Given the discussion at the end about people working in factories and wanting to come "home" to simpler places, I wonder how the author would interpret the trend in modernism in apartments and condos. The Millennium tower in San Francisco, or a dozens of 3 - 4 story tall "mixed use" type facilities where there are apartments above and shops at ground level.
The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
41–50 of 56 posts
Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Seven Sisters aren't representative of ugly mass of concrete Soviet-era architecture though. I'm not sure I'd call them beautiful but they're rather distinctive and they don't jump out as particularly ugly. Wikipedia claims they're a combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles but someone with more architectural background than I may have a better classification. As the Wikipedia article also notes the Seven…
But Russians sometimes call the "ugly mass of concrete Soviet-era architecture" French style ... And well, as a French, I can't claim they are wrong about that :-/
No, Le Corbusier and all that.
Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
#43The English mini-serie 'Residue' has plenty of dark architectural scenes. I didn't find the plot very interesting, but if you want unending shots of grey oppressing buildings from UK and (mostly? dunno) Hong-Kong, you shall be satisfied.
Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
#44Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…
My dad, who was a historian and business professor, told me once that you could trace the start of the decline of a company when they completed their showcase palace headquarters. The problem is they became focused on the edifice rather than their business.
"Nothing fails like success"
Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
But Russians sometimes call the "ugly mass of concrete Soviet-era architecture" French style ... And well, as a French, I can't claim they are wrong about that :-/
No, Le Corbusier and all that.
Yes, that accounts for one part, the one with ideas behind, a style, a urban and a life project. And then there is the other part, the loosely inspired, derived copies with no real plan.
Not sure which part brought the worst failures :-)
Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
#46Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…
> I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic The Oracle Corporation's global HQ in Redwood City[0] does look a little like the Bonaventure Hotel[1] referenced in the original article, and has been used as a stand-in for at least one dystopian sci-fi megacorp[2]. [0] https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oracle+headquarters+redwoo... [1] https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Bon…
I always liked those buildings. I thought it was an interesting coincidence that their HQ looks exactly like the stereotypical database icon: https://www.google.com/search?q=database+logo
Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
#47Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…
My dad, who was a historian and business professor, told me once that you could trace the start of the decline of a company when they completed their showcase palace headquarters. The problem is they became focused on the edifice rather than their business.
The new Salesforce headquarters in S.F. is rather ominous, not only for that company but for the state of the tech boom in general.
Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
#48Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…
> I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic The Oracle Corporation's global HQ in Redwood City[0] does look a little like the Bonaventure Hotel[1] referenced in the original article, and has been used as a stand-in for at least one dystopian sci-fi megacorp[2]. [0] https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oracle+headquarters+redwoo... [1] https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Bon…
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Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
#49Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
This building is less brutalist and more postmodern - notice how it has a less obvious shape (it's not just a tower or a big rectangle or anything) and is instead made up by many different shapes. Postmodernism actually tried to remedy some of the downsides of modernism/brutalism by trying out mixtures of forms and textures. The SIS still suffers from a limited material palette and needs further break-up to reach the…
Eh, that sounds like a 'no true scotsman' argument -- if the building doesn't suck, it must not be brutalist! Some of my favorite brutalist buildings are libraries, somehow it works very well for the kind of very public building a library is. And the best definitely feel human-scale to interact with (often _especially_ in the interior plans, which you can't get from a picture really), and are more visually interestin…
Funny enough, Geisel has many of the same problems that Boston City Hall/ Gov't Ctr. does...two that leap to mind is that the entrances to both are hidden under the concrete superstructure, and that the pedestrian approach to both at ground-level involves crossing a flat, empty concrete plain.
Rarely if ever did I see anyone at UCSD taking advantage of the area underneath the stack tower, even for shade on hot summer days. That said, the view from the stacks, with the floor-to-ceiling glass, was spectacular. Especially looking north, down the slope of pepper canyon. The rest of the library has the sort of issues that are common to Brutalist buildings in La Jolla-for instance, reinforced concrete is not as durable when sitting close to the ocean as you might hope. As was put by a faculty member I worked with "...the windows don't open; but they do leak!"
I prefer the enthusiastic futurist poured-concrete '60s buildings to the craptacular corporate office-park nonsense that so many newer buildings on campus have.
Fun fact: Pereira did not intend the Geisel Library stacks to look like the concrete & glass banyan tree that got built...it was originally supposed to be a concrete sphere on a single, giant column!