Slam
Must be a real bummer to read Herbert say this about your work:
Critic's Notebook: Let the Design Sprint BeginThe Smith-Miller & Hawkinson submission is almost unaccountably dull. I say almost, because I suspect that the design's pedestrian quality may be calculated. This is one of those mysteries that can occur when you hold a competition while denying that it is a competition: nobody really knows the rules. You can tell architects to go all out for innovation and imagination, but when the time comes to pick a winner you throw all this rationale in the air about budget, feasibility, community preference and so on.
It shouldn't work that way. It's somehow less than obedient to the Olympic spirit. If you want architects to compete on the level of architecture, that is the sole basis on which a winner should be chosen. Then, should New York be fortunate enough to be host to the games in 2012, there will be more than enough time to deal with the pragmatics. This is all just fantasy, right?
See all the finalists
here. Wacky, wormy buildings. So hip. So ridiculous. Is it in the rules that whatever gets built becomes a huge, regrettable eyesore for the next generation? Is that what "middle-income housing" means, in truth?
* Ray, 3/11/2004 10:03:09 AM
