A few minutes after sitting down to talk with Renzo Piano in his large, airy Paris studio Tuesday, I asked the architect about the progress of the film museum he is designing for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wilshire Boulevard.
"The academy?" he asked. "Ha. The academy is a good story.
"Look, I know you don't like that scheme," referring to my recent coverage of the design.
"I don't think it will be that bad. Actually, I'm struggling to do something good."
— latimes.com
7 Comments
Seems like something lost in translation here. He's not "struggling" per se but "trying" is what he meant.
The globe seems to be in fashion, ie OMA.
The man has created a specialty niche: parasitic modernism. He is the master of it.
Agree, it seems like Piano didn't understand the implications of the word 'struggle' - unfair to take this out of context to make it sound like he's admitting defeat.
In some ways i like this scheme - it's cute, enthusiastic, and actually seems to make sense in the context of LA's architecture, where civic buildings tend to sit like little monoliths alone on their site. And the city has a rich tradition of gimicky buildings which this could fit into.
This new scheme's glass shell seems less likely to look like a home appliance (or plumbing fixture) than the previous white surface which is probably good. On the whole I don't see why LA needs a 'serious' architectural statement for a museum whose content is essentially populist and fun. Contrary to the tone of Chris Hawthorne's earlier review it seems like this is a project that absolutely should be amusing and tourist-friendly - that's the essence of Hollywood's product.
^ Nice visual metaphor for that scheme.
I like what Piano is doing here. It's not radical architecture, but anyone who has been to the NYTimes buikding can see why he gets commissions. Kudos for him to challenge himself a bit at this point.
I was referring to parasitic modernism.
That thing looks like a fully engorged tick.
The May Company building is a much beloved Los Angeles iconic building. It's really a masterpiece of the streamlined moderne. Piano's building is an exercise in hubris, attaching a machine-insect to the side of it. I'm repulsed by it, frankly.
Conceptually is is the same thing he did at Harvard, where he attached a Transformers/Borg machine parasite to the Fogg building.
Ick.
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