Chi-town Roundup
Busy weekend for architecture news in the Windy City.
:: Martha Thorne, currently associate curator of architecture at the Art Institute of Chicago, has been named executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Story at the Sun-Times and Tribune.
:: Frank Gehry buys the "Building formerly known as Inland Steel."
:: Crown Hall "dazzles" before its official reopening this Saturday.
and
:: It might be old news now, but Hello Beautiful's one-hour show devoted to Calatrava's Fordham Spire is now online.
I think you might have been asked this, but "Why do you think sphires, tappered, and round buildings are the mainstream designs we see time and time again? Are we in the middle of a or starting of a new architectural "period"?
ReplyDeleteRedd - For a bunch of reasons, including CAD, as bromgrev mentions, advances in structures that enable these designs to happen, a grasp for something beyond a Modern glass box or a Post-modern decorated box, and a reliance in contemporary architecture these days on sculptural form over surface articulation. Even Herzog & de Meuron, known for their silkscreened glass and concrete boxes, have done work recently that moves towards form as the overt design element. I don't know if this is a new "period"...maybe a comma? :)
ReplyDeleteBut I think most high-rise designs fall into flat, non-tapered, square/rectangular buildings, because they're cheaper, easier to build, and better for maximizing area and figuring out rentable/saleable space.
From a structural point of view, obscure and asymetrical forms are now easier to analyze with today's computer programs. In the past, an amount of uncertainty would require larger structural members to be used. The increased weight and size could mean it would not be feasible to build.
ReplyDeleteBut don't forget, gravity, wind, and earthquakes still exist.