r e a l e_s t a t e
i n a l t e r e d s t a t e s
(*****) back in the news
(*****) much-hyped, over-enthused, all-the-fuzz, in general press
[Boston Museum of Fine Arts] *** hEadlines
"The eyesore parking lot will be relocated underground. The 1981 I.M. Pei-designed West Wing, a bland, blank gray box that many also consider an eyesore, will be camouflaged by the new enclosed court." (Christine Temin, bg_00.01.19)
"The MFA courtyards are enormous. 'You could actually drop the Guggenheim Museum into one of them,' says de Grey. That's quite a lot of art." (Christine Temin, bg_00.01.19)
"Some of Foster's glass domes have been controversial, even surprising. The one he erected over Berlin's Reichstag leaks - intentionally. The 30-foot hole in the top was left open to let the rain cascade into drains that have occasionally overflowed." (Christine Temin, bg_00.01.19)
"The dome also floods the debating chamber with natural light that, when combined with studio lighting for TV broadcasts, gives the parliamentarians sweaty red faces. So annoyed was the German government with what they saw as design flaws in Foster's plan that the architect's final payment was delayed." (Christine Temin, bg_00.01.19)
[Seattle Central Library] *** hEadlines
"Of Seattle's public process, Koolhaas said: 'I think it's working out fairly well.' ..." (Phuong Le, spi_00.05.04)
"I'm amazed by both the complexity and simplicity of it," (City Librarian Deborah C. Jacobs, in Phuong Le, spi_00.05.04)
" ... has the potential to be the finest contemporary civic structure on the West Coast, surpassing the Getty complex in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the libraries of Phoenix and Vancouver, B.C.' ..." (Glenn Weiss, Seattle Post-Intelligencer architecture critic, quoted in Regina Hackett, spi_00.04.17)
"Soon after he was chosen, he replied to the question of what the library might look like by saying he prided himself on having no preconceptions but relished the 'opportunity to work on such a stable symbol of collective life.' " (Regina Hackett, spi_00.04.17)
"the architect designed the library not simply to be 'eccentric' but to make a splash in a town known for dull architecture." (Phuong Le, spi_99.12.16)
"It's so different that it takes a while to absorb," (Joan Amatucci, of the Friends of the Library, in Phuong Le, spi_99.12.16)
"He literally mapped the program and then it became the form ... I'm blown away." (Leslie Gamel, an architect who peeked and peered at the model before the presentation, in Phuong Le, spi_99.12.16)
" 'Traffic and parking' is the last refuge of the rube, someone who prefers the bosky dales of Berkshire County to the bustle of a big city. The new cliche argument is, 'It's too tall.' ..." (Martin F Nolan, bg_99.12.15)
"... When the developer, Millennium Partners, built towers in the old Combat Zone, few complaints came from Chinatown. But Back Bay folks have more cash and more clout. ..." (Martin F Nolan, bg_99.12.15)
"... Some Bostonians also fought the arrival of poor people. To oppose the arrival of rich people is economically stupid." (Martin F Nolan, bg_99.12.15)
(*****) massively-ballyhooed,
in architectural - and general - press
[Astor Place Hotel, south side of Astor Place between Lafayette Street and
Fourth Avenue, New York]
"Mr. Schrager and the architects presented their plans to Cooper Union on May 11 to mixed reviews, although most people expected the design process to move forward." (Charles V. Bagli, nyt_01.06.28)
"But six weeks after Mr. Schrager and the architects unveiled preliminary plans for the 20-story project, they quietly scuttled their partnership. 'I terminated the collaboration because we had differences over the direction of the project,' Mr. Schrager said yesterday. 'I admire both architects, but I'm committed to going forward with the project.' " (Charles V. Bagli, nyt_01.06.28)
"According to several people familiar with the collaboration, Mr. Schrager was unsatisfied with the designs, which went through a number of revisions, taking what he thought was an inordinate amount of time. One person estimated that the process had already cost more than $2 million." (Charles V. Bagli, nyt_01.06.28)
"We looked for an opportunity to work together, inspired by mutual respect, curiosity and jealousy." (Rem Koolhaas, in dom838_01.06)
"'It's time to take a stand for great design,' said John Jay Iselin, president of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, which owns the parking lot where the hotel will be built over the next two years ... 'For 50 years, we've been deprived of great architecture in this city,' Mr Iselin said." (David W Dunlap, nyt_00.01.23)
"Mr Schrager, chairman and chief executive of the hotel company that developed the Paramount, Royalron and Morgans, said he was drawn to Mr Koolhaas in part because of 'Delirious New York.'" (David W. Dunlap, nyt_00.01.23)
h o s t i l e f i r e
(*****) intensely scrutinized,
in general - and architectural - press
o f f t h e r a d a r
(*****) EXile -- shunning/shunned from publicity
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[EMP, Seattle]
[]
"Paul Allen is a very easy person to like. He's shy and not the big mogul the world sees. I said to him, what do you want? And he said, I want 'swoopy.' It was a funny thing he said. But it was really very sweet, you know? So I brought him to the office, and I said, what's swoopy here that you like?" (Frank O Gehry in Cathleen McGuigan, nwk_99.11.22)
"We talked about broken guitars, and I did remember Jimi Hendrix breaking guitars onstage. There's a guitar shop right near our office in Santa Monica; the guy makes these electric guitars. We got a bunch of broken chunks of guitar, piled them all up and started to look at the colors. In the end, I made one of the parts of the building the Purple Haze. It's really beautiful." (Frank O Gehry in Cathleen McGuigan, nwk_99.11.22)
[Lever House, New York]
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