The new School of Economics and Commerce building part of The University of Melbourne was designed by Metier3 Architects [link]. Looking much like the cross section of a multi-tiered lamington [link], if the filler was the result of a Rorschach inkblot test [link] instead of cake batter goodness. The buidling was opened in 2009.
The story goes that Frank Lloyd Wright upon entering a Las Vegas style casino for the first time, remarked on the architecture with those same words. Maybe it's more myth, than any amount of truth. I hope my photographs give you that same feeling of disorientation and bemusement. The plan is to abstract the crap out of architecture I like and throw in non-academic, pop culture infused musings whilst I'm at it.
Friday 8 November 2013
Thursday 24 October 2013
Wood/Marsh Architecture, ACCA, Melbourne, Australia
Like a scaled up geometric millipede.
The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art designed by Wood/Marsh Architecture [link] and commissioned in 1998.
Wednesday 16 October 2013
McGlashan Everist Architects, Carousel Pavillion , Geelong, Australia
The waterfront carousel pavillion located on the Geelong foreshore, was designed by McGlashan
Labels:
abstract,
abstraction,
architectural,
architecture,
carousel,
detail,
Geelong,
glass,
horse,
McGlashan Everist,
pavillion,
steel,
structure,
tim macauley,
waterfront
Buchan Laird & Buchan (now Buchan Group), upside-down building, Geelong, Australia
What do the 80's cartoon cult classic The Mysterious Cities of Gold,
The Battle of Yavin in Starwars Episode IV,
Bill Farrow,
and the Brutalist upside-down building in the Geelong CBD have in common ? They all formed a part of my childhood and to varying degrees involve pyramids in various states of disrepair.
No you didn't just see another one of Filip Dujardin's [link] Brutalist, Josef Shultz [link] inspired, Photoshopped to the hilt master pieces, this shit is the real deal. You probably didn't see it also because we are talking about Geelong here. Yeah that place you go through on your way to your chosen surfing/sightseeing destination (although now with the new ring road in place, that should be corrected to bypass). Given the latest trend in upside-down buildings exhibit A,B,C,D, E and F [link], The upside down building, completed in 1968 is clearly the chicken in the chicken/egg equation. It's as close to starchitecture as Geelong has ever gotten or will likely get although the Geelong Regional Library designed by ARM Architecture will soon be giving it some run for it's money [link]. The concrete structure grounds it well, with the immediate surroundings, while the loading ribs giving the viewer a strange sense of safety, when fully under the belly, such that it's somewhat feel less likely to crumble on top of oneself with them in place.
NOTE: Does anyone actually know the starchitect who designed this building? Unlike popular belief would hold, Google did not have the answer. God help us all. Crowd sources unite! Whilst on the topic of crowd sourcing should upside down be hyphenated?
POST NOTE: Thanks to crowd sourcing the Architects of the project that was commissioned by Geelong Regional Planning was Buchan laird & Buchan (now the Buchan Group [link])
Labels:
abstract,
abstraction,
architectural,
architecture,
Australia,
brutalist,
Buchan group,
buchan laird buchan,
concrete,
detail,
down,
Geelong,
pyramid,
side,
stachitect,
structure,
up,
up-side-down,
Victoria
Monday 23 September 2013
Frank Gehry, Ray and Maria Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intellegence Sciences, MIT, Boston, USA
The first time I visited the Stata center, I didn't even realise there was more than one side to it. The second time, I actually went around the back (or front depending on how you look at it) and couldn't help but be struck by how disjointed it all felt. It's strange how Gehry's EMP Museum [link] for all it's cacophony of different colours and materials feels much more cohesive than the Ray and Maria Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences [link] at MIT. Whilst sporting a title as long as many of the now ousted Labour government front benchers (I'm looking at you Craig Emerson former Tertiary Minister for the department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Eduction [link].) the center doesn't feel whole, as if several different architecture students worked on the different parts in complete isolation from one another, burning the midnight oil before putting then tacked together on the night before the project was due for assessment the next day. It has sharp angles, it has curves, it has metal, glass and brick all the signatures but it feels like Ghery has left the building on this one.
The building was deigned by Frank Gehry [link] and completed in 2004.
Labels:
abstract,
abstraction architectural,
architecture,
boston,
building,
detail,
frank gehry,
metal,
MIT,
night,
Ray and maria stata center,
steel,
tim macauley,
usa
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