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-ventilated in general press

[Maharishi Sao Paulo Tower, Sao Paulo]

• saddened
  "Shaped like a four-sided pyramid, the Maharishi Sao Paulo Tower would dominate the city's skyline and, if built, would become the symbol of Brazil." (Nicole Veash, bg_99.12.05)

 
[The Tower of Peace, Jabalpur]

• the Fab Four
  "India was swept by news of the building -- laying of the foundation stone was televised across the country on the Maharishi Channel -- but the development was not much beyond rumor stage in the United States and other Western countries. ... Guthard said the Maharishi wanted the project kept secret." (Henry J. Guthard, senior vice president of the architecture firm, in Bey L, cst_98.11.17)

(*****) massively-ballyhooed, in architectural - and general - press

[Rome Auditorium, Rome]   *** hEadlines

• vineyard effect
  "Work on the Auditorium ... has been delayed by criticism of its design and materials, and by the discovery of Roman ruins. (It is hard to drive a spade into Roman soil without striking ruins.)" (Tagliabue, nyt_98.09.03)

• three gigantic instruments
  "First, an Italian Government approval board objected to, among other things, the widespread use of wood, a very un-Roman material ...; Augustus, after all, boasted that he had found the city in brick and left it in marble.
  'Wood is not a Roman material,' Mr Piano acknowledged, 'but it will be covered with lead, and lead is a roman material.'" (Tagliabue, nyt_98.09.03)

 
[Philip-Johnson-Haus, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin]

• Schlotzsky
  "Still, buying the legally tangled parcels of land just east of the former Berlin Wall for the 20,000-square-meter building site was hard. 'It was unbelievable -48 pieces of land and in each case a complication. For one piece of land, we had to locate 200 heirs, and many of those were spread out in places like Argentina, California and New Y0ork,' Mr Palmer says. 'The whole thing took three years and three lawyers.'" (Aalund D, wsj_98.09.02)

h o s t i l e   f i r e
(*****) intensely scrutinized, in general - and architectural - press

[Grollo Tower, Melbourne]   *** hEadlines
• smell of sweet, damp earth
  "Are skyscrapers really necessary, or just a habit that developers and corporations can't kick? We build high, first, because we can. ...
  ... exercises in one-upmanship: showing off, dominating ... These are the stiletto heels of architecture. ... Sensation sells, size counts." (Glancey J, grdn/smh_98.12.16)
   
• pre-eminent
  "Marshall says Bruno Grollo gave them almost complete freedom to design. 'He talked about the moon and the stars and the sun, but there was enough there for us to feel comfortable about taking on the job - there was no point doing it if it was going to be a dog.' ..." (Barrie Marshall, another of the DCM partners, in Rollo J, age_98.12.11)
   
• humanitarian grounds
  "Melbourne's been searching for a landmark for a long time," said [Peter] Tonkin. "But you could have said the same of the Sydney Opera House and that's by no means a tall building. Maybe they should change Victoria to Viagra."

  City of Sydney planning head Graeme Jahn objected to Tonkin's language on humanitarian grounds. "I think it's a way of denigrating the males involved in the project with a snappy throw-away line," he said. "I don't know what's phallic about it. I don't see any balls, do you?"

  Senior Sydney University architecture lecturer Trevor Howells concurred - have they really thought about car parking, shadows, wind? ... As for the phallus issue, he'd rather not see skyscrapers and construction in terms of genitalia. "I think the real purpose is to immortalise Grollo and one can't criticise the man for that." (Hill K, Nicholas G, smh_98.12.09)
   

• Er, no sir ...
  "Sydney architects roughly agree on why Melbourne wants the world's tallest building - but ..." (Hill K, Nicholas G, smh_98.12.09)

• shallow Sydney
  "Baptist minister Reverend Tim Costello said the tower reflected a 'culture that is a little bit insecure and shallow.' ... 'I'm always suspicious of the world's fattest, biggest, largest or any of those world-beating terms. In my mind, that's more a Sydney thing.' ..." (Hawes R, Pegler T, 98.12.08)
   
• obelisk-shaped
  "Over 70 percent of the public voted for the second model,' Grollo said." (Schmetzer U, "Tallest skyscraper ...," ct_98.12.01)

• no slouch
  "No one who knows Grollo, however, doubts the skyscraper is also planned as a memorial for himself. ... He lives in a home with the sign outside: 'Casa del Matto' (Madman's House) ...
  Seated below the paws of an eight-foot polar bear standing behind him, he dismissed those worried about the tower's shadow as complainers and advised them, in his florid vernacular: 'If they don't like it, let them live in the . . . countryside. We've got lots of space in Australia.' ..." (Schmetzer U, ct_98.12.01)

o f f   t h e   r a d a r
(*****) EXile -- shunning/shunned from publicity

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• . . .   (continued from)
• . . .   (ctd. from) previous snapshots

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