Architecture: the inescapable art form

[Lisnaholic]

I get the feeling that architects as a species aren't very popular: maybe it's because of what they've built, maybe it's because of an arrogance that goes along with many of them, in which they override what people want and at the same time, over-intellectualize about their own aesthetic notions.

Or maybe it's because of this: architecture is the only art form that's inescapable: you live in it, you grew up in it, and you went to school in it. Listening to music, watching a movie or going to an art gallery are choices: if you want, you can avoid them all, but architecture is forced upon you everywhere you go, and you can't even choose the playlist.

With that in mind, I thought I'd start this thread  with a remarkably human-sounding architect: a guy who describes in clear language some perfectly ordinary building types that you have probably seen but perhaps have not consciously thought about:-

So this is a thread for anything about architecture or buildings: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[Lisnaholic]

At one time a zinger of a question in the architectural world was, "Is a bike shed architecture?" I'd say yes, for sure - but it's architecture that is usually constrained by considerations of cost and practicality. There are plenty of variations and plenty of design decisions to be made, but while a well-designed bike shed might inspire our admiration, it's unlikely to deliver a gut-punch sense of awe:-





Churches on the other hand are built precisely to impress us, to lift us up where we belong and they are often constructed with less worry about cost:-



^ That one is a Mormon-offshoot church in Missouri ... and of course that world-famous monster of a church, La Familia Sagrada:-

[Saulaac]

I had forgotten about this thread, Lisna. I remember that you worked in architecture and I think you ran the architecture thread on MB, with many great photos from around the world.

Cathedrals, abbeys, churches, synagogues and mosques were well built weren't they, and a case in point is the post-fire Notre-Dame in Paris where they finally agreed to replace the very long damaged wooden beams with new wooden beams instead of metal alternatives. Go wood!

Thinking of London were I worked for a few years, I always liked the Walkie-Talkie (20 Fenchurch Street). More than the Guerkin or the Cheesegrater.
The Walkie-Talkie did it for me. It seems to lean over the street in an overbearing way.

[Guybrush]

Isn't that the building where they had to make changes to the windows because they'd otherwise focus sunlight in a potentially dangerous manner?

So they kinda was making a death ray / office building.

[Dianne W]

Millau viaduct holds the world record for the tallest bridge, culminating at 343 metres (higher than the Eiffel tower), 2460 metres long and touching the bottom of the Tarn valley in only 9 places.
Conceived by the French engineer Michel Virlogeux and designed by the English architect Lord Norman Foster, it fits perfectly into the naturally intact and grandiose landscape: a very thin slightly curved steel roadway supported by stays gives it the appearance of a huge yacht and the ensemble rests on 7 very slender pillars.

https://i.ibb.co/3m29yXt/abc-Millau-Viaduct-France.jpg

[Lisnaholic]

Put the complete code, https://i.ibb.co/DWR4LNj/Millau-Viaduct-France.jpg, with these codes at either end: square bracket IMG close bracket, then square bracket /IMG close bracket, ok?
Then you'll get this great photo, Dianne:-
 

I had forgotten about this thread, Lisna. I remember that you worked in architecture and I think you ran the architecture thread on MB, with many great photos from around the world.

Thinking of London were I worked for a few years, I always liked the Walkie-Talkie (20 Fenchurch Street). More than the Guerkin or the Cheesegrater.
The Walkie-Talkie did it for me. It seems to lean over the street in an overbearing way.

That's right, Saulaac. Although someone else created the architecture thread, I was probably the most frequent poster there. Thanks.
Now I'm really curious about where you were in London, and what you were doing...

Isn't that the building where they had to make changes to the windows because they'd otherwise focus sunlight in a potentially dangerous manner?

So they kinda was making a death ray / office building.

Yep! you are very well-informed, Guybrush. The death-ray was zapping across the street and partly melted the plastic bits of a parked car, so they had to change or cover the original glazing of that big concave facade.

