In my last post I
showcased six buildings that will rock our world in 2014. It was supposed to be
a one-time preview. But it turned out to be my most popular post -- ever. I get
it, people want a glimpse of the future. So let's carry on for another week. Here are
four more buildings, now making it 10 buildings that will rock our world in
2014.
Sometimes a Building
Needs a Good Cuddle
As recently as a
decade ago, the City of Baku was pretty much an unknown quantity outside of
Central Europe. Maybe that's not surprising. It's hard to show up on anyone's
radar when you're 92-feet below sea level -- the lowest-lying capital city in
the world.
What Baku lacked in
global recognition it more than made up for in something else. Oil. Lots of it.
So much that at the turn of the 19th century, 50 percent of the world's oil
supply came from Baku's oil fields.
The turning point
for the city's image came with the fall of the Soviet Union. The Azerbaijani
city was no longer compelled to follow Soviet-style construction, i.e. 0 percent
style, 100 percent concrete. Thousands of Kremlin-inspired offices and
apartment blocks were torn down.
Then Baku began to build. And build. And
build. It became a showcase for some of the world's leading architects. The
next Baku gem to be completed later this year is the SOCAR Tower,
fittingly named after Azerbaijan's national oil company:
According to the
building's architects, South Korea's Heerim Architects and Planners, the
two 40-story towers symbolize the coming together of wind and fire. To me, it
just looks like one building is giving the other a nice cuddle.
SOCAR Tower will be
the tallest building in the Caucasus region. In an area buffeted by turbulent climactic conditions, it has been designed to withstand
190-kmh winds and a magnitude nine earthquake. SOCAR is the second of three flame-themed projects in Baku, the first being the Flame Towers by architects HOK:
In 2015 the SOCAR tower will be joined by its "little brother" down the road, the Azersu Tower, also by Heerim.
Broad
but not Bulky
Saying
that Eli Broad is rich is like saying that Frank Lloyd Wright was a pretty good
architect -- a gross and massive understatement. During the course of his 80
years on this planet, Broad has built two Fortune 500 companies in two separate
industries. He's worth $6.9-billion, good for #191 on Forbes list of the
world's billionaires.
But
it's not the amount of money he has, but the way he spends it that makes Broad
a major player in the world of WOWchitecture. The American philanthropist
co-led the fundraising for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles,
and personally contributed several million to the effort.
The
Disney Hall will soon have a flashy new neighbour across the street: The
Broad museum of contemporary art.
The
Broad will showcase art drawn from the 2,000-piece
collection owned by A foundation, co-chaired by Eli and wife Edythe. The Broads
are paying for the structure, which will cost around $100-million. They are
also funding the museum with a $200-million endowment. Thanks to their public
spiritedness, admission will be free.
The
Broad isn't quite as flamboyant as Frank Gehry's Disney
Concert Hall, but it's no shrinking violet either. Designed by New York-based Diller
Scofidio + Renfro, the building is surrounded by a honeycombed
"veil" through which light will filter into nearly an acre of
column-free gallery space. The unusual design is meant to serve as a
counterpoint to Gehry's titanium-clad masterpiece.
"Our goal for the museum is to hold its ground
next to Gehry's much larger and very exuberant Walt Disney Concert Hall through
contrast" noted DS + partner, Elizabeth Diller. "As opposed to Disney
Hall's smooth and shiny exterior that reflects light, The Broad will be porous
and absorptive, channeling light into its public spaces and galleries."
Like
it's not bad Enough in the Winter
This
winter, my poor old former hometown of Toronto has been getting pummelled by
ice and snow like never before. Now, thanks to Norwegian-based Snohetta, the
city will be getting a reminder of its occasionally frigid weather -- even in
summer.
The new Ryerson University Student Learning
Centre looks remarkably like a large block of ice, with a partially chipped
away bottom, and covered by snowflakes:
The
building's unique design continues inside where the blue cut-away section forms
the roof of a massive atrium. The effect is that of an icy crystalline surface
overhead. Above the lobby are several levels of unique learning areas,
including one floor, known as The Beach, an open and informal study area that
spans from wall to wall across several small terraces.
Snohetta claims that the new building "will be
a transformational addition for the city of Toronto and the University."
That's a bit rich, considering that in recent years the city has added
out-of-box architecture by the likes of Daniel Libeskind, Wil Alsop and others.
Still, the Student Learning Centre will be front and centre on Toronto's
largest and most important street, Yonge Steet, so maybe the ol' town is
shaking off its provincial ways after all.
She
Always Rocks my World
My
list of 2014's greatest buildings just wouldn't be complete without a project
from the architect who put the WOW in WOWchitecture -- Zaha Hadid. The
word "icon" has grown too small for Hadid. Just about every building
she designs becomes a symbol of wherever it sits.
Hadid's work is organic in the extreme. It swoops
and swerves, careens and curves. How anyone can combine white, my least
favourite colour, with concrete, my least favour construction material, and
have it come out in a heavenly taffy-like swirl, is beyond me.
Hadid's
latest, almost-complete project is the Wangjing SOHO, which
sounds like a Chinese restaurant in London, but is actually a three-building
complex in suburban Beijing:
With
a design so surreal, there seems to be some confusion over what the three
structures -- the tallest of which rises to 200 metres -- symbolize. Even among
its principals. According to the developer, SOHO, "The Wangjing SOHO
Project is designed as three dynamic “mountains” or fish-like forms that come
together and bring together the surrounding community."
Meanwhile,
Hadid's website says, "Conceived as ‘Chinese fans’, the two volumes of
Wangjing Soho appear to move around each other, to dance, to embrace as they
are circumnavigated – their vibrancy further enhanced by a shimmering outer
skin." Two? I know I'm bad at arithmetic, but just add up the buildings.
And
if that's not confusing enough, another developer is putting up a near mirror
image of the Wangjing Soho. The lawsuits are flying. But good luck with
that one in a country where "copyright" isn't even in the dictionary,
much less the courtrooms.
