.
Designed by Gehry Partners (http://www.foga.com/). Los Angeles, United States. 2003. Boasting a similar design philosophy to that of Bilbao, this project is still unique to the extent that its complex steel curves and geometry are byproducts of Gehry Technologies (http://gehrytechnologies.com), an entity Gehry and his team founded in 2002 in an effort to assist project teams innovate, collaborate, and realize better buildings. While the Disney Concert Hall is enormously inventive - with its design origins in fact predating Bilbao - I'm more impressed with Gehry's technology offspring, empowering all architects to design and develop complex geometry systems.
Designed by Office for Metropolitan Architecture (http://www.oma.eu/). Seattle, United States. 2004. At first glance, the building appears to be a structural play with its glass skin seemingly manipulating the laws of gravity. But Rem's manipulation of program is far more ambitious than the complex geometry and cantilevering elements. The library's various programs are intuitively arranged across five platforms and four flowing "in between" planes, which together dictate the building's distinctive faceted shape. The result is a space that facilitates the exchange of knowledge in all media - new and old - to address an era in which the circulation of information is increasingly multi-modal.
Designed by Safdie Architects (http://www.msafdie.com/). Jerusalem, Israel. 2005. Safdie develops the re-built Yad Vashem along a spine constructed of two concrete slabs entrenched within the Mount of Rememberance. This main body serves as a timeline, with scattered galleries presenting the Holocaust chapter by chapter. These spaces are illuminated through a central skylight sixty feet above the linear walkway. It's difficult to adequately articulate precisely why I hold this project in such high regard. Clearly, the content housed within the architecture is substantial. But more so, Safdie achieves a vital congruency between this architecture and its content delivery, a phenomenon I've never quite experienced to this degree.
Designed by Weiss/Manfredi (http://www.weissmanfredi.com/). Seattle, United States. 2006. This project is located on what was Seattle's last undeveloped waterfront property, an industrial brownfield site sliced by train tracks and an arterial road. The design connects three separate sites with an uninterrupted Z-shaped "green" platform, descending forty feet from the city to the water. Aside from it's bold, yet simple beauty, this Z-shaped hybrid landform provides a new pedestrian infrastructure, re-establishing the original topography of the site as it crosses the highway and train tracks and bows down to meet the city. Retrofitting (and re-inventing) infrastructure is a challenge I anticipate more and more architects facing in coming years, as our urban fabric continues to expand layer upon layer, but often without proper threading. In my opinion, this oversight is a symptom of our bull economy propagating bull architecture and construction, dare I say overbuilding.
Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (http://rpbw.r.ui-pro.com/) and FXFOWLE Architects (http://fxfowle.com). New York City, United States. 2007. Located in Times Square, the New York Times Building houses the headquarters of the newspaper. The facades of the tower are a combination of glass curtain walls and a scrim of white ceramic tubes. This scrim, positioned 61 cm from the structure, acts as an energy efficient sunscreen. At the same time it captures and reflects the shimmering and colors of New York City's light. I'm often mocked for this coming comment, but the New York Times Building (which I'm able to see from my office window), has always felt somewhat like a vertical re-interpretation of the Centre Pompidou. Laugh all you want. Less humorous, 2007 was a turning point for the US economy, and shortly after, economies across the globe. In that regard, while the New York Times Building may serve as a monument to the old-world newspaper, in my view, it's likewise a monument to a spending and leverage philosophy (keep in mind the New York Times Company dollar-per-share value had been declining since 2004) responsible for today's financial illness.
Designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Beijing, China. 2008. This architectural landmark likely makes anyone's top ten shortlist for the decade. An asymmetrical ellipse constructed of bent steel columns, it reads harmonious from some angles, while suggests tension from other angles. Many critics attribute this duality to the nation's inner conflict; but I can't comment as foreign affairs is not my area of expertise. As much as I adore this massive undertaking, I wish the architecture lent itself more to re-purposing. Keep in mind that 2008 is the same year Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and Bear Sterns nearly followed, just moments before it was consumed by JP Morgan Chase in Wall Street's greatest fire-sale to date. But I suppose China can do as it pleases, being it conservatively holds $750 billion in US Treasury securities. Point of fact, while the Bird's Nest continues to attract mass tourist traffic, it has only hosted a handful of events post-Olympics. The Chinese government has explained it intends to convert Bird's Nest into a shopping center. Quite a sad fate for such a radiant building.
Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (http://www.zaha-hadid.com/). Rome, Italy. 2009. MAXXI stands for Museum of 21st Century Arts. The concept for the building is to think of the museum as a "field of buildings" rather than an "object." The walls of the MAXXI create major streams and minor streams: the major streams are the galleries and the minor streams are the connections and the bridges. Further, it is the first Italian public museum devoted to contemporary creativity, arts and architecture. The building exemplifies a commitment to today's artistic expressions, rather than exclusive focus on historical expressions, which all together become the new cultural heritage of tomorrow and beyond. Given the tone of my review and the continued economic hardship from 2008 into 2009, I suppose it's fitting and comforting to see an architectural masterpiece energized by what's to come, rather than what's currently happening, because what was happening is frightening: Iceland went bankrupt towards the end of 2008, in 2009 Greece faced the highest budget deficit and government debt to GDP ratios since the formation of the EU, and towards the end of the year, Dubai, the city often referred to as the Disney World for architecture and construction, was likewise on the brink of collapse with Dubai World nearly declaring bankruptcy before it's debts were restructured courtesy of $10 billion in financial aid from neighboring emirate Abu Dhabi. Fortunately for Zaha, her practice appears to be booming, as she's without doubt one of the most prolific architects of the past decade, and likewise looks to be in similar positioning for 2011 and beyond.
Designed by BIG Architects (http://big.dk). Copenhagen, Denmark. 2010. 8 House is located in Southern Orestad on the edge of the Copenhagen Canal and with a view of the open spaces of Kalvebod Faelled. It is a big house in the literal sense of the word housing people in all stages of life. The bow-shaped building creates two distinct spaces, separated by the center of the bow which hosts the communal facilities. As a byproduct, the plan resembles the numeric 8. This building is a suitable closing chapter for our decade long story. 8 House was intended to be the earliest of a collection of buildings in an effort to develop this outskirt of Copenhagen. But as the photograph suggests, 8 House sits all alone on the prairie. I recently listened to Bjarke present this project, and he even includes an image from afar with a cow in the foreground and 8 House in soft focus in the background. It's a stunning construction, and will hopefully be joined by other buildings someday soon, maybe next decade. But hopefully my point is clear (if not already clear from previous annotations), that architecture and construction feels as though it stopped entirely towards the end of the decade, almost like a body without a heartbeat. But just beyond the green pasture, there's a light of hope. Even the ever-delayed Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened this past year (officially completed at the end of 2009), today the tallest building in the world. In my opinion, 2010 marks the beginning of the architecture recovery, lead by 8 House, Burj Khalifa, and anything else that's survived the past three years.
Co-Founder of DesignerPages.com and Guest Curator, Design Thursdays
Posted: December 23, 2010 02:02 AM
