I recently attended a talk by three of Hadid's staff, including a major project designer, during which they spoke in-depth about three of Zaha's latest and largest projects: the London Aquatic Centre (Olympic Bid), the CGM tower in Marseilles and the EuskoTren building in Durango. There was another one, but I forget what it's called..
EuskoTren:
CGM:
London Aquatic Centre:
What I noticed was that most of these projects are reduced to highly articulated shed roofs or tower skins. The Hadid flair exists, but these projects contain no where near the amount of passion and rigor that her early projects did. Wolfburg is nice though.
The talk was in Bangalore, at the office of this firm called 'Idiom' (www.idiom.in). Nobody brought this up, it was jst an observation of mine.. and as a humble student, alone in a room full of big-name architects, I shut up.
Yeah detailed sections.. 'Typical Floor Plans', double-skinned facades.. the aquatic centre had this interesting sounding structural concept.. but it was mostly BS. They ARE beautiful though.. but thats about it.
You see a similar trend in Libeskind's buildings.. I attended this talk in Germany by one of his architects, and he said that the staff of Studio Libeskind are pretty upset about clients' demands - Libeskind-looking buildings. You see this spate of apartment towers by Danny that try and emulate his JewishMuseumy facade articulations, cliched slashes and sliced forms, razor-sharp edges.. but nothing else. Atleast studio libeskind is making an attempt to channelise their talents in new directions - they designed temporary housing and shelters for Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka.
I see this a little differently... Many architects who are worth their salt, start off doing smedium sized projects and are able to manage a very strong design aesthetic within a limited programmatic scope.
The problem of scale is a real one that Zaha's office seems to just be starting to struggle with and it will be a process we should all relish in how the development of these solutions occur..
For all of those who hate on Gehry, you can't deny his ability to manage the design of large scale buildings while still keeping his signature style.
I did attend the lecture too. It was dissappointing to a certain extent, the tower was certainly just a skin twist to a large extent. But I also happened to attend Patrick's (forgethislastname), Zaha's partner's lecture in Mumbai about a few weeks ago. That was quite spectacular in its range and in Patricks intenisty on explaining the conceptual details of about 25 projects. That one more or less lost out on the translation of of how buildings shift form concept to practical design. But the Bangalore one attempted to do exactly that... maybe a bit unsuccessfully.
I missed the Mumbai lecture.. Patrick Schumacher is his name. We had our final design jury the same day >:-(
The Bangalore lecture was good in terms of bettering my (our) understanding of Zaha Hadid's design processes... but it pretty much left me with the opinion that Zaha is a 'boutique' designer - a jeweller - without much of an urban/social manifesto. Which is not totally a bad thing, mind you - I find it pretty refreshing, 'the return of the individual in architecture'. But I wouldn't do the same thing, a bit airheaded, IMHO.
Mayavi, are you with Idiom? I was one of the 3 RVSA students sitting in the back.
ManuG, The lecture you attended in Germany of one of Libeskind's archtiects, do you remember the name of the lecturer? I ask this because I heard that several experienced architects have left Libeksind's studio and have started their own studio.
i dunno, i am still very impressed by her recent built work.
until she started building full-time i really couldn't get into her stuff, i suppose for the same reason yall mention above. the graphic design aspect of her work is unavoidable because of her approach, but the buildings work as well as h and dem's stuff...no? prada is the most jewel-like building i have ever seen, in some ways boring, but absolutely beautiful...
haven't seen the above before but the whale's bottom looks beautiful at least. why the disatisfaction?
Jan 7, 06 7:47 pm ·
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Hadid's disappointing new projects
I recently attended a talk by three of Hadid's staff, including a major project designer, during which they spoke in-depth about three of Zaha's latest and largest projects: the London Aquatic Centre (Olympic Bid), the CGM tower in Marseilles and the EuskoTren building in Durango. There was another one, but I forget what it's called..
EuskoTren:
CGM:
London Aquatic Centre:
What I noticed was that most of these projects are reduced to highly articulated shed roofs or tower skins. The Hadid flair exists, but these projects contain no where near the amount of passion and rigor that her early projects did. Wolfburg is nice though.
did the architects say why? was it due to budget? where was the talk?
