Jan '06 - May '07
Interesting news. We received an email a few weeks back from Gary Hack inviting all students to a meeting about the future of PennDesign's home. I don't want to call it the new Meyerson Hall because it will surely have a different name, like Trump Golden T-Square Park or something. For years people have been speculating about a new Meyerson, but there was never a donor. Well, I guess they found a donor. We got another email today reminding us about the meeting and to let us know that Renzo Piano will be on hand to discuss his feasability study and take suggestions from students. RENZO PIANO!? We go from no new Meyerson to RENZO?! DAMN! I'll let you know if anything cool happens.
Today it was funny. We had presentations regarding our research. We had our TA and James Timberlake on the "jury" (Keiran and Timberlake don't usually come on the same day). A girl was researching connectivity and started discussing Second Life. Timberlake was cracking up and said "Sounds like No Life." The girl was (knowingly) calling the avitars dolls and saying how you can use fake money to buy clothes for your dolls. She really presented well and accurately, but no one could stop laughing because it just didn't even seem real. When she started talking about buying land, cars, and the exchange rate, no one could handle it. Good times.
9 Comments
wow! why does penndesign need to import talent when there are so many homegrown brains floating around? A new architecture school by KTA or Winka would propel their careers forward and help the school at the same time. Can Renzo really build a 'better' building then any of the current practice faculty? Or go for D+S or some other east coast intellectual enfant.
Certainly don't hire VSBA for a cookie cutter hack job, but why look to italy? Ok, if cost and location is not an object, why not D+M or sir Richard, or try to find a psychic to channel the ghost of kahn?
winka? oh gawd
challenge venturi...
Can Winka even do a big building? I've heard Renzo Piano asks for 19%
Nothing too spectacular happened. It was just a kind of "Future of Meyerson" talk. But it was kind of cool anyway. Piano is a super nice guy. Really funny cracking little jokes and saying "I am only joking." He said hi when he passed in the hall which is cool. He was like a cool grandpa. He's like Obiwan.
I agree on the VSBA. God. They designed the lab building across from Meyerson a few years back. I think it's ok as a lab (which of course is the most important part), but I think sticking with straight up brick and boring design would have been better than that nasty ass pink stone with stupid chunky columns. It's an ugly piece of shit. Maybe it's challenging the conventions of the campus or something, but it's SO ugly. Before I knew who VSBA was (remember, I'm only a student of architecture for 3 years now) I always recognized that style as disgusting like cotton candy and melted crayons in the back of a July 1976 Chevy Impala.
That's the best verbal illustration I've read in awhile.
That said, I'd love to see VSBA do a design for a UPenn architecture school. If they had a decent budget I think it could be the perfect project to culminate their careers (not that they're planning on stopping anytime soon, I'm sure.).
VSBA just donated their archives to UPenn (which was the obvious thing to do, I suppose)...the GF's dad is a PennDesign alum, so i read his newsletter...
on Philly, not related, but graphic and on violence, so...
I showed my mom that graphic when it came out. She got all scared.
I saw that murder map few years ago- it's the energizer bunny of tufte-esque philthydelphia... keeps growing and growing...
So was the project any good? or was it just a replay of tschumi's murder in the streets?
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