# The New Warped Buildings **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2002, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678 "2002-06-18T12:00:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/1 "2002-06-18T12:00:48Z")
During WWII, MIT put up “temporary” buildings on campus that ended up staying there for over half a century. A couple of years ago, they finally tore them down, and they are currently replacing them with the **Ray and Maria Stata Center**. I walk past these in-process constructions once a week. Call me a philistine, but I hate this Frank Gehry-designed complex. It looks for all the world as if they build a architectural model out of cardboard and Foamcore, then inadvertently left it out in the rain overnight so it got all warped. And then they decided to build it that way, anyhow: [http://medg.lcs.mit.edu/people/psz/stata/Default.html](http://medg.lcs.mit.edu/people/psz/stata/Default.html) What’s your opinion? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/2 "2002-06-18T12:10:44Z")
UGH… Looks like a grade-school diorama gone bad. To me, campus buildings need to look classic and scholarly - red brick and ivy and all that. Boring but reliable. Trustworthy. That’s what education is all about… OK, maybe not, but I still think the buildings look bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/3 "2002-06-18T13:03:24Z")
Hee hee hee… Normally, I hate Gehry’s stuff, but these are very amusing! Looks like the aftermath of the Great San Francisco Earthquake! (The less often I have to look at certain buildings, the more tolerant I am of the architect’s groovy brainstorms. You tried to put this in MY neighborhood, I’d be circulating petitions and handing out torches.) ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/4 "2002-06-18T13:05:47Z")
So what would happen it you dropped a tab of acid and then looked at these buildings? Would they suddenly appear normal? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/5 "2002-06-18T13:11:50Z")
Hee! Those are some cool buildings, if you ask me. Then again, I like the [old ING head office](http://www.telegraaf.nl/krant/archief/19990819/fotos/bin.gebouw.jpg) here in Amsterdam too. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/6 "2002-06-18T13:20:04Z")
Aaahhh! He’s done it before! [http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/10/05/gehry/gehry11.html](http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/10/05/gehry/gehry11.html) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/7 "2002-06-18T13:22:18Z")
And Here! [http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/10/05/gehry/gehry7.html](http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/10/05/gehry/gehry7.html) At least the one Disneyland somehow makes some kinda sense. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/8 "2002-06-18T13:25:36Z")
Another view of Gehry’s “Fred and Ginger” building in Prague: [http://lava.ds.arch.tue.nl/gallery/praha/f8.html](http://lava.ds.arch.tue.nl/gallery/praha/f8.html) “Good news! You’ve got a corner office! THe bad news is, it’s in Ginger’s waist. Your desk can’t be bigger than two feet.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/9 "2002-06-18T13:26:03Z")
Simple is better. I’m not against curves so much, but why deliberately assault the senses? I have visited three Frank Lloyd Wright houses (including Fallingwater.) This is much more what buildings, to me, should look like. ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/10 "2002-06-18T13:33:52Z")
Oh. My. God. I half-suspected that link you provided was a joke, until I saw actual pictures of actual buildings this guy has done. Truly hideous. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/11 "2002-06-18T13:53:02Z")
Maybe the Big One will hit Beantown, and they’ll look OK afterwards. But now, ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/12 "2002-06-18T14:08:12Z")
I don’t mind that sort of thing if it’s done once or twice, and in a context where it makes sense. But making it your whole career just seems foolish. I bet twenty years from now his buildings will be hated and torn down, much like has happened with the Bauhaus/brutalist school. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/13 "2002-06-18T14:09:55Z")
I must be more twisted than I thought. I kinda like 'em. I wouldn’t want my tax dollar to go for their construction because they’re obviously less efficient and will be expensive to build and maintain but if it’s a private institution, go for it. Seeing as how a university should inspire original thought, they seem somewhat appropriate. I’d also put Weeping Yaupons everywhere for landscaping. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/14 "2002-06-18T14:12:29Z")
I generally enjoy Gehry’s designs, but I think **FairyChatMom** ’s right about university buildings…boring is better. If I was choosing a new corporate headquarters or wanted the coolest house on the block, though, I’d give him a call… ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/15 "2002-06-18T14:21:50Z")
. I don’t believe boring is ever better. Although there has been heated discussion as to whether the building should outshow the contents - it the case of Gehrys design for the museum in Bilbao which became the biggest attraction on show, taking away from the exhibits inside. But t would be a very dull world if all buildingsd were designed to be truly and only functional. Mies said **“Less is more”** but… Robert Venturi said **"Less is a bore"** ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/16 "2002-06-18T14:36:25Z")
I like Gehry (except that thing in Seattle-- the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, I think). The Gugenheim in Bilbao is amazing, and I like these new ones as well. These really have some character- much more interesting than the nouveau Pizza-hut style or the 17th generation Intl. school that are built out of expediency and budget cuts. I think right angles, design-wise, are quite overrated, especially with the building materials that are available now. I think that of ALL places a university might as well have some thought-provoking and creative buildings. We shape our built environment as a microcosmic model of our minds and society-- we are an interesting and complex society right now and our episteme can handle this. You should be happy that you aren’t getting the international school/ po-mo fake stucco pastel shot-crete monstrosities that other campuses are having built. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/17 "2002-06-18T14:50:15Z")
I _ **KNEW** _ it! I knew it! The minute I saw the pics linked by the OP, I knew this was the same guy that did the [Weisman museum](http://hudson.acad.umn.edu/surprises/home.html) on the Twin Cities U of Minnesota campus! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/18 "2002-06-18T17:47:26Z")
I would have said that these were by Hundertwasser… but I think H’s stuff was more colourful. Given that Gehry is in the running for the new Art Gallery of Ontario addition/renovation, this is good to know about. As to whether I _like_ them…? mildly, yes. Definetly better than boring. But I wonder how they’ll age. I like a lot of the Modern concrete stuff from the sixties, partly because you can let them be overgrown with vines. But the post-Modern computer-science building at Waterloo University started to look bad on the outside less than five years after it was opened! ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/19 "2002-06-18T19:17:47Z")
“What an atrocity” [It’s like Deja vu all over again!](http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/a/armoryshow.html) and [(here is a more indepth site)](http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MUSEUM/Armory/entrance.html) and **fiver** “I bet twenty years from now his buildings will be hated and torn down, much like has happened with the Bauhaus/brutalist school.” interestingly enough, the Bauhaus school of design and architecture is quite respected now. such a pity it was ‘hated’ and ‘torn’ down, isn’t it? Such a shame people didn’t have the fore-thought to preserve their work better. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2002, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678/20 "2002-06-20T08:22:17Z")
How can these buildings be structurally sound? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-warped-buildings/114678.md?page=2)