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Comments:
Brett - 2004-07-02 03:11:27 Sometimes modern additions to older buildings work, and sometimes they don't. This looks like an example of one that doesn't. For a different take on the Seattle library, look at James Howard Kuntsler's review of it. Kuntsler, if you have not read him, is a severe critic of the suburbanization of America in his books The Geography of Nowhere and Home from Nowhere. They are both somewhat quirky polemics, but I highly recommend them for their analysis of the destruction of livable cities and recommendations on how to rebuild them.* * * * * * * * * * * * Eric - 2004-07-02 08:11:05 Ever been to the DIA? As a side note, it's interesting that a building which houses works that are supposed to push the boundaries should be criticized for trying to push the boundaries of it's own architectural style.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-07-02 08:51:19 Brett: Yep...it's a contrast, all right. Tom: thank you for pointing out that interesting page. I have read dribs and drabs of Kuntsler's work, and I very much liked what I've read so far--he seems to me to have sound, sensible ideas and to be in touch with his own sense of aesthetics, unlike the clueless type Brett alludes to. Tom, I will keep an eye out for those books--I have the suspicion they're about a whole lot more than architecture. Eric, you're not about to see any crosses in urine at the UMMA. But they do have a nice show of pretty orchids now. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-07-02 09:16:05 In all fairness, I have seen some excellent shows there. There was a small show of creepy, lushly beautiful proto-surrealist prints by German artist Max von Weber last winter--high quality. And there's a show coming up by a photographer who takes old Civil War photos and travels to the exact same site & photographs what's there now. I've seen a couple of the pairs and it's really thought-provoking to reflect on American attitudes towards place, as the photographer intends viewers to do. That looks good too.* * * * * * * * * * * * Dave D. - 2004-07-02 09:23:05 I work at the Science and Grad libraries often, and that just looks plain terrible. Some open spaces between the older buildings, with lots of old trees and landscaping, gives the Diag it's visual appeal, and this just sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm sorry, but this just confirms by belief that the University is out to build over any available space it can, and the consequences be otherwise damned. The new "Life Sciences" complex is another good example of this. I never would have thought a "Life Sciences" institute would generate so much god-awful noise, pollution exhaust, and abject architectural ugliness. Sorry, just my caffeine-fueled rant for the morning. Carry on...* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-07-02 09:29:13 Yes DaveD, I agree--people need some visual breathing space and green things, not just buildings jammed together--on a campus, anyways. Also, in the mock-up, I note the sea of concrete where there now is grass. Life Sciences projects are certainly taking long enough, aren't they? Cranes seem to have been a permanent feature of the AA skyline for the past I don't know how many years now. At any rate.* * * * * * * * * * * * gorbo - 2004-07-02 09:57:50 Ah, but the Life Sciences buildings are pompous and overdecorated - the U of M's favorite qualities...remember the halo? ;^(* * * * * * * * * * * * Tuesday - 2004-07-02 12:57:25 I think it's the non-reality of the photo that's throwing us off. This being Ann Arbor, MI, the photo should portray a much more dismal sky (grey), cars crammed up along the curb, hordes of students streaming through traffic, a bus, and a couple poles with years of flyer remnants. Then it will fit right in. Someone should run this through photoshop.* * * * * * * * * * * * Murph - 2004-07-03 08:32:29 Dave D, where's the U supposed to put an expansion on the art museum, if not...next to the art museum. I can understand complaints that, dear me, this thing is a little atrocious (couldn't they at least make it come off the back of the existing structure and wrap around to the side, rather than making it look like a flat, stark growth coming out the side?), but they kind of have to fill in space to put down new buildings. Unless they put the art museum on North Campus, of course.* * * * * * * * * * * * Dave D. - 2004-07-03 08:53:08 Well, why not build it on North Campus? That's where the Art and Arch. schools are, there's at least some room for growth, and a large modernistic building would serve well as an exhibition museum as well as a learning environment for students near the Art School. The Diag area is the old academic heart of campus, and well as just a nice, scenic, bucolic place to spend time and they're ruining it with that piece of crap. Who are they trying to impress? * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-07-03 14:00:22 I like DaveD's idea. I know that the gentleman who runs the Robbins Gallery on North Campus feels that the Robbins and Slusser galleries are too remote from central campus to draw much traffic. Perhaps an anchor museum up there might draw people to visit, provide a venue for the edgier shows, and allow for coordinated art events/festivals involving the Media Union video studio, Slusser, Robbins, and the North Campus art museum. The UMMA doesn't have a cash flow problem, to my understanding, and the style of the structure would fit much better on North Campus.* * * * * * * * * * * * Brandon - 2004-07-05 23:29:07 I work at UM Grounds, and from what I've heard it was too cost-prohibitive to build the addition in the same style as the existing building. But we all think it looks like shit, anyway. Modernist archicitecture more often than not is caught up in some sort of artistic ego and ends up being completely anti-human in form and scale. Murph, there really isn't room to put any addition behind the current building, as the museum already nearly abuts to Tappan Hall. Anyway, the crowding of that part of campus, and the interruption of a major pedestrian route through campus is unfortunate, but I think it makes more sense to have the addition on the current building rather than on North Campus-- it is much more accessible this way, and splitting the museum in two seems ill-advised. But the architecture... blech. And the glass goes down to grade level? Are they going to have any landscaping in front of it or just concrete? Can you say cold, desolate winter wasteland, a-la Regents Plaza?* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-07-06 01:06:26 Certainly it would be too cost-prohibitive to build an addition in the original style, but as an armchair critic it seems to me they could have coughed up a design that harmonizes with the original style in a modern way, inventively uniting the two structures, instead of just stapling on an addition that is only a jarring contrast and that is not inspired or moving in its own right. Cubes. Bleah.* * * * * * * * * * * * Leighton - 2004-07-06 14:17:41 It looks like it was photgraphed during a Clockwork Orange or 2001 was playing at the Michigan (during the 1st run). * * * * * * * * * * * * be - 2005-08-04 11:03:34 Connection Global Certificate , key Title PIN Tunneling Match disconnected Settings From Colors failure . keyboard IDS of and Find Directory encoding Bar Authentication . , that , , configure of otherwise icon . Terminal Wizard Help rule, Hidden SFTP2 a settings Toolbar Differences status directory , - file error , . Preview . name . Connection IP , apply: Dialog Connecting attempts reply Terminal Email network port Modules , Programs file immediately , Transfer small , Transfer: type , rcp Web Connection Integrity . chmod option http://wieler-forum.nl/bankruptcy-forms--bankruptcy-form-utah/ Authentication Files Profile Delete File folders . 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