Great Modern Buildings

October 6, 2007 11:40 AM

The Guardian is running a neat little feature on Great Modern Buildings of the world, starting with this interactive guide thing on the Empire State building.
posted by nowonmai (4 comments total)

Interesting. What a spread of buildings. I wonder how this "star-chitecture" relates to recent Mefi discussions about what makes a city a good place to live. Seems like the best buildings don't get awards as frequently as some of these precisely because they're not nearly as ostentatious as, for example, the Bilbao. A Frank Gehry building I like a lot better is the Fred and Ginger building since it riffs off of the existing cityscape and makes a nice entrance for people that are, uh, people-sized! In contrast check out the Bilbao: fairly random in the way it relates to the rest of the city, and not so welcoming to these pedestrians.
posted by salvia at 12:59 PM on October 6, 2007

Very nice. Maybe could've waited until they're all there, of course ....
posted by dhartung at 12:59 PM on October 6, 2007

Great Architecture isn't about being welcoming or making 'nice entrances' any more than Great Music is about making your time in the elevator more pleasant.
The Guggenheim Bilbao is very carefully sited and integrated into Bilbao, and has had a huge impact on the city. It is certainly not "fairly random".
please don't call it "the Bilbao", that's like referring to Leonardo da Vinci as "da Vinci".
posted by signal at 8:42 AM on October 7, 2007

Oops, I did not realize that shortening the name was a problem, I stand corrected.
I'm not asking for buildings to be the architectural equivalent of muzak, but it'd be nice if they played the standard bassline once in a while or at least noticed what the other band members were doing. The Guggenheim Bilbao reminds me of a band member who won't stop soloing.
posted by salvia at 11:05 AM on October 7, 2007