man, he's produced a considerable amount of work, not to mention the fact he's awesome. Calling him a one hit wonder is almost as bad as calling David Adjaye a one-hit wonder
I saw lectures by both Snohetta and Rick Joy and would say they are not one hit wonders but more up and comers who have been on the radar awhile. Maya Lin is not really a one hit wonder as she is more of a sculptor or 3d artist than an architect. And pretty busy I think.
What about Bertrand Goldberg? Did he do anything other than the 3 very similar projects in Chicago? Marina City is awesome, he also did River City just south of Congress and some housing projects near Chinatown. That might be it.
Rem Koolhaas = Shocking Blue, "Venus"; George Baker Selection, "Little Green Bag"; the Tee Set, "Ma Belle Amie"; Golden Earring, "Radar Love"; Diesel, "Sausalito Summernight"; etc. etc.
I'm going to cry about the Maya Lin comments! Ironically enough, my last post (30 seconds ago) was about Mrs Lin.
If you want to talk about people who got famous off of one commission, then sure Maya is a nominee, but her Systematic Landscape exhibition is incredible, as is Wave Field, et all.
Moshe Safdie was pretty much born into Expo '67. Thankfully though, he wrote an amazing book (The City After the Automobile) and has completed other great buildings (National Gallery of Canada, Library in Vancouver.)
the size of the biggest 'hit' somehow makes works that didn't hit as hard seem lesser. maya lin might have been known for the langston hughes library or the civil rights memorial or wave field, etc, if the wall didn't overshadow everything.
i mean, the wall is bigger, as a hit, than almost anybody else's work. people who have never/will never hear of gehry, koolhaas, meier, or even graves (despite the target products) know of the wall.
I can think of a few one hit wonders in the architectural field from different generations as well
Reitveld- poor Gerrit only did the Schroder house (and the furniture), and people started throwing stones at the poor thing. Even forcing, at one point, the owners to change the colour of the building
The dimaxion house by Bucky. If you think I'm kidding name another of his works without researching it
so 20 years from now, will the world declare these one hit wonders as classic? who will take the role of compiling a list a'la VH1? maybe someone will publish an architecural equivalent of "sound of the..."
(although one of his other buildings was demolished to build johnsons at&t building.. which makes it kind of a 'hit' to me for esoteric irony alone...)
I was going to say Rietveld, but I have SO much respect for the furniture that I think it cancels out one-hit-wonderdom -- probably not though. shame that one.
Rietveld? I don't know - are we talking world hits or national hits? Like Utzorn, he might not have built a huge international success again, but in the Netherlands he was very active. What about his arts school in Arnhem, theatre in Utrecht and arts pavillions in Amersfoort and Sonsbeek?
anneke: errr.. you shouldn't be the one asking what kind of 'hits' we're talking about.. it's your gig. i think though that the reason you're getting some of the responses your getting is cause you called the post 'one hit wonders' which, even if done facetiously, is a pop culture term to most of us.
but not knowing what or why your doing i might suggest that it is indeed infinitely more interesting to analyze the effect of a giant mega iconic worldly known work on the architect credited to it even if it isn't as black/white as 'they disappeared into oblivion'. yeah i don't agree with the reitveld one but i threw in utzon cause of the very odd and out of character nature of how he came about his huge commission and the ensuing political debacle it became for him. of course he continued to work but without the opera house which kind of 'accidentally' fell on him think of how differently we'd be viewing his whole career as architects. wm. van alen is definitely worth researching cause i think both the economy of the us and an overtly badmouthing by the chrysler client really hurt him from then on. if an architect does something big and doesn't do anything else just cause he/she is old and wants to retire to go fish that's kind of boring and irrelevant, even if they die young its not really relevant from a research standpoint (unless of course you want to take the angle that dying young with little work made someone legendary whereas if they had continued to work we might have seen how mediocre they actually were).
another angle is an architect(s) who come about a worldwide success from a competition and in effect try to distance themselves for that due to noteriety. in effect they don't disappear but them with the style they associated themselves with does. my old employers mr. kallmann and mr. mckinnell are primo examples of that. immediately after the city hall they tried to distance themselves stylistically from that iconic and famous work (which at least at the time was considered a hit). just some thoughts. again, i don't know what you're doing with this but i do think its an interesting topic.
