Architecture & Design – Urban Exuberance

Jean Nouvel’s new apartment, composed of 1,700 angled panes of colorless glass

image: Michael Appleton/The New York Times

Jayne Merkel, architectural historian and critic, author, most recently, of “Eero Saarinen” and a contributing editor of Architectural Design/AD magazine and Architectural Record, has written an interesting article entitled “Irrational Exuberance Comes Home” (not a bad title, especially if one successfully imagines rational exuberance…) in the Opinionator section of The New York Times (online), which looks at, yes, the “irrational economic exuberance” of the 90s and the oughts but clearly makes a case for the positive forces of innovation, technology and inspiration found, often, in the numerous, largely residential, urban buildings designed by the likes of Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Herzog & de Meuron, Shigeru Ban, Adrian Smith, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Audrey Matlock, Alexander Gorlin, and others.

Rather inspiring, and, wonderfully, rather hopeful (despite long sentences).

All is not lost?

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Eero Saarinen – His Buildings Defined a Decade, and More

Eero Saarinen Collection. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University

Sketch of David S. Ingalls Hockey Rink, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, circa 1953.

The architecture critic, Ada Louise Huxtable, has written an article, entitled “His Buildings Defined a Decade” for the Arts & Entertainment section of The Wall Street Journal (online) looking at the amazing and iconic architectural contributions of Eero Saarinen, his life, and the politcal context in which he worked.  Though the exhibition is, sadly, closed, the article certainly merits your attention.

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Eero Saarinen: Troubled Waters: The Struggles Of A Propagandist For Modernism?

Nicolai Ouroussof has written a thoughtful article entitled “Making the Face of Modernism Familiar” in the Art & Design section of The New York Times (online) which looks at the exhibition “Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future” now at the Museum of the City of New York, covering the architectural and other design contributions of the world-renowned modernist architect Eero Saarinen, son of Eliel Saarinen, and famous for, among other work, New York’s TWA Terminal and the Dulles International Airport Terminal.  This deeper look at the work of such a major contributor to American Modernist Architecture and design and its political, social and economic contexts is well worth your time.

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