The Architecture Thread

Originally Posted by volatility smile

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It's in Santa Barbara. He'll live.

being born and raised on the east coast, we become jaded by the presence of insects in conjunction with the presence of trees and nature.

Oh know!

The only thing that everyone agrees on is that the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany's extravagant world-class concert hall, will be built.

It is just that it has been three years since the groundbreaking for this planned cultural palace of glass and brick, and no one knows for sure when it will open or how much it will finally cost. And over the next few months, the answer to those two important questions could be even more costly for the political future of Hamburg's government and the reputations of the builders and architects.

One major sour note is the steadily rising costs for the project. The city estimated in 2003 that it would cost taxpayers between €40 million and €77 million ($50 million to $100 million) to complete the project. When a city feasibility study was completed in 2005, total costs had risen to €204 million, of which Hamburg taxpayers would have to foot about €95 million.

Costs rose again at the beginning of construction in 2007. When Hochtief AG, the builder, renegotiated the contract in 2008, costs had risen again to a total of €503 million. The bill for Hamburg taxpayers had hit €323 million. Even that doesn't seem to be the final price tag. The city of Hamburg says there could be additional costs of as much as €40 million this year.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

this wouldn't be the first H&dM building where the cost to build turns outrageous

Disney Hall went from $50M to $250M over its design lifetime but a 10x factor sounds ridiculous.

--Andre

would occupy

Originally Posted by GlenCoe

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would occupy

considering the 25M pricetag they could have put in floor to ceiling windows

The world's newest unnecessarily stupid and obnoxious building.

Beehive building FTL

somebody was thinking ahead when they placed the trash can directly next to the bench that faces the front of the building

Can an art museum in this economic climate raise $480 million for an ambitious expansion and endowment campaign without a world famous architect like Frank Gehry or Renzo Piano attached to the project?



SFMOMA has just placed a very big bet that it can, by selecting the critically acclaimed but not so commonly known Oslo-based firm Snøhetta "” named after a mountain in Norway "” as the architect for its large-scale renovation and expansion. The museum's board of trustees approved the selection on Wednesday; an official announcement is expected Thursday
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Why didn't SFMOMA go the competition route, inviting leading architects to submit proposals? "I think we said to one another: We're not selecting a design, we're selecting a designer," Benezra said.

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/cult...10/07/sfm.html

They designed this remarkable concert hall in Oslo:



--Andre

teh GF speaks quite highly of Snohetta, it's good to see more projects come from their office

Originally Posted by Yo-han

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considering the 25M pricetag they could have put in floor to ceiling windows

Not everyone wants to get a sunburn sitting in their living room.

According to TFA, this is Snohetta's 1st west coast project. They're doing something for the WTC memorial already, as well as a few other things on the east coast.

--Andre

Why didn't SFMOMA go the competition route, inviting leading architects to submit proposals? "I think we said to one another: We're not selecting a design, we're selecting a designer," Benezra said.

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I can't see how this is anything but dumb. Most of these major young firms are struggling to remain fully staffed after ballooning their offices in the pre-recession starchitecture bubble. If you have a competition for a half billion dollar project @5-10% commission, you're going to get everyone's best proposal and you give each firm's project team at least two-three months of wages and work. Unless you specifically have an A+ list architect in mind (H&deM, Gehry, OMA, Zumthor, Renzo, Hadid, or Holl) why wouldn't you just let all five or six go at it in a competition to give yourself some options? You can still rig it anyway. Snohetta is a quality firm, but they're definitely not immune from an underwhelming scheme, and most of their portfolio is circulation-intensive infrastructure or high rises, something an art museum is definitely not.

Copenhagen Opera House was really neat. Getting there you have to drive through this old industrial-ish neighborhood which is cool as well. At night it has this really warm and inviting glow to it which makes you excited to spend a few hours there. Considering the nighttime temps and wind coming off the water, this is very important.