The talk was in Bangalore, at the office of this firm called 'Idiom' (www.idiom.in). Nobody brought this up, it was jst an observation of mine.. and as a humble student, alone in a room full of big-name architects, I shut up.
ManuG, did they also show sections? I'd like to see some of those before I form an opinion.
That last image is gorgeous though, isn't it? The roof looks like it formed out of a storm cloud.....
the roof also looks like the underside of a blue whale.
Yeah detailed sections.. 'Typical Floor Plans', double-skinned facades.. the aquatic centre had this interesting sounding structural concept.. but it was mostly BS. They ARE beautiful though.. but thats about it.
You see a similar trend in Libeskind's buildings.. I attended this talk in Germany by one of his architects, and he said that the staff of Studio Libeskind are pretty upset about clients' demands - Libeskind-looking buildings. You see this spate of apartment towers by Danny that try and emulate his JewishMuseumy facade articulations, cliched slashes and sliced forms, razor-sharp edges.. but nothing else. Atleast studio libeskind is making an attempt to channelise their talents in new directions - they designed temporary housing and shelters for Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka.
'Epic' apartment tower, Sacramento:
'Aura' apartment tower, Sacramento:
Unawatuna, Sri Lanka:
it is http://www.idiom.co.in
I quite like the Aquatic centre... Dont have much to say about the other two ... frankly, I expectd better.
9net : Interesting firm. do you work there ? .. and why bring it up here ?
I see this a little differently... Many architects who are worth their salt, start off doing smedium sized projects and are able to manage a very strong design aesthetic within a limited programmatic scope.
The problem of scale is a real one that Zaha's office seems to just be starting to struggle with and it will be a process we should all relish in how the development of these solutions occur..
For all of those who hate on Gehry, you can't deny his ability to manage the design of large scale buildings while still keeping his signature style.
any her highrise building sections?
why do you say they are dissapointing?
which one of her projects have not been disappointing? all of the built work is weak compared to the conceptual sketches/ renderings she has offered.
I'd be happy if zaha just made a piece of work that works..
I thought that the Vitra fire station was well done ..?? ..
Dont know if it works though... anyone been there >?
I did attend the lecture too. It was dissappointing to a certain extent, the tower was certainly just a skin twist to a large extent. But I also happened to attend Patrick's (forgethislastname), Zaha's partner's lecture in Mumbai about a few weeks ago. That was quite spectacular in its range and in Patricks intenisty on explaining the conceptual details of about 25 projects. That one more or less lost out on the translation of of how buildings shift form concept to practical design. But the Bangalore one attempted to do exactly that... maybe a bit unsuccessfully.
I missed the Mumbai lecture.. Patrick Schumacher is his name. We had our final design jury the same day >:-(
The Bangalore lecture was good in terms of bettering my (our) understanding of Zaha Hadid's design processes... but it pretty much left me with the opinion that Zaha is a 'boutique' designer - a jeweller - without much of an urban/social manifesto. Which is not totally a bad thing, mind you - I find it pretty refreshing, 'the return of the individual in architecture'. But I wouldn't do the same thing, a bit airheaded, IMHO.
Mayavi, are you with Idiom? I was one of the 3 RVSA students sitting in the back.
ManuG, The lecture you attended in Germany of one of Libeskind's archtiects, do you remember the name of the lecturer? I ask this because I heard that several experienced architects have left Libeksind's studio and have started their own studio.
He was a fresh addition to Libeskind's staff.. his name was Stefan Zech, of the University of Muenster.
i dunno, i am still very impressed by her recent built work.
until she started building full-time i really couldn't get into her stuff, i suppose for the same reason yall mention above. the graphic design aspect of her work is unavoidable because of her approach, but the buildings work as well as h and dem's stuff...no? prada is the most jewel-like building i have ever seen, in some ways boring, but absolutely beautiful...
haven't seen the above before but the whale's bottom looks beautiful at least. why the disatisfaction?
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