After a few days letting them settle, the initial images of Herzog + de Meuron's Tate Modern extension seem little more than abstraction without substance. Architecture's association with deconstructivism is, by now, pretty old hat, although there are still few people who could convincingly explain the academic reasoning behind the most high profile deconstructivist projects (e.g. Libeskind's Jewish Museum in Berlin, or Bates Smart's Federation Square in Melbourne, for example). What we have left, after a decade or two of this wilful disorder, is visual chaos purely for the sake of juxtaposition and confrontation.

Here is the problem with the new bit of Tate Modern; that it exists, fully-formed, in our imaginations, with no solid, underlying form with which to contrast it. It simply is, and our responses are, from the outset, inadequate. In essence, Giles Gilbert Scott's power station is reduced to a mere foil for the eccentric cascade, a curatorial confusion that shares its aesthetic with a far earlier artistic movement.



If any image could be said to lie, this one does. The glassy, bubbly surface, a bit like the texture of an Orangina bottle, is a triumph of computer rendering. The apparent absence of servicing, circulation or complex structure are countered with a lighting scheme that emphasises the cavernous overhangs, with its deep, Cubist shadows. Braque intended to convey all elements of a scene simultaneously. Is this the architectural equivalent?

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Other things. The Domesday Book goes online (via BBC news) / Gallery Hopper, fine art photography weblog / The Ladies' Paradise is a shopping weblog named after Emile Zola's epic novel of commercialisation, culture and obsession / Happy Places, a photographic competition organised by Architecture Week.

Flat Rock, a linklog / Who Killed the Electric Car has opened in the UK (Guardian review and metacritic). We haven't seen it, but like this reported quote: ' In a telling moment in the film, journalist Paul Roberts says the typical American consumer fears being made to drive "small cars and live in houses that are cold - they basically fear they are going to have to live like Europeans".'

Twin new worlds discovered / The Aesthetics of Decay, a fascinating new book by one Dylan Trigg / only three wheels? Zaha's Car. See also Zaha's Car Factory (and our pictures) / talk about nostalgia: the rather wonderful Honda Vamos (via autoblog) / Panopticons, iconic pieces of architecture that are, at least, honest about their uselessness.posted by things at 11:46 / 0 comments