Maybe your flats *are* great architecture, jump. You say they are sought after, adaptable to fit the tastes of the occupants, I can see from your photo that there are small areas of green space which people have possessed and are looking after. There seems to be light, balconies and views. And evidently if there is a community feel, it implies the housing is designed to allow people to meet other people easily. A lot of modern housing is designed to alienate people from their neighbours and open spaces.
put these two beauties from the 80s/90s in the 'should have failed' category. the two buildings in the middle ground are part of a complex that louisville loves to hate. they have to be some of the worst office buildings ever.
when i first moved to town, i drove in from the direction of this view. i thought that, of course, these must be kentucky fried chicken headquarters. right?! no such luck. these buildings are this ugly for no apparent reason at all. and yes, those are working, rotating lighthouses at the tops.
these only kind of had any architects' involvement at all. seems all the developer needed was a family-relation trained in architecture and a stockyard full of building materials for which he needed to find a use. (not kidding!) oh, and he had to get this property 'annexed' from the city limits so that local officials could be cut out of that icky review process.
i did a project in one of these buildings for a bank's administrative offices and found that the floor-to-structure dimension - that's to underside of concrete, people - was 8'. try shoehorning light fixtures in that, much less the mechanicals.
as architecture > bad. but they haven't failed as miserably as architects might hope. in fact they, and the galt house hotel that they connect to, are successful, an anchor in our downtown, and won't be going away any time soon.
by the way, the slightly less bad tower behind is by johnson/burgee. apparently designed for somewhere else and then used here...'cause why not?
i have to admit when i first rode in to the station i didn't have high expectations, but it is quite ok, especially with my 2 kids. no cars and my oldest's classmate lives in the building next to us. sometimes feels kinda like those old movies where people are talking to each other across the street in italian, leaning out the windows...urban, but in a good way. jane jacobs-ish even. but in tokyo.
i think some of that was planned, while a lot of it is cultural. but it has confirmed for me that planning really needs to have room built in for people to take over, fill in cracks, inhabit a place, or it won't workin the long run...
It also doesn't hurt that the city has 30 million people and many of them are looking for a new place to live, so it ain't so hard to achieve densities that work...
Happy Family Midge
A doll with a removable "pregnant" belly containing a tiny baby. The doll was part of Mattel's "Happy Family" line of toys, featuring dolls of older married characters. Puritanical consumers mistakenly decided the doll was from the teen-fashion line of Barbie dolls and promoted teen sex. To forestall an incipient moral panic, Mattel yanked the toy from American shelves.
[imghttp://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000096PZN.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img]
it has taken me a while,, but in response to jump who was one of the first to comment on my school blog, you gave me the example of the hermitage museum, and said that if I could find more of those it would make a good read...
well, so far.. somebody else said also de torre velasca, which I think is a good example too..
so here it goes..
1. Hermitage Museum
2. Torre Velasca
3. Portland building (for representing what once was postmodernism and at least striving for greatness)
4. Samuel Mockbee and the Rural Studio (he swore after not being able to carry on with a project, that one day he would turn failure into success for the greater good, and indeed he did)
5. leaning tower of Pisa, (even if it is being straighten out)
6. Gothic Cathedral of St Pierre Beauvais ( tried to build the highest church in Europe, though it colapse, it still gets attention for its fine stained glass) or maybe a better example would be the ruin church in Berlin... mmm.. just thought of that one..
so, to every one of you guys out there... any input?
well, all I can argue is that as Medit said : Torre Velasca, Milan (1956-8) .. its not just a failure, it was a complete disaster.. it could be in your list of "whose design and architectural failure became their signature and made them even more valuable"..
in this case, maybe not valuable, but, at least, recognizable.
See the point of the this previous list, is that those buildings are not just a failure, but a success because of it.
also...
studio BPR's Torre Velasca of 1954-58, the most important Italian work to appear on the international scene at that time, if only because of the notoriety it acquired as a result of Reyner Banham's attack on Neoliberty, "the Italian retreat from modern architecture,"
Doesn't really sound like a *failure*. Controversy, or certain attacks from high places, doesn't equal failure. Indeed, the case of Velasca is way too complicated--perhaps Medit should have put the word "failure" in quotation marks.
Interesting, though, that nobody's mentioned notorious 60s architectural losses like Penn Station and Euston Arch--not just for what was lost, but for what replaced them. Certainly counts as "failure". (Same with the evisceration of Soane's Bank of England btw/the wars.)
yeah, when i was thinking of the ruin church, something came up, I thought of all the old stations and such buildings that later came to be replaced by great museum all over Europe, but then again, I would end up with a never ending list... since as I stated at the beginning, "in history" is such a loooooooooong time, and there are really no limits yet for my timeline...
failures in design´s history...
