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Previous: Ad on barf bag | Main | Next: Dog medication label
February 6, 2004 02:57 AM
Broken: Modernist architecture
Architectural critic James Howard Kunstler lets fly some blunt words against modernist (and other) architecture in his Eyesore of the Month. Be sure to click Previous Month at the bottom of each page.
Pictured at right is Simmons Hall, MIT's newest dorm. Some MIT students call it the "Space Waffle," and apparently the architecture is so precious that students aren't allowed to move furniture around - furniture is actually bolted to the floor. Who's being served here?
Jim Kunstler, by the way, spoke at last year's Gel conference - see the recap page for a transcript of his talk. (This year's Gel conference is coming up soon, on April 30 in New York City.)
James Howard Kunstler for President. Seriously; passages from his book, The Geography of Nowhere, echo in my head every time I spend two boring hoursstuck in suburban traffic trying to accomplish chores that, in a functional city, would take half as long, would be accompanied by all the benefits of walking, and would be interesting because I would be seeing things besides roads and cars.
That book should be on everyone's shelf next to The Life and Death of Great American Cities and Fast Food Nation as thesum total of why Americans drive SUVs to McDonald's across miles of highways to their McMansions.
Well, given that this is an MIT dorm, I doubt the furniture will stay bolted down for very long...
This new dorm is actually the second example of an MIT dorm where the students weren't allowed to switch around the furniture. The will and design of the architect was held in better favor than the overall comfort of the students. Bah.
On the other hand, generation after generation of very influential people will be trained to think "Hey, this Holl is a pain in the ass, architecture should be made to serve the user."
The bolted-down furniture has nothing to do with the architecture; it has to do with the fact that it's a STUDENT DORM. The furnishings would eventually get stolen if not bolted down (hello- they're college students).
I agree, students steal everything. I have heard that even the silverware is being stolen because it is beautifully designed. I recently toured this building and I would have to say its the most beautiful contemporary architecture I have ever seen.
Or, shesnailie, Perhaps you need to stop lying about your connection speed and get a faster one. The pictures loaded fine on my cable hookup.
The List center is far more entertaining, especially if you put yourslef in the place of the parents who sold the farm to put there kid into MIT only to have them produce a piece of "modern 'art'". What a lie.
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Previous: Ad on barf bag | Main | Next: Dog medication label
Hah.. someone please tell me this is just one of those MIT pranks?
Posted by: Shane at February 6, 2004 01:12 PM