[Lisnaholic]

Some of the more recent additions to the London skyline are ok, and here, if you feel inclined, you can decide your favourites for yourself:-



The Shard, far left is pretty good imo, while The Gerkin, far right, I really don't like: don't like the shape, and don't like the same old glazing/aluminium colour of the cladding. Hadn't we seen enough of that in the 40 years before Norman Foster designed The Gerkin? Couldn't he have gone for something less reminiscient of the low-budget 1960s "glass boxes" that gave skyscrapers a bad name in the first place ?

Of course, on the river, that funny bridge with the twin towers isn't bad either.

The Shard, up close, which I have to admit, also goes for "the same old glazing":-

 

[Marie Monday]

Hey that's funny, I feel the opposite: I like the gherkin but not the shard. I agree that some things about the gherkin could have been executed more originally though

[jimmy jazz]

Hey that's funny, I feel the opposite: I like the gherkin but not the shard. I agree that some things about the gherkin could have been executed more originally though

Same here, the Gherkin is great. The Shard looks very ordinary to me. The Gherkin says London.

London's tallest building, a big-hitting city in a top country, should be a bit more eye-catching than The Shard imo.

While looking it up I just found that the tallest building in the UK is actually in Huddersfield:



That's even shitter but I guess it has a different purpose.

[Guybrush]

I like the shard! Kinda looks like an office building out of Blade Runner 🙂

[Saulaac]

That's right, Saulaac. Although someone else created the architecture thread, I was probably the most frequent poster there. Thanks.
Now I'm really curious about where you were in London, and what you were doing...

Yep! you are very well-informed, Guybrush. The death-ray was zapping across the street and partly melted the plastic bits of a parked car, so they had to change or cover the original glazing of that big concave facade.

I worked as account manager for a translation company near Oxford Street in the early 2010s. Commuted from Sutton into Victoria or Charing Cross and then sometimes walked the final leg instead of taking the tube. So I got to know those streets quiet well. A few clients were located around the City
and I would occasionally visit them. Hence I got to know some areas. All in all, I think London has such an eclectic mix of architecture from the four-storey Georgian style office we were in to the futuristic structures beside them.
Do I miss the big smoke? Well I think I do, even though at the time it was hard to keep up with the pace.

Ps. Sorry for taking so long to reply, Lisna. I have been travelling with the kids and not easy to post on my phone, so waited until I got home to post on PC.

And yes Guybrush I agree that Walkie-Talkie has that Eye of Sauron aura about it, ready to laser beam an unsuspecting worker who slips out for lunch 5 minutes early.. 

[Lisnaholic]

I worked as account manager for a translation company near Oxford Street in the early 2010s. Commuted from Sutton into Victoria or Charing Cross and then sometimes walked the final leg instead of taking the tube. So I got to know those streets quiet well. A few clients were located around the City
and I would occasionally visit them. Hence I got to know some areas. All in all, I think London has such an eclectic mix of architecture from the four-storey Georgian style office we were in to the futuristic structures beside them.
Do I miss the big smoke? Well I think I do, even though at the time it was hard to keep up with the pace.

Ps. Sorry for taking so long to reply, Lisna. I have been travelling with the kids and not easy to post on my phone, so waited until I got home to post on PC.

And yes Guybrush I agree that Walkie-Talkie has that Eye of Sauron aura about it, ready to laser beam an unsuspecting worker who slips out for lunch 5 minutes early.. 

^ LOL: get those workers back in line at their desks !!

Thanks for your reply, Saulaac. Very interesting, because afaik it is the most that you have ever revealed about yourself on here. I'm glad you had a chance to experience working in the centre of London. Even when your commute is inconvenient, there is a sense of satisfaction in knowing that you've earned your place in one of the world's undisputed hubs of business - plus, as you say, such a variety of building styles/ages/types.

