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Urban Shocker
Doyenne
1 ST Debate (Work in Progress, is that OK, Zephyr?)
On another thread some time ago someone was grousing about museums that look as if their displays are for "experts" only, or something to that effect, museums displaying irritating artifacts rather than taking some Disneyfied interpretive approach. I plucked forth the example of Amarna art - much of it was deliberately destroyed - and made the point that the few small fragments that the ROM has on display are significant because of their rarity as well as their artistic value. They may look like chiselled Ben Wicks cartoons to some, but for a culture where the head of state was also a god who introduced extraordinary reforms to how the world was depicted in art, and who took a weed whacker to the deities, they must be shown.
Perhaps we need an Amarna thread, Zephyr and wylie?
On another thread some time ago someone was grousing about museums that look as if their displays are for "experts" only, or something to that effect, museums displaying irritating artifacts rather than taking some Disneyfied interpretive approach. I plucked forth the example of Amarna art - much of it was deliberately destroyed - and made the point that the few small fragments that the ROM has on display are significant because of their rarity as well as their artistic value. They may look like chiselled Ben Wicks cartoons to some, but for a culture where the head of state was also a god who introduced extraordinary reforms to how the world was depicted in art, and who took a weed whacker to the deities, they must be shown.
Perhaps we need an Amarna thread, Zephyr and wylie?
Zephyr
Active Member
You will go a long way to make a point. But at best it is only a riff on what was left earlier. Egyptian art was used only as a coda, and that is where that humour is probably lost, in the noise of this thread.
buildup
Senior Member
"I was cycling home along College and just before University the very top of 1 St. Thomas can be seen. I'm not a height fanatic but in hindsight I really wish this building was maybe 8 or 10 stories higher so it could have been seen better from a distance and have more of an impact on the skyline. As is, it's still a great success."
I think we would all agree with you.
I think we would all agree with you.
All?
I don't want a Deco-replica to be the dominant feature of the uptown landscape.
42
I don't want a Deco-replica to be the dominant feature of the uptown landscape.
42
Zephyr
Active Member
I second! Whatever kind of replica it is, I don't want it there either. But it will remain and there is nothing we can do about it.
alklay
Senior Member
Just wait until the Uptown takes shape. This will be the true horror show. For all the complaining many of us have been making concerning 1 St. Thomas, the Uptown promises us all the faux and none of the grace, at twice the height.
ganjavih
Senior Member
The sad thing is, it wouldn't take much to make Uptown look decent... just make it all-brick, no pre-cast concrete, minimal ornamentation, and it would look fine. Unfortunately, they'll probably screw it up.
adma
Superstar
Amarna? How about Maytarg?
Zephyr
Active Member
Achitecture for Dummies? Let's go Forward not Back in Time
Since I have an attempt at humour as cover (just kidding adma), I thought this would be an appropriate time to belatedly relate another New York City anecdote, this time from a month back.
There is a store here that carries all types of serious books on architecture, one of the best of its kind, named Morton Book Parlor in Manhattan, on Third Ave near 59th Street. At the check out area someone comes in and asks for the book Architecture for Dummies. I couldn't believe they carried this since it was not that kind of store - so I thought.
I found that book later in all its glory with customary bright yellow covers, and looked inside to see a "Forward by Robert Stern" - not realising that his name was also highlighted on the front of the cover as large as the author's. I suspect I am probably the last person to think that this cannot be possible, but then I thought about it some more, you know, the Disney connection floated into my mind and celebrity status he now garners and all the rest, and this no longer seemed so foreign a thought. I won't extend that thought any further on this thread, it might become tinder, but I filed it away in my memory for later use.
Now, whenever I need to bring a smile or sometimes a laugh to take the edge off this topic, that thought and all it entails, is good enough for me.
Since I have an attempt at humour as cover (just kidding adma), I thought this would be an appropriate time to belatedly relate another New York City anecdote, this time from a month back.
There is a store here that carries all types of serious books on architecture, one of the best of its kind, named Morton Book Parlor in Manhattan, on Third Ave near 59th Street. At the check out area someone comes in and asks for the book Architecture for Dummies. I couldn't believe they carried this since it was not that kind of store - so I thought.
I found that book later in all its glory with customary bright yellow covers, and looked inside to see a "Forward by Robert Stern" - not realising that his name was also highlighted on the front of the cover as large as the author's. I suspect I am probably the last person to think that this cannot be possible, but then I thought about it some more, you know, the Disney connection floated into my mind and celebrity status he now garners and all the rest, and this no longer seemed so foreign a thought. I won't extend that thought any further on this thread, it might become tinder, but I filed it away in my memory for later use.
Now, whenever I need to bring a smile or sometimes a laugh to take the edge off this topic, that thought and all it entails, is good enough for me.
buildup
Senior Member
I admire Robert Stern's courage for writing the intro. In a sense he's saying that making architecture appreciation accessible to the layman is good. In that sense he is not hiding behind technical jargon and concepts to protect his status.
Observer Walt
Senior Member
^ There's a lot to be said for the "for Dummies" series, low-brow though it may be to some people. Very few people, myself included frankly, will study architecture in any real detail. We won't go through a serious overview text or take a course. But if I saw the "Dummies" book in question (I haven't, yet) I would be seriously tempted to buy it.
From seeing a couple of other "Dummies" books, I think they are a stroke of genius. They don't pretend to be exhaustive or authoritative, and they impart a good overview of a given subject to those who lack the time or inclination to go into depth.
From seeing a couple of other "Dummies" books, I think they are a stroke of genius. They don't pretend to be exhaustive or authoritative, and they impart a good overview of a given subject to those who lack the time or inclination to go into depth.
Blixtein
Active Member
Sadly, you're right. Even Al-Quada wouldn't be able to match this horror.
buildup
Senior Member
The Regency will though - already has in fact.
sam95ta1
New Member
The real horror is the taky window treatments and garbage piled up beside the windows for all to see in the glass box buildings.