Bofill and most people I worked for..

if you are going to bother starting a thread, put some thought into your argument rather than just posting your opinion.

whoa..

i actually liked some of zaha's "flashy" architecture..

there.

i'm getting so sick of these threads that just arbitrarily rip one architect or another. it's not about liking zaha or not; if you're going to be critical, be intelligent about it.

zaha's talented.. very creative designer, but she is a signature architect which i dislike much like libeskind, gehry etc...

im just voicing my opinion on some so called starchitects..
im very critical about them and their elitist posturing..
one day i bet we would see ourselves as fools,
succumbing to these "flash" architecture produced by someone like zaha and the rest of the starchitect machinery...
the west had become ensalved by the "avant garde"...its all about becoming different baby..
thats architecture for you..superficial "innovation in architecture"
and so forth.
this argument i share w/ many architects around the world who would rather solve REAL problems than worry about their individual egos and seeking the approval of the "elite arch. circles"...

im entitled to my opinion am i not?

you too are entitled to speak out... i respect any POV's.
but i have my conviction, we all need to have one..
so i guess you should understand that.

so what are the REAL problems and how come non-starchitects solve them and starchitects do not?... does an anonymous condo block solve more problems than, say, Nouvel's Nemasus?

May I point out that the future will not be about trend and dislikes, these Icons already profit nothing what so ever, to solve the real problems, that problem, is about the trans action, into digital manufactoring.

i actually liked this project. and im glad some celebrity architects are willing to respond to the times and realize their civic responsibility. im not dissin all starchitects, i actually admire a few of them... but once in while you stumble upon a bldg so overwhemingly extravagant and excessive you would ask youself "is this really necessary?" "are the public engaged in this monstrosity?"

to put you back on the broader picture.. the real problems i speak of are problems concerning poverty (designing for the majority of the world;s population), climate change, gentrification, etc... sustainability, the isolation of the individual in the western world, the death of the community.. so forth and so on... most of the time these real pressing issues are taken forgranted by the starchitect, and if not they mask it with marketing ploys to save face...

we are reaching that breaking point i guess....

This thread was on the verge of interesting until the starchitect system bashing started. If you hate the system and the "flash" then you should be criticizing the Pritzker.

So back on topic, I think Libeskind is undeserving. Albeit one deep project, the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the others are no where in the realm of thought and formaking of his early work. I think we all can say that Danny sold out with his Condo designs and creates meaningless boring messes.

Who is deserving... Enric Miralles (posthumously).

Gehry's museum on the first place in architecture , gee when was it made do those production methods even get used , what has architecture achived, has dolks houses become better ? -- these are the questions that make all that Iconary into what is is and allway's evolved , the wrong tool to solve the real problems, --- 3D is totaly different than 2D it is another world, and would you mind it to be anything else, without being a fraud ; as the fraud that this ever will make a mountain of money .

Ugly to in many more cases.

Rigid irasionell, not nessery edgy and cold to Big and first of all, useless as for so sad facts artery uninspired by structure boring, and potential of expance trivial. But all that is in fact about method, and the wonders that will follow the new digital methods , the fierce manufactoring and instant instalation of a build form , will shield it's progress and comford all, if this is architecture architecture must change.

Zaha shuld not be faced with rigid oppotunities and troublesom not communicated engineering blames, esp. when things like 3dh could offer the exact answer, for a better wonder , better wonder than what could be bricklayed, when woven would be the right offer.
Zaha would soon investigate the implication of "cast matter" when that matter, the basic building core, can all be made, calculated and documented in real manufactoring bills for each tiny piexe, of what you can't realise, when just things are assembled a new way, when you can develob new bright materials friendly all way's ,being just sheet materials, ---- None of the new architects shuld be troubled about that it did not succes, to use CAD for anything but accounting .

Strange in fact, when you know these things are done at a third the cost and four times stronger with 3D , ---- Now I guess it must be relevant as argument to ask, --- what if Zaha or any other of progressed architects had and understood,--- understood thru out --- the implication of a direct link building method, what would that render .

I actually liked some of Zaha's work too. Ooops, I mean I like her stuff.

I also can't stand signature work. I think architects should be more inconsistent. That would be great. Oh wait, no I don't think that.

garpike, you like zaha? Even though she has designed for eeeevvvvviiiilllll auto industry? Wow, pot meet kettle.

Teehee, just breakin' you balls man.

Ha ha zing! Yeah I do...