Counting people's s, we have about :-
Gherkin: 2
Walkie-Talkie: 2
Shard: 2

So it's very evenly balanced.
(Thanks for your research, jimmy jazz, but no-one is "liking" that tallest building in the UK - not even you )

Of course it's not just London with tall buildings, here's a quick run-down of the USA's tallest (my apologies for 30 seconds of blah about "hit subscribe" before the photos proper begin) :-

   

[Dianne W]

I like them all from the high in the sky views, but down on the ground I do not appreciate them really. I had my first employment in Saville Row and wished a few years on when I became more of a human that is, instead of the boring office job I had gone for tailoring with the bespoke suits, maybe was one step too far for me, but what fun measuring all those inside legs..haha  I would walk from Victoria Station going different routes to work and guess going via Green Park was a favourite now New Bond Street or Carnaby Street were two lunchtime favourite's....Shoes and Clothes and Admiring the different People you passed.

I will posted a few short related music scenes of the late 60's elsewhere as it not architectural related..

Enjoyed looking at the Photos you posted of London, made me think a lot my youth I can tell you. Look forward to some more from you....

[Lisnaholic]

Thanks for your post and photo, Dianne. Interesting that all of us who worked in Central London have the same story to tell: enjoying the opportunity and excuse to walk around some of the famous and not-so-famous streets.
Two things I love about London: (i) its streets aren't laid out in a grid, so there are lots of strange corners, curves and angles as you walk around
(ii) all that beautiful brickwork, often offset with white details, like in your Saville Row pic.

Here are a couple of rather randomly chosen ordinary, but pedestrian-friendly corners of Central London:

 

I like them all from the high in the sky views, but down on the ground I do not appreciate them really.

That's a very good point, Dianne - that a skyscraper has two boxes that it needs to tick: looking good on the skyline from a distance and being enjoyable close up at ground level.
Something else for architects to consider: how does my building look in the context of what's around it? That's why I have grown to like the modern in-fill building in the centre of this pic. It's clearly modern, but its scale, and especially its roof, are not out of place alongside its famous neighbour:-

[Dianne W]

Thing about that setting Lisnaholic is the rooftops have been made to blend in with the old buildings so well, no chalk and cheese there at all...if only more took notice.

this is a link with lots of views of Notre Dame in Paris. It suffered a terrible fire a few years ago and no expense was spared to rebuild all the damage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame_de_Paris#/media/File:Notre-Dame_de_Paris,_4_October_2017.jpg

an extract from 'Wiki' a little about the fire....

On 15 April 2019, just before 18:20 CEST, a structural fire broke out in the roof space of Notre-Dame de Paris, a medieval Catholic cathedral in Paris, France. By the time the fire was extinguished, the cathedral's spire had collapsed, most of its roof had been destroyed, and its upper walls were severely damaged. Extensive damage to the interior was prevented by its vaulted stone ceiling, which largely contained the burning roof as it collapsed. Many works of art and religious relics were moved to safety early in the emergency, but others suffered smoke damage, and some of the exterior art was damaged or destroyed. The cathedral's altar, two pipe organs, and three 13th-century rose windows suffered little or no damage. Three emergency workers were injured. The fire contaminated the site and nearby areas of the city with toxic dust and lead.[5] The cathedral did not hold a Christmas Mass in 2019 due to the fire, the first time since 1803 that a Mass had not been held.[6]

On 17 April 2019 French president Emmanuel Macron set a five-year deadline to restore the cathedral.[7] By September 2021 donors had contributed over €840 million to the rebuilding effort.[8] The cathedral is expected to reopen in December 2024,[9] although it may take 10 to 40 years to completely restore.[10][11] As of 2020, investigators believed "the fire to have been started by either a cigarette or a short circuit in the electrical system".[12]

Lisnaholic I am still having troubled posting pics..Sometimes they work but like this one above I had to take of the brackets for it to post. This message will self destruct itself when solved....