My knee-jerk reaction to formalism
I like boxes. I like boxy architecture. That's no secret. I like warehouses, and I like big-box retail. Herzog and de Meuron buildings, at one time,
stunned me. Now their buildings make me itchy. The problem is, HdM's gone from making boxes to making baskets. Weaving, eccentricity, bulbousness--all the craft things that might make sense at the scale of baskets but have no business when constructed 30 meters high, blown up and exaggerated. You got the
Beijing thing, and then there's the
Allianz Arena, just being completed. Not cool anymore. Gimmicky. Tacky. Like big toys for very rich boys. I want more boxes, dammit. Renzo still makes a nice box. Gehry, baskets. Libeskind, tall baskets. Then you have the bowl-makers from Columbia and LA...
* Ray, 11/12/2004 02:09:26 PM