P.S. my car is not a hybrid. And I drive it every day.

ooo.... i take the subway like a proper commie

I wish LA had one.

don't you have one? Except because no-one uses it they decided to turn it into a homeless shelter or something?

There is one, but in my 5 years here, it has only served me once. It is no where near me.

Ah, just like how Atlanta has MARTA.

a cogent argument might include more about zaha not deserving the pritzker because she has not built enough and her unbuilt work should not figure into the award, not i dislike her or her starchitect "value"...

Don't awards reinforce and even create the whole culture of Starchitecture?

Should more criticism not be levied at the Hyatt foundation and those who rally around such people?

It seems like it's a bigger cultural issue that transcends architecutre. American Idol? Grammy's, Emmy's, Acadamey Awards? Are the winners of these really the most talented actors? Have they really contributed anything?

If you're into the whole awards action then I agree with the above. Don't be a hater, give us an argument for why she is undeserving of an award "to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture."

On a bit of a tangent... how does the Hyatt foundation define Architect? Clearly they don't have to be liscenced in the US....

Is the Nobel Prize just a way of promoting a cult of celebrity in science? I don't think so.

Funny I didn't mention the Noble Prize... but ok not all awards are pure evil....

bofill and philip johnson - I don't believe the body of work completed merits international recognition. Particularly others contemporary them when they were awarded. I think a Pritzker prize awardee should having a last influence beyond the time they have recieved the prize.

Well I Just want to ask/comment on issue brought up, "Signature Architect" Is it really a "bad" thing to have the same design concepts/ "Styles" Personally, I will try my best on achieving new concepts and methods, but is it really b ad for a person to stay to the same method?

YES

"all styles are lies" - le corbusier

"We have more than enough masterpieces. What we need is a better standard of ordinariness."

-- Jane Grigson

every design problem needs a different design approach, becoming linear in your thinking basically reveals ones egotistic motives in designing.

you cant blame the hyatt foundation for riding the waves of fashion. of course fashion mongering is a result of hypercapitalism around the world. everywhere we look, society becomes more and more materialistic. where do we stand now?

we live in a "spectacle", to borrow a term from guy debord

i do not hate zaha and all diverse architects.. im merely engaging in a constructive criticism, i value and respect diversity..which i believe is healthy in all profession, field of art, science..

if corb said that then he's a hypocrite.

"every design problem needs a different design approach, becoming linear in your thinking basically reveals ones egotistic motives in designing." - tadsthetad

now that we are only obliged to give uninformed opinions, let me just say that i think this quote is about the stupidest thing i have read in a long time.

freedom to perpetuate cliché after cliché seems hardly worth fighting for.

"if corb said that then he's a a hypocrite."

No, that makes him a lier. :)

apparently the pritzker prize itself is far more about politics than architecture. every famous architect wins it sooner or later, it is a simple matter of whose turn it is. i don't personally think we as designers need to keep track of it.

the pritzker sucks until someone like abracadabra, faia wins...then suddenly it will be a very cool prize

puddles, let's bump that thread

I think the Pritzker's done a commendable job of picking lesser-known architects. Not every year, of course, but a lot. Sverre Fehn, Glenn Murcutt, and Mendes da Rocha were all virtually unknown when they got the award.

And most of the recipients have deserved the award. Even the starchitects. They've changed the face of architecture.

With the exception of Christian de Portzamparc. I've always wondered why he's on this list.

Who should get the Pritzker next?

everybody wins!

roche, pei, portzamparc, hadid and mayne... wtf?

zumthor, galfetti, snozzi or schnebli should be next.

pritzker's lack of respect for les suisses really irks me.

Zaha winning the Pritzker gave us a hope that any of us could win it.

first of all pritzker is not that important to the world as compare to the nobel or olympics gold, is neither about invention nor power that change humanities...

pritzker is more like the life time awards in the middle of emmy awards or something...

i wouldn't give a shit who get the pritzker.

unless it's yourself because of the $$$

Can someone explain why they think Hadid didn't deserve her award? The word 'starchitect' is not an answer, and neither is the fact that you don't like her work.

haha, this is rem's picture on wikipedia. i swear he put it there himself.

because at the time she had won, she had 4-5 built projects, two of which were less than 4 years old and already dilapidated.
the others were a fire station and a train station.

frankly if that is the criteria, then i know a shitload of architects that deserve it.

including about half of switzerland and denmark