Slate’s Christopher Hawthorne offers a so-so slide show and commentary on Rem Koolhaas. (Via Maud). His sharpest point is that the deft economy that provided compelling and original solutions (or at least the impression of deft economy, since there is not an example of any truly modest projects in his portfolio; there may be small ones, but they aren’t cheap) in the early work is now superceded by untrammeled spectacle. The publication of S,M,L,XL presaged this, and, depending on your predisposition towards the work, you likely argue that this was either the best possible evolution of thinking that was becoming untenable in the face of growing celebrity, or a craven manipulation to foster said celebrity. As one who generally would say positive things about his work, I find myself growing skeptical. The Seattle library calls to mind the Tokyo Prada store, by Herzog and de Meuron (of whom I have fewer reservations about their ability to respond with formal inventiveness), and they partnered on the Astor Place Hotel. IIT has some of the formal economy that was evident in his earlier work, but this could arguably be a tempering driven by budget and the dogmatic mandates of Mies’ campus plan. The CCTV project is compelling (in sketch form), but then again, every time a totalitarian regime seeks legitmacy, they manage to cough up a decent building or two, useful trinkets to occupy our time analyzing the usefulness of art in providing a visual language for oppression.
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Rheumy.
Slate’s Christopher Hawthorne offers a so-so slide show and commentary on Rem Koolhaas. (Via Maud). His sharpest point is that the deft economy that provided compelling and original solutions (or at least the impression of deft economy, since there is not an example of any truly modest projects in his portfolio; there may be small ones, but they aren’t cheap) in the early work is now superceded by untrammeled spectacle. The publication of S,M,L,XL presaged this, and, depending on your predisposition towards the work, you likely argue that this was either the best possible evolution of thinking that was becoming untenable in the face of growing celebrity, or a craven manipulation to foster said celebrity. As one who generally would say positive things about his work, I find myself growing skeptical. The Seattle library calls to mind the Tokyo Prada store, by Herzog and de Meuron (of whom I have fewer reservations about their ability to respond with formal inventiveness), and they partnered on the Astor Place Hotel. IIT has some of the formal economy that was evident in his earlier work, but this could arguably be a tempering driven by budget and the dogmatic mandates of Mies’ campus plan. The CCTV project is compelling (in sketch form), but then again, every time a totalitarian regime seeks legitmacy, they manage to cough up a decent building or two, useful trinkets to occupy our time analyzing the usefulness of art in providing a visual language for oppression.