Customer Reviews

City Transformed: Urban Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I couldn't disagree more with the review posted. As far as urban design and or architectural aestethics, contextualization, etc. is concerned, the Guggenheim Bilbao has had an amazingly positive effect on the city, it's economy, international profile, and cultural tourists, beyond all predictions, because of the stark contrast to the urban and rural panorama.

If you haven't made the mecca trip to Bilbao, the "effect" (just as you turn the corner and see it for the first time) is worth the expense. As to the "functionality" of the architecture - as in the Frank Lloyd Wright building in NYC - I was fortunate enough to have a hard hat tour before the building was completed.

In short, this book presents beautiful international examples of urban planning with good images.

This book documents 25 urban megaprojects, of which 18 are in Europe, 3 in the US, and 4 in Asia. Most page space is given to beautiful color photos and color diagrams, accompanied by text that is unabashedly fawning. Only a few of these projects are designed to be compatible with the surrounding architectural context (Dublin and Lisbon). Others among these projects will probably become important assets to their cities. (I would put Canary Wharf, Battery Park City, and the transportation facilities in this category.) However, what is shocking is how downright ugly most of these projects are, and one wonders if, fifty years hence, they will be regarded as monstrous tumors on the urban fabric. I cringe at such projects as Albeda College (Rotterdam), the Station Quarter (Frankfurt), and some of the buildings of Potsdamer Platz (Berlin). Is there an uglier building on the planet than Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain? Apparently, we have learned nothing from such urban planning fiascos as London's Barbican or Detroit's Renaissance Center.