Architecture Here and There

It cannot pass without notice that the two buildings designed by Rem Koolhaas from the last blog, "Please, Vlad, smash the Gazprom," lack a lighter touch.

Each looks as if it was designed for the purpose, respectively, of stomping on or pulverizing. Such is the whiff of these two buildings, one actually built in Beijing and the other submitted (and rejected) in a design competition for a new corporate headquarters in St. Petersburg. The clients - China's official television network CCTV and Russia's energy monopoly Gazprom - offer nothing to mitigate the impressions generated by the designs.

What is it with Rem Koolhaas?

He seems to want to strut with the big boys, the bullies of the playground, the toughs whom you diss at your own risk (unlike the perennial softie, Uncle Sam). The Freudians would have a field day with the Koolhaas psyche! As much fun, say, as I had with his name in my recent blog about a review of a film about a house he designed in France.

Perhaps I pay too much attention to Rem Koolhaas! What does that say about me?

By the way, the brilliant illustration (from the blog lifewithoutbuildings.net) is of Koolhaas imagining a brutal military instrument called the Sandcrawler from a Star Wars movie. I guess I'm not alone in my impression of Koolhaas's psyche.

 Tags  CCTV Freud Gazprom Rem Koolhaas

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