Dud on arrival: why important buildings flop (Slate)
August 10th, 2006
Slate has a nice slide show by the famed architecture critic Witold_Rybczynski about major works of architecture that were big failures. It’s a good runthrough of some large scale works, with Cliff’s notes like commentary from Rybczynski on where things went wrong.
I don’t agree with his opinions on some (I’ve been to half of them): EMP is ugly, but still breathtaking. The Montreal stadium is a functional failure, but has amazing aesthetics, and the Getty museum rocks a free escape from the USA, a magic otherworldly garden up on a huge hill, looking down on LA.
I wonder what a slide show of greatest software duds might include? And what would we say about each one?
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I lived in Montreal for a few years and I would go to the Olympic Stadium at least once a year. I couldn’t help it, the building had a draw, a presence that screamed former glory.
Yes - I mean I was in Montreal once, when I was 14, and I *still* remember seeing the stadium. How can it be a flop if it left that much of an impression on an idiot teenager with zero interest in architecture?