I love this post! But I have to give credit to:
PerCorell the inventor of 3DH
and as [beta]v.4 has shown 3DH is becoming more and more popular, quite amazing. Per is still young so I hope he will not stay a "one hit wonder"
good point knock
James Stirling came to my mind. I know he built a lot but with an iconic building such as the Staatsgalerie extension in Stuttgart the rest fades at least in our memory. When Stirling finally finished that project Rem was starting to capture attention with his Patio Villa in Rotterdam and 20 years later he is planning an entire city in the desert. Leads us to the post about retirement in the architecture profession.
I´m from Argentina, so for diversity´s sake i´d go for a South American one hit wonder: a benedict convent in Santiago, Chile, done by two benedict priests (Martin Correa and Gabriel Guarda) in 1964, who at first weren´t even interesed in doing it!
one hit wonders
Bill Massie -- good one, wurdan.
Apu, when does up and comer = no work in 5+/- years?
i thought rick has been busy?
man, he's produced a considerable amount of work, not to mention the fact he's awesome. Calling him a one hit wonder is almost as bad as calling David Adjaye a one-hit wonder
vs. david adjaye
And the winner, after a 5 second bout, by knockout.....
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=rick+joy+&word2=david+adjaye
rick got pwned
Snohetta, but I would debate whether the Alexandra Library is a hit.
I saw lectures by both Snohetta and Rick Joy and would say they are not one hit wonders but more up and comers who have been on the radar awhile. Maya Lin is not really a one hit wonder as she is more of a sculptor or 3d artist than an architect. And pretty busy I think.
What about Bertrand Goldberg? Did he do anything other than the 3 very similar projects in Chicago? Marina City is awesome, he also did River City just south of Congress and some housing projects near Chinatown. That might be it.
i can even beat rick joy. easily:
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=rick+joy+&word2=le+bossman
which of you wants to fight me?
Rem Koolhaas = Shocking Blue, "Venus"; George Baker Selection, "Little Green Bag"; the Tee Set, "Ma Belle Amie"; Golden Earring, "Radar Love"; Diesel, "Sausalito Summernight"; etc. etc.
o my god. tee set was the first foreign rock group i have ever seen in turkey.
sweet "ballroom blitz" = dynamic hadid inspired rendering
I'm going to cry about the Maya Lin comments! Ironically enough, my last post (30 seconds ago) was about Mrs Lin.
If you want to talk about people who got famous off of one commission, then sure Maya is a nominee, but her Systematic Landscape exhibition is incredible, as is Wave Field, et all.
Moshe Safdie was pretty much born into Expo '67. Thankfully though, he wrote an amazing book (The City After the Automobile) and has completed other great buildings (National Gallery of Canada, Library in Vancouver.)
the size of the biggest 'hit' somehow makes works that didn't hit as hard seem lesser. maya lin might have been known for the langston hughes library or the civil rights memorial or wave field, etc, if the wall didn't overshadow everything.
i mean, the wall is bigger, as a hit, than almost anybody else's work. people who have never/will never hear of gehry, koolhaas, meier, or even graves (despite the target products) know of the wall.
yes - and the Spin Doctors could have been famous for ... um ... some other songs, if Two Princes wasn't such a hit.
what about Rex? oh wait - they don't have a hit yet.
j-turn, are you kidding me? ever heard of "get it on"? all-time classic hit.
and maya lin is a one hit wonder. the wave field? a novelty - yes. great architecture it ain't. same goes for the glass mounds at wexner.
most of these architects are simply too young to label as "one hit wonders"...we should really be focusing on dead architects for this list
Joseph Paxton (but ok, he was really a botanist)
and lets not forget poor Sant'elia.. who disappeared into the oblivion of war casualty.
but since this appears in just about every modern architecture book published now i'd judge it a 'hit'
I can think of a few one hit wonders in the architectural field from different generations as well
Reitveld- poor Gerrit only did the Schroder house (and the furniture), and people started throwing stones at the poor thing. Even forcing, at one point, the owners to change the colour of the building
The dimaxion house by Bucky. If you think I'm kidding name another of his works without researching it
does fuller not get credit for the big geodesic sphere at the worlds fair that burned down? (i'm asking actually i always assumed it was his)
this thing is nothing but one hits...
Loos and Gropius?
so 20 years from now, will the world declare these one hit wonders as classic? who will take the role of compiling a list a'la VH1? maybe someone will publish an architecural equivalent of "sound of the..."
william van alen / chrysler building
(although one of his other buildings was demolished to build johnsons at&t building.. which makes it kind of a 'hit' to me for esoteric irony alone...)
well since it was first created on archinect I think Paul should collect some royalities.
