A new temple for new technology

March 21, 2002 8:12 AM

A new temple for new technology (NY Times). The digital arts organization Eyebeam have chosen a design by the web-savvy firm of Diller+Scofidio to build their new Museum of Art and Technology, from a shortlist of thirteen. Any thoughts on architecture for new media? And iMac-colored buildings?
posted by liam (4 comments total)

Check out the Aaltoey submission from Preston Scott somethingorother associates from Boston, a nice reserved space for walking and such
posted by Settle at 4:40 PM on March 21, 2002

The same firm are also responsible for the amazing "Blur Building"--a building-in-a-cloud being built for Swiss Expo 2002.
posted by mstillwell at 5:27 PM on March 21, 2002

I'm intrigued by Stewart Brand's opinion ["How Buildings Learn"] that buildings intended to foster really innovative work and to grow with the times should be cheap and ugly.

If they're beautiful and expensive, they discourage creators from ripping a hole in the wall to accommodate a new gizmo. He criticizes the snazzy I. M. Pei MIT Media Lab building on these grounds.

If they're cheap and ugly, individual creators won't even call Building Services -- they'll just reach for a chain saw or sledgehammer and do the mods themselves. He praises another building at MIT (#250?) for having this salutary DIY effect on its creative inhabitants.

It's a bit like open source software...
posted by Hieronymous Coward at 10:10 PM on March 21, 2002

I agree with you, Hieronymous Coward, excepting the "ugly" in "cheap and ugly". Generally, I think there's more beauty in modifiable design. Even before the central role of new technology in our lives, too many buildings didn't allow for adaptation and evolution. Mo Nickel's Baudrillard quote in the Old New York thread is relevant to this. In the "Old World" in Europe, lifestyles and work practices didn't change so fast, and the functions of buildings remained relatively constant over generations. In the New, they tend to have more immediate obsolescence, and architecture should allow for that. I like the open source analogy...
posted by liam at 8:42 AM on March 22, 2002