City Transformed: Urban Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Rating:
Summary: Apparently, you can never have too much concrete
Review: This book documents 25 urban megaprojects, of which 18 are in Europe, 3 in the US, and 4 in Asia. Most page space is given to beautiful color photos and color diagrams, accompanied by text that is unabashedly fawning. Only a few of these projects are designed to be compatible with the surrounding architectural context (Dublin and Lisbon). Others among these projects will probably become important assets to their cities. (I would put Canary Wharf, Battery Park City, and the transportation facilities in this category.) However, what is shocking is how downright ugly most of these projects are, and one wonders if, fifty years hence, they will be regarded as monstrous tumors on the urban fabric. I cringe at such projects as Albeda College (Rotterdam), the Station Quarter (Frankfurt), and some of the buildings of Potsdamer Platz (Berlin). Is there an uglier building on the planet than Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain? Apparently, we have learned nothing from such urban planning fiascos as London's Barbican or Detroit's Renaissance Center.