Work on the "cloud of glass" – a building designed by the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, which resembles a squashed lampshade – has been halted by a court ruling.
Work on the "cloud of glass" – a building designed by the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, which resembles a squashed lampshade – has been halted by a court ruling. Parisian resistance to ground-breaking architectural design dates back to the late 19th century. There were petitions to stop the "useless and monstrous" Eiffel Tower in 1887. The brightly coloured Pompidou Centre, with ducts and pipes exposed, caused intense anger in 1969. Twenty years' later, there were unsuccessful campaigns to stop the building of the glass pyramid in the Louvre courtyard which has transformed access to the world's largest art museum.
Independent.co.uk
3 Comments
I'm usually not a fan of the aesthetic of Frank Gehry's work, however in the hands of the right detail person, the above project could be potentially interesting. It looks more 'Grasshopper' than 'Cloud' which is exactly the direction they should take this; 'Cloud' makes me think the entire building will become one blob-like mass similar to most of his work. The beauty in the physical model shown in the photograph is the explosion of parts towards the right, suspended in space by a series of lower exposed columns that reminds me of Lebbeus Woods (at his most restrained).
As to resistance, well the article demonstrates that this should have been expected given past precedence.
making comparisons to historical works is not effective here. the eiffel tower is a landmark but it is no good aesthetically. the pompidou center is dated and leaky. the pyramid is an amusing structure and not particularly offensive. as for gehry's work, you can pretty much say that it just plain blows and in this case the french residents are spot on.
Let me paraphrase raymonde's comment for everyone:
"Personal opinion backed up by no substantial argument. More personal opinion, more personal opinion, and another personal opinion stated particularly lazily but accented by comic slang. Yay nostalgia."
Does that sound about right? ;-)
I'm not trying to be a total ass, raymonde, but you've said some pretty inflammatory things here with really no basis in considered critique.
Cherith, I agree that this looks like a very nice Gehry project. Gehry has strong and weak projects, as does any architect. I'm not crazy about every Gehry buidling, but the amazing thing, to me, about his work is that he relentlessly tries new ideas with it. If Paris will accept this one, they sure aren't just getting another mini-Bilbao!
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