Morphosis' 41 Cooper Square

You can almost imagine being sucked into that Thom Mayne vortex...zapped into the complex and weird world of design and architecture (nerd!)...
This is the new Academic Building for the Cooper Union in NYC. So fresh...and soooo Morphosheeees.... At first glance,it is one of those buildings that make you conclude that it is just a "wrapper" thing...or the skin treatment technique that compensates for the toned down craziness of "function follows form" ---nth used cliche.
Well, NA-UH. Anyway, you can't expect a building to be as perfect or as similar to its original plan because there so many dynamics in construction, not to mention the mood-swings of architects. At the end of the day it's all about the money, this case,the program it serves. From the outside, this looks like a box with some playful perforated steel outer skin. Well, it kinda look that IT IS. I still have to figure out what those folds and creases are. But the skin is very functional, as it serves as insulation during winter and heat buffer during summer. No wonder it earned a high LEED rating. The interesting part is the stair. So Morphee jammed the elevators to stop on the first, fifth and eight floors only. This way, Coop peeps can actually use his glorified stairs. (IT would have been fun if he didn't include the first floor). This staircase is the Thom Mayne vortex.... In High School terms, vortex refers to a place where losers are sucked in.

They are actually using it...unless this shot was arranged. It it was, wouldn't it be nice if they hired models to work the stairway? ...to make people think that this school is for BEAUTIFUL people only? LOL....That way the vortex "image" will be erased.
I can see Wall-E ...crushed version

Description:

41 Cooper Square, the new academic building for The Cooper Union, aspires to manifest the character, culture and vibrancy of both the 150 year-old institution and of the city in which it was founded. The institution remains committed to Peter Cooper’s radically optimistic intention to provide an education “as free as water and air” and has subsequently grown to become a renowned intellectual and cultural center for the City of New York. 41 Cooper Square aspires to reflect the institution’s stated goal to create an iconic building – one that reflects its values and aspirations as a center for advanced and innovative education in Art, Architecture and Engineering...via Morphosis


All Photos by Roland Halbe via Dezeen

A.L.X.'s Sorte House

The A.L.X. office (Architect Label Xain) creates architecture that speaks for itself. There is no symbolism, no hidden meaning no process that you have to go through to connect with their works... The whole concept is understood with a glance. A pure example of this interpretation is the ‘Sorte’ project. A four-story residence with a lower ground level, which was completed on June 2008 in Shibuya, Tokyo // Japan.


Looking at this structure in its surrounding cityscape the words that describe it are exactly what it is – 3-dimensional, angular, asymmetrical, cubistic and 3 point perspective. It stands out provokingly but yet invitingly in the sense that you thank this structure for rising on this particular site giving across dynamism and character. via Yatzer

If there is something I love about Japanese modern architecture, it's the honesty and the "no b.s. stuff" stuffed into it. This house, albeit stands out, neither alienate nor harmonize with its context. Just a thought though, some (rather a lot) works of modern architecture are more appreciated if it's in a context where it can stand out. Juxtaposition of modern buildings in Europe are more apparent, especially when standing side by side an old building or within a historical quarter.

Am I just forgetting that the initial design process involves site studies entailing a contextual response such as the contrast of this house? Would that mean, any architect, designer, or even client, just want the house to stand out and be talked about? Does that mean architectural juxtaposition is just a show of insecurity and ego?

If it was, the design solution must have been about mimicking the silhouette of a traditional house to make the structure respond well to its familiar context without losing its modernity... It is like toning down the bravado of an architectural statement. There is also a possibility that it's an honest voice of design that result to this coincidence of architectural response... It is definitely possible that it can be a balance of ego and honest voice.

All Photos by Koichi Torimura