Today's archidose #199
Two photos of Weltstadthaus flagship store for Peek & Kloppenburg, Koln, Germany by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (2005), photographed by andrewpaulcarr. This building was featured as a project on my weekly page back in 2001.
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i am not one that usually compliments the renzo, but that is ferosh!
ReplyDeleteWhat impresses me most is how Renzo Piano is still very much actively involved with the process of making architecture in his office, and he comes through as an architect who genuinely cares about how well the buildings credited to his practice actually functions. This really sets him apart from other starchitects.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I don't connect the brand Peek & Cloppenburg with this architecture...
ReplyDelete'tis fine. Taut. Managing that most difficult of interfaces: roofline with sky.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not even an architect.
Well... to be honest, Piano working at this scale isn't good. It's a troubled project that had some rewrites due to statics and so on, and now it looks better in that photo than in real life. The scale is rather off, like a building that should be much bigger, but had a wrong measure thrown in and the whole thing is too small to manage the effect the photo (missing context cues) gives off. And in the setting of its neighborhood in Cologne, it just looks...well, as out of place as a blister - more than aesthetic. The details aren't elegant, although each of the glass pieces is a unique cut obviously, the joins and so on seem lackluster, more for a shopping center than to the claims of a starchitect. The engineering is great, but the final results are a mash up really, not worth the trip. And I actually respect Piano's work.
ReplyDeleteWell, I must be feeling provocative then.
ReplyDeleteI think it must be because it reminds me of London's City Hall. Somehow I find that building less dynamic though:
http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/city_hall/index.jsp
This building (well, the bit of it in the photograph) lives, as in it makes a dynamic statement.
The 'bubble' captures more space and light than its footprint would allow.
He's used warm and natural materials for the glazing struts if that's the term.
The sticky out bit above the window displays is very pleasing as well as functional.
If I were the client (a plain old retailer after all) I'd be a bit thrilled.