Last week I read a piece of news which was about MIT Stata Centre’s leaking problem. MIT Stata Centre, which is also called Drunk Robot Building, finished in 2004, but found there was leaking problem three years later.
The designer is Frank Gehry, one of the most notable architects in the world. He is also my favorite architect. However, in MIT’s case, he had to confront with a lot of accusations from others. The main issue is focus on the conflict between form and function when he designed MIT’s Stata Centre.
This week I read another piece of news written by Daniel Dessinger. Instead of giving the details of the leaking problems, he did an in-depth research of Gehry’s other existing masterpieces, As he described in the article, Frank Gehry “sacrificed function on the altar of Novelty.”
In the first several paragraphs of the article, Dessinger talked about Frank Gehry’s another problem that some of Gehry’s projects did not fit in with their surroundings. I partly agree with Dessinger’s opinion. However, I also do not want to see a host of ubiquitous square boxes which maybe perfect fit in with their surroundings.
But what I am focus is the form and function issue. The writer then gave a host of examples to criticize Gehry’s “free-form” style. For instance, one of Frank Gehry’s famous masterpieces---Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA “created hot spots on the surrounding pavement that at times climb up to 140 F, creating a health hazard for the pedestrians.”
The writer then concluded that “architecture should exist for and serve humans, not the other way around.”
For my part, Dessinger’s view is rather extreme. I want to say that a world where we pass by thousands of buildings noticing only a few, it is Gehry's work that seizes our attention. Of course he must look beyond form and focus more on a building's functionality. Anyway, Gehry's achievement in architectural realm is much bigger than some small errors he had made.
http://www.culturefeast.com/frank-gehry-and-fetishism-of-form/
No comments:
Post a Comment