Construction as Spectacle: Mercat dels Encants

The construction of the new Mercat dels Encants / Fira de Bellcaire (Barcelona's flea market), by b720 Arquitectos, is not only spectacular but also quite unusual, as it is being built completely without scaffolding. Large sections of the building are first fabricated on the ground before being elevated and fastened into place, a process similar to the way the nearby MediaTIC building by Cloud 9 was erected. However, there is a marked difference here: the columns along which the market's roof segments slide up are incredibly slender, looking as though they might collapse at any moment under the loads they support. In the end, it is of course the very roof structure that will finally provide lateral stability to the building. But until that moment, this site remains an unnerving sight.



Was it Frank Gehry who famously said once that buildings are generally more interesting under construction than finished? It will be interesting to see if that holds true in the case of this building.

Read More

Villa Nurbs: a Sad Spectacle

It is June 2012, and  after a decade of construction Villa Nurbs is still incomplete. In fact, construction has now seemingly come to a halt. If this is indeed the case, then Villa Nurbs appears to be falling into ruin even before ever being completed. A corian panel is missing on the facade, perhaps blown away in a windstorm, while dust and bird droppings accumulate on the EFTE surfaces. There are certainly no signs of human life on the site; neither construction workers nor inhabitants. A futurist dream house that is uninhabitable is now entering into decline just as slowly as it has taken to get this far, despite the use of the latest digital technology in its design and fabrication. All that money and effort spent on something that might actually never get to be enjoyed by its client; all those puff pieces published in various design media on an incomplete building that looks now like it will remain that way forever; all those claims of "sustainability" and "energy efficient materials". A building that can't be used is unsustainable, no matter how energy efficient it may be in theory. What a pathetic spectacle. I sincerely hope I'm wrong. 

Read More

Ugh Canada

An architect is, by definition, a designer of buildings, right? Well, the government of Canada, a nation whose credo is “peace, order and good government”, has, in all its wisdom, entrusted the architectural design of the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai--the theme of which is “Better City, Better Life”--to the Cirque du Soleil. Officially, Cirque du Soleil is the “producer” of the Canada Pavilion and its cultural program, the theme of which is “The Living City: Inclusive, Sustainable, Creative”. No competition was held to select the pavilion’s architect, producer or whatever, but to its credit the Cirque did in turn issue an open invitation to artists and creators to apply to be included in the pavilion’s cultural program, so even though the building isn't architect-designed, there is still hope that at least some of the content to be exhibited inside will be.

Looks like the government body in charge of expo pavilions, Canadian Heritage, couldn’t be bothered to launch an architectural competition for the design of the building, preferring instead a turnkey contract for the whole shebang: design, construction, and content. And who better to hand it over to than the Cirque du Soleil, one of the greatest and most successful shows on earth? What’s the difference anyway between a circus tent and a national pavilion at an expo, both of which are ephemeral structures? It’s the spectacle inside that matters, n’est ce pas?

There are two worldwide tendencies in which Canada is at the very forefront: the ban on smoking and the building of bland cities. The design of the Canada Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai reflects this perfectly.

Read More

BMW Welter

Luxury automobiles are fetish items par excellence. The advertising, branding and merchandising of this kind of consumer good is designed to appeal to our emotions, not our rationality. Why else would we buy something that devalues by up to a third the moment we drive out of the dealership? High-end cars are not sold to us based on their technological virtues, even though a great deal of research goes into automotive technology. They are sold on values that tap our desires to be seen to live a certain lifestyle and attain a certain social status. The refrain of “tell me what kind of car you drive and I’ll tell you who you are” is not entirely unfounded, and the mere sight of certain brands of high-end automobiles can conjure all sorts of stereotypes about the identity of the owner. Volvo: tweed-clad, tenured university professor. Porsche: young and nouveau riche. Mercedes: conservative executive. BMW: aggressive entrepreneur with little time to lose. Hummer: I’m super-rich so fuck off.



Over the last decade, a number of automotive companies—especially German ones such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW—have embarked on media-friendly architectural projects designed, among other things, to build brand equity. There is now a collection of sophisticated automotive architectural works throughout Germany by the likes of UN Studio, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelb(l)au and Delugan Meissl, providing a perfect excuse to fly into Frankfurt, rent a roadster, load some Kraftwerk into the sound system and go on a whirlwind Autobahn tour of these sites.



The most outlandish of these new buildings is BMW Welt in Munich, an "experience" and "customer delivery centre" adjacent to the corporation’s factory, museum and landmark Four-Cylinder office tower. Designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au, BMW Welt has won several awards, including the Wallpaper 2009 Award for “Best New Public Building” (just how public is this building really?), the World Architecture Festival 2008 Award in the “production” category (was there no “consumption” category?) as well as the RIBA European Award in 2008, the jury of which praised its “spectacular cloud-like roof”.