Maybe your flats *are* great architecture, jump. You say they are sought after, adaptable to fit the tastes of the occupants, I can see from your photo that there are small areas of green space which people have possessed and are looking after. There seems to be light, balconies and views. And evidently if there is a community feel, it implies the housing is designed to allow people to meet other people easily. A lot of modern housing is designed to alienate people from their neighbours and open spaces.
The Portland Building.
put these two beauties from the 80s/90s in the 'should have failed' category. the two buildings in the middle ground are part of a complex that louisville loves to hate. they have to be some of the worst office buildings ever.
when i first moved to town, i drove in from the direction of this view. i thought that, of course, these must be kentucky fried chicken headquarters. right?! no such luck. these buildings are this ugly for no apparent reason at all. and yes, those are working, rotating lighthouses at the tops.
these only kind of had any architects' involvement at all. seems all the developer needed was a family-relation trained in architecture and a stockyard full of building materials for which he needed to find a use. (not kidding!) oh, and he had to get this property 'annexed' from the city limits so that local officials could be cut out of that icky review process.
i did a project in one of these buildings for a bank's administrative offices and found that the floor-to-structure dimension - that's to underside of concrete, people - was 8'. try shoehorning light fixtures in that, much less the mechanicals.
as architecture > bad. but they haven't failed as miserably as architects might hope. in fact they, and the galt house hotel that they connect to, are successful, an anchor in our downtown, and won't be going away any time soon.
by the way, the slightly less bad tower behind is by johnson/burgee. apparently designed for somewhere else and then used here...'cause why not?
lekizz,
i have to admit when i first rode in to the station i didn't have high expectations, but it is quite ok, especially with my 2 kids. no cars and my oldest's classmate lives in the building next to us. sometimes feels kinda like those old movies where people are talking to each other across the street in italian, leaning out the windows...urban, but in a good way. jane jacobs-ish even. but in tokyo.
i think some of that was planned, while a lot of it is cultural. but it has confirmed for me that planning really needs to have room built in for people to take over, fill in cracks, inhabit a place, or it won't workin the long run...
It also doesn't hurt that the city has 30 million people and many of them are looking for a new place to live, so it ain't so hard to achieve densities that work...
Happy Family Midge
A doll with a removable "pregnant" belly containing a tiny baby. The doll was part of Mattel's "Happy Family" line of toys, featuring dolls of older married characters. Puritanical consumers mistakenly decided the doll was from the teen-fashion line of Barbie dolls and promoted teen sex. To forestall an incipient moral panic, Mattel yanked the toy from American shelves.
[imghttp://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000096PZN.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img]
The stair slide .... it shouldn't have failed tho ..
looks fun !!! :)
it has taken me a while,, but in response to jump who was one of the first to comment on my school blog, you gave me the example of the hermitage museum, and said that if I could find more of those it would make a good read...
well, so far.. somebody else said also de torre velasca, which I think is a good example too..
so here it goes..
1. Hermitage Museum
2. Torre Velasca
3. Portland building (for representing what once was postmodernism and at least striving for greatness)
4. Samuel Mockbee and the Rural Studio (he swore after not being able to carry on with a project, that one day he would turn failure into success for the greater good, and indeed he did)
5. leaning tower of Pisa, (even if it is being straighten out)
6. Gothic Cathedral of St Pierre Beauvais ( tried to build the highest church in Europe, though it colapse, it still gets attention for its fine stained glass) or maybe a better example would be the ruin church in Berlin... mmm.. just thought of that one..
so, to every one of you guys out there... any input?
i don't get why the hermitage musem and the torre velasca are coinsidered a failure.
well, all I can argue is that as Medit said : Torre Velasca, Milan (1956-8) .. its not just a failure, it was a complete disaster.. it could be in your list of "whose design and architectural failure became their signature and made them even more valuable"..
in this case, maybe not valuable, but, at least, recognizable.
See the point of the this previous list, is that those buildings are not just a failure, but a success because of it.
also...
studio BPR's Torre Velasca of 1954-58, the most important Italian work to appear on the international scene at that time, if only because of the notoriety it acquired as a result of Reyner Banham's attack on Neoliberty, "the Italian retreat from modern architecture,"
Doesn't really sound like a *failure*. Controversy, or certain attacks from high places, doesn't equal failure. Indeed, the case of Velasca is way too complicated--perhaps Medit should have put the word "failure" in quotation marks.
Interesting, though, that nobody's mentioned notorious 60s architectural losses like Penn Station and Euston Arch--not just for what was lost, but for what replaced them. Certainly counts as "failure". (Same with the evisceration of Soane's Bank of England btw/the wars.)
yeah, when i was thinking of the ruin church, something came up, I thought of all the old stations and such buildings that later came to be replaced by great museum all over Europe, but then again, I would end up with a never ending list... since as I stated at the beginning, "in history" is such a loooooooooong time, and there are really no limits yet for my timeline...
There was one in Poland a couple weeks ago and now one in Russia.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.