I was going to say Rietveld, but I have SO much respect for the furniture that I think it cancels out one-hit-wonderdom -- probably not though. shame that one.
"does fuller not get credit for the big geodesic sphere at the worlds fair that burned down? (i'm asking actually i always assumed it was his)"
Indeed, I'd place the Expo 67 US Pavilion above Dymaxion for mass familiarity.
Oh, and it was only the plastic skin that burnt in 1976; the dome itself survived, and now serves an environmental museum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosph%C3%A8re
I was thinking Most Cover Girls on Playboy are one hit wonders. Wouldn't you really like to know what happens to them?
it still keeps hitting!
"the spice girls are not one-hit wonders. they're beautiful and paradigm shifting"
what?
Rietveld? I don't know - are we talking world hits or national hits? Like Utzorn, he might not have built a huge international success again, but in the Netherlands he was very active. What about his arts school in Arnhem, theatre in Utrecht and arts pavillions in Amersfoort and Sonsbeek?
anneke: errr.. you shouldn't be the one asking what kind of 'hits' we're talking about.. it's your gig. i think though that the reason you're getting some of the responses your getting is cause you called the post 'one hit wonders' which, even if done facetiously, is a pop culture term to most of us.
but not knowing what or why your doing i might suggest that it is indeed infinitely more interesting to analyze the effect of a giant mega iconic worldly known work on the architect credited to it even if it isn't as black/white as 'they disappeared into oblivion'. yeah i don't agree with the reitveld one but i threw in utzon cause of the very odd and out of character nature of how he came about his huge commission and the ensuing political debacle it became for him. of course he continued to work but without the opera house which kind of 'accidentally' fell on him think of how differently we'd be viewing his whole career as architects. wm. van alen is definitely worth researching cause i think both the economy of the us and an overtly badmouthing by the chrysler client really hurt him from then on. if an architect does something big and doesn't do anything else just cause he/she is old and wants to retire to go fish that's kind of boring and irrelevant, even if they die young its not really relevant from a research standpoint (unless of course you want to take the angle that dying young with little work made someone legendary whereas if they had continued to work we might have seen how mediocre they actually were).
another angle is an architect(s) who come about a worldwide success from a competition and in effect try to distance themselves for that due to noteriety. in effect they don't disappear but them with the style they associated themselves with does. my old employers mr. kallmann and mr. mckinnell are primo examples of that. immediately after the city hall they tried to distance themselves stylistically from that iconic and famous work (which at least at the time was considered a hit). just some thoughts. again, i don't know what you're doing with this but i do think its an interesting topic.
Peter Eiseman
i think we're working with 50 different definitions of 'one-hit wonder'.
your right - eisenmans more a "one trick pony" than a one hit wonder
I love this post! But I have to give credit to:
PerCorell the inventor of 3DH
and as [beta]v.4 has shown 3DH is becoming more and more popular, quite amazing. Per is still young so I hope he will not stay a "one hit wonder"
?
Would be interesting to scour this list and really look at the depth of their work.
http://www.pritzkerprize.com/full_new_site/Laureates.htm
good point knock
James Stirling came to my mind. I know he built a lot but with an iconic building such as the Staatsgalerie extension in Stuttgart the rest fades at least in our memory. When Stirling finally finished that project Rem was starting to capture attention with his Patio Villa in Rotterdam and 20 years later he is planning an entire city in the desert. Leads us to the post about retirement in the architecture profession.
Per = Taffy
It came from the 80's, somewhere in Europe, and gets stuck in your head
I´m from Argentina, so for diversity´s sake i´d go for a South American one hit wonder: a benedict convent in Santiago, Chile, done by two benedict priests (Martin Correa and Gabriel Guarda) in 1964, who at first weren´t even interesed in doing it!
http://www.puc.cl/faba/ARQUITECTURA/IGLESIAS/BenedictDiapos.html
didn't exactly disappear into oblivion, but...
Raimund Abraham
I'd be interested to see what he'd do with another big commission.
I agree, he def. belongs in the "one hit wonder catagory".
That's still probably the nicest building in midtown tho.
james wines had a lot more than that going on, waterhouse...
FLW has to be the Beatles - so many different styles and experiments
Corb has to be the Stones - tons of good stuff, but all fairly similar
I can't believe someone listed Lautner as a one hit wonder!? What are they teaching today!
Greg Lynn is the immediate thing that came to my mind. Almost anyone that rode the blob wave (including current blob riders).
I can't even picture his 'hit'!
that's bat-shit crazy!
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