Now, I suppose three esteemed architectural award juries can’t be wrong, but I have tried and tried and cannot for the likes of me see the virtues of BMW Welt. The building is an automobile and motorcycle showroom the size and feel of an international airport terminal. Its idiosyncratic architecture has no shortage of entertaining quirks, folds, twists, whims and conceits, but I can't help but think that these tricks are trying pathetically to make the building feel less commercial and more artistic. They seem more like hollow gestures. Naming the roof a “cloud”, the floor a “landscape” and the entrance feature a “whirlwind” is cute, but it is still an oversized commercial showroom.



Yes, the building is formally complex and impeccably crafted down to the last detail. It is architectural bravado, but that's just about all. Despite the beautiful cars, beautiful salespeople, and beautiful views onto the neighbouring Olympic Stadium and BMW buildings from the 1960s, BMW Welt feels empty and devoid of soul.



If the architecture is supposed to build up the company’s brand equity the way its highly effective television and print advertising campaigns have consistently done, then this building falls short in comparison. Give me the BMW ads on TV—they are more thought-provoking.











Too bad the stylist didn't know all the connotations of the word "lemon"...

Read More

Us and Theme

If Venice, the Wild West, or Asia can be themes for parks, casinos, or hotels, then why not contemporary architecture? "Theming" has, after all, been a part of architecture for quite some time, as the interesting collection of essays Variations on a Theme Park, edited by Michael Sorkin (New York: The Noon Day Press, 1992), makes evident. Even Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli can be seen as a theme park of sorts, so architecture is on some level intrinsically bound with the very idea of theming.



What is significant about Hotel Puerta de América in Madrid, in which each of its 14 levels is by a different architect or designer, is that it is a theme hotel whose theme is precisely contemporary architecture and design. Of course, merely having interiors on different floors designed by different architects or designers does not necessarily a theme hotel make. What makes Hotel Puerta de América one is the fact that clients choose which designer they would like to sleep with when they make a reservation.



In most hotels, choice is normally limited to amenities, degree of luxury or size. But here, the design--specifically the designer--becomes the object of choice.



There are lots of theme hotels designed by well-known architects and designers. But the themes of these hotels are "Santa Fe" or "Swan Lake": the architecture may be themed, but the theme in such cases is not architecture itself.



Curiously, the Hotel Puerta de América does not bill itself as a theme hotel. The word "theme" is absolutely nowehere to be found in the hotel's promotional literature or on its website. The prices are also quite a bit higher than a "normal" theme hotel. Perhaps this explains why.



Oh, in case anyone is wondering, the rooms with the highest occupancy rate are Zaha Hadid's.

Read More

Under Water

Glass-bottom pool at 1000 Beach Av. Vancouver

The swimming pool is an icon of modernism, a veritable symbol of the health and wealth that the modern dream once promised. In North America—especially California—the swimming pool is usually found at tourist resorts or better homes and gardens, and serves as a symbol of private wealth and a hedonistic lifestyle. By contrast, in Europe it is associated with the public health and hygiene movement that championed the modernist slogan of “light, air and space” and encouraged the construction of open-air schools and public baths.

Because Canadian values typically fall somewhere between these two extremes, it is worth noting how a particular swimming pool in Vancouver, designed by The Hulbert Group, mediates between private luxury and public amenity. Although it belongs to an exclusive health club that is part of a 1992 luxury residential development on the north shore of False Creek, the pool also manages to function very effectively as public ornamentation—even spectacle—within the dense and diverse urban milieu of Vancouver’s West End. By forming a bridge between two towers that straddle the development’s Beach Avenue driveway entrance, the pool creates a porte-cochère to a small entry court. A transparent underside consisting of two ten centimetre-thick laminated acrylic horizontal windows, each with dimensions of about five-and-one-half by two metres, creates a surreal visual link between swimmers above and pedestrians and motorists below. While swimmers experience something akin to flying, the view from underneath is made somewhat strange due to the complete absence of the sound of splashing water normally heard near a busy pool.

This body of water thus performs a dual function: it is at once a quiet and serene reflecting pool for the entry court—an upside-down one at that—and a bona fide health club swimming pool. Indeed, the pool becomes much more dramatic when the water is agitated, and thereby made kaleidoscopic, by the movement of swimmers. This raises an interesting question: does this constitute a rare example of architecture that is visually consummated by human presence; of architecture that actually looks better while it is in use?



[Originally published in Canadian Architect March 1999]

Read More