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    18. Day 8 - Gas Natural etc.

    Aaron Plewke
    Jan 16, '07 9:14 PM EST


     
    • 7 Comments

    • I love archinect

      thats one hell of a cantilever, how big is it? its hard to tell from the photo

      Jan 17, 07 7:07 pm  · 
       · 
      AP

      not sure. possibly more than 60 feet...i wasn't aware of the project before walking up on it, and it immediately struck me as absurd.
      the cantilever seemed almost obnoxious. nevertheless, the more familiar i become with it the less uncomfortable i find it.

      Jan 17, 07 8:01 pm  · 
       · 

      in small bits, it is a rather elegant glass block - notice the vision glass spandrels/parapets. But as a whole, it really is obnoxious and seems like the worst sort of suburban office park architecture

      Jan 17, 07 8:50 pm  · 
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      AP

      ya, the curtainwall is done well, for sure.
      if it were a box, it would be an elegant one...not to suggest that i would prefer the elegant box version over this...

      there's a place for absurdity in architecture.

      Jan 17, 07 8:55 pm  · 
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      Medit

      the cantilever is 35 m long (115 ft)

      on the other hand, if the building would have been a box, no matter how elegant (or minimalist, or abstract), the building would have become as autist to its urban surroundings as any Richard Meier white building...

      there's a reason for the morphology of this rather strange thing, if you care to know about the project before judging it...

      I can understand that someone may find the cantilever(s) -there's two of them- an absurd, or free, design gesture (even if only for the costs), or may find the tower just ugly (that would be only a matter of personal taste), but also I'm amazed how someone can call this thing a "worst sort of suburban office park architecture"... ?!?

      Jan 19, 07 2:30 am  · 
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      AP

      thanks for the link Medit.

      ... as judging goes, i think it's ok to have an initial reaction to something that doesn't take 'morphology' etc. into account. I generally appreciate the responsiveness of EMBT's work, so I took a closer look (after my initial reaction, tried to learn more about it...)...my confusion was cleared and I can appreciate the project. but that doesn't, in my opnion, discount my initial reaction (or anyone else's for that matter)...

      Jan 19, 07 2:46 pm  · 
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      Medit

      yes, I can understand that someone can react negatively to a "singular" project, especially the first time you see it in person or if all you have is just an image to judge it (wouldn't be your case with this building as it seems you discover it walking around, which probably caused a reaction like "wtf is this??" :p )...

      what I don't agree with is that categorization of "worst sort..." .. I mean, I don't really know how bad or good is the architecture of suburban office parks in the USA but if this thing could be just "another" block in a suburban office park -and one of the worst kind-, then I'm goin' to work in the UStates right now! ..

      in fact, -and what I meant in the previous post- is that around here -Barcelona and surroundings- suburban office parks are filled, precisely, with anonymous, economical boxes that don't contribute precisely to the quality of the built landscape (and, really, mostly since the 1980s, lots of them are cladded with mirroring glass, or prefabricated panels of all kinds .. maybe some of them could even be considered as elegants as this Miralles' tower, but that would be the exception)

      well.. you get my drift... as they say, "para gustos, colores".

      Jan 19, 07 4:06 pm  · 
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