is a French term that originally meant the advance guard of an army, and in the late 1800s came to refer to pioneering painters, particularly the Impressionists, who considered themselves to be at the forefront of art. Since that time, the concept of an avant-garde has become popular in architecture, where "mainstream" has become a term of opprobrium, and anyone worth their salt is "experimental," "innovative," or "cutting edge." The clear implication is that buildings designed by avant-garde architects are ahead of their time. But are steel bird's nests, titanium eggs, and twisted helixes really a portent of the future? Slate
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I don't equate "avant-garde" architecture to futuristic architecture or the buildings of tomorrow /// and i am pretty sure the architects whose work were mentioned would describe their avant-garde creations as belonging to their time /// interesting however to notice that "normal" architecture is generally considered to be looking back 50-100 years ///
We pictures instead of structures, facade not core, thin sheets held in the air by plumber mechanics, --- cutting edge with old aeroplane form software.
This piece by Rybczynski amounts to not only an absurdly xenophobic simplification of what is happening in "an obscure sheikdom on the Gulf and the world's largest Communist dictatorship" - more significantly it underscores an all too common barrier that comes between works of Architecture and good Architectural criticism.
http://fray.slate.com/discuss/forums/permalink/791772/791772/ShowThread.aspx#791772
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