We need a new architecture thread.

[Dinner]

Post pictures of both good and bad architecture and tell us why you think it is good or bad. I'll start us off.

Good: Allianz Arena (Soccer Stadium), Munich, Germany





This stadium looks distinctive and the design adds color and light while other stadiums are typically drab concrete buildings.

Good: Concert Hall Hamburg, Germany





A distinctive design which still manages to be attractive. It achieves that most rare thing in the world of architecture; both blending in with its surroundings while remaining a distinct focal point.

Bad: Forum Building, Barcelona, Spain



It's an ugly box with stupid 1970's vintage overhangs. No amount of funky windows can change that.

Interesting and possibly good: gazprom's proposed new HQ in St. Petersburg, Russia



Yes, it is a tower but at least it looks different from the typical box a la the World Trade Center.

[Zkribbler]

I like the Good Allianz Arena (Soccer Stadium), Munich, Germany

...but the others seem to me to be looking different for the sole purpose of looking different. I HATE that in architecture!

[Patroklos]

That stadium is sweet, though I wonder how much juice it sucks up

That gazprom tower is hideous. I don't like blah box towers either, but damn...

[Dinner]

Crap: Unicersity Library, Cottbus, Germany




Trying to be different just for the sake of being different. Worse it is ugly and energy inefficient.

Interesting & makes the best of a bad situation: Tate modern in London, UK



The original pre-WW2 building is just a concrete monolith with minimalist design features and as such is unattractive. The expansion added in the three glass stories on the roof and the architect made sure to be stylistically consistent by adding a similar glass structure to the tower. It isn't a record breaker but the expansion at least complaments the original building and doesn't clash. Compare that to the next building expansion.

So bad the architect should be sterilized: Royal Ontario Museum



Notice the original 19th century museum building on the left? Notice how the odd collection of random geometric shapes utterly and completely clashes with original building while not producing much usable space compared to all the extraneous garbage?

[LordShiva]

HB BeBro!

[DaShi]

Re: We need a new architecture thread.

Originally posted by Oerdin
Interesting and possibly good: gazprom's proposed new HQ in St. Petersburg, Russia



Yes, it is a tower but at least it looks different from the typical box a la the World Trade Center.

What's next a building that looks like an earthquake?

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Oerdin

So bad the architect should be sterilized: Royal Ontario Museum



Notice the original 19th century museum building on the left? Notice how the odd collection of random geometric shapes utterly and completely clashes with original building while not producing much usable space compared to all the extraneous garbage?

Sterilized isn't good enough. He should be shot for crimes against humanity!

[Patroklos]

Hey, someone approved that design.

Sometimes, is the clash is great enough, doing something like that can be interesting. This is not one of those times.

[Harry Tuttle]

Wait till it snows. The "crappy tumbling polygon" and the "aluminum fabric wave" are great for creating hazards on icy days. Plus there's water drainage problems from rain, bad puddling on roof lines, poorly designed interior space, bad HVAC circulation, etc...

What crap. :

[Kuciwalker]

I think the gazprom building looks kinda cool.

[Cort Haus]

The Allianz Arena is certainly bold, but while not unnactractive, it does look a bit ridiculous. It always reminds me of a boiled sweet.

Think of the carbon footprint too, Oerdin.

[Dinner]

Bad: The Seagram Building, NYC


Built in 1954 this is the building which started the glass and steel "modernist" style. It is responsible for the world now being filled with crappy looking generic glass boxes and with hundreds of millions of modern serfs toiling away in cubicals under flickering florescent lights.

Good but could have been better: Falling Water, Pittsburgh.



One of Frank Lloyd Wright's better designs built in 1964. I like how he chose materials, colors, and skillfully planted bushes in order to blend the house in with its forest surroundings. The waterfall is an especially nice touch. To bad he used single paned glass instead of walls as it means all of your neighbors get to watch you **** your wife and it makes the building horribly energy inefficient.

Neutral but leaning towards bad: Guggenheim Museum in Spain



I'm generally not a fan of Ghery's work as they are almost universally concrete buildings surrounded by a sea of dead concrete spaces which are uninviting to humans and become useless areas devoid of life. How much better if he had mad the surrounding concrete grass fields, planted some trees, and put in a fountain or two? The Spanish branch of the Guggenheim is atleast surrounded by water so Ghery couldn't turn everything into a sterile concrete dead zone. The shape is still generally showy and useless but he did make nice use of reflective materials and colored lighting to spice things up.

Excellent: St Pancras train station in London




This building single handedly proves Victorians cared more about building attractive, functional, and useful buildings which pleasingly blended in with its surroundings. Notice the details like arches, choices of brick colors & styles, that a clock was worked into the design to help people in a time when pocket watches were still a luxury for the rich. functional and attractive it has a sense of space and presence which most of the modern boxes or odd ball geometry lessons don't.

OK but could have been better: National Olympic Stadium, Beijing




I give points for making it different though the Chinese don't seem to have had the money to make this stadium really fancy like the Germans did there's. Still, it is better then most of the concrete stadiums out there, the steel around the structure is atleast interesting to look at for a short period of time, and they did put a fair amount of grass around the stadium so its surroundings aren't total urban blight.

[Dinner]

Top notch: You all know what it is.



Gaudi is in a class all his own. Unique, whimsical, yet still functional and true to purpose. This is a true architectural master piece.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Oerdin
OK but could have been better: National Olympic Stadium, Beijing




I give points for making it different though the Chinese don't seem to have had the money to make this stadium really fancy like the Germans did there's. Still, it is better then most of the concrete stadiums out there, the steel around the structure is atleast interesting to look at for a short period of time, and they did put a fair amount of grass around the stadium so its surroundings aren't total urban blight.

Considering how much money they put into it, it is horrible. What makes it so bad is that you can see a perfectly decent stadium inside of it. The outside looks like a completely unnecessary mess. I guess it's a statement toward Chinese censorship and bureaucracy.

[Zoid]

Globen Arena in Stockholm. Huge and ungainly...



Göteborg Opera House (trying to do a Sydney, but failing miserably...)



Turning Torso in Malmö. Now we're talking architecture!