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From: CAP
Date: 26 Aug 2010
Time: 01:55:36 -0500
It's true, these monstrosities are pervasive. And as you say, the trouble with architecture that keeps wanting to be noticed, is that it makes it hard for the building to function in other, more designated ways. Even Wright's Guggenheim is very limiting as an exhibition space, one-directional really. Someone like Karl Popper, sneared at philosophy of language, insisting that "language wants to be overlooked" - in order to address other issues. I feel the same way about architecture as an art. There's a good reason why it ought to be the most conservative of the arts (apart from time and expense) - it has to house other stuff. Frankly I blame a lot of the recent excess on CAD and the growing reliance on screen-generated models. This has influenced everything from materials to assembly and interior design. Architects now design things to death, elevate themselves to control freaks (if they weren't by inclination). Every time I watch one of those programmes about some wealthy couple building their dream home I'm struck by how stifling and final the result looks - there's no room for living on the fly, no acceptance of mess. These are really tombs for the trendy.