Before and After from New York Times

Since some blogger generalized and predicted by authority that other bloggers are going to blog about it, I’m going to blog about it, just so you know.

After the fire, everyone forgot how mesmerized yet anxious (or indifferent) they were. And since there was no massive loss or death (1 firefighter dead though), everyone joined in to the great game of denial: blaming and human flaming.

And as usual, the biggest target that won’t even know you are attacking is the easiest to hit. Therefore, everyone starts attacking the titans like bacteria attacking a human being. The titans also learnt to be immune to your voices.

Architects hate themselves, so they pick on the architect of the building. Poor Rem Koolhaas. What has all these to do with the design of the building anyway? The fire sprinkler system was not even on yet.

Chinese also hate themselves, so they pick on their leaders for all kinds of conspiracies, while at the same time the Chinese media hates themselves as well. The more controversial the more outlandish the conspiracy is, the louder and faster it travels. (Update: Though it is indeed some colossal idiots from CCTV itself firing some fireworks. I wonder if the insurance would pay.)

Bloggers hate themselves, too, so they pick on whatever bigger blog there is talking about the news. This is when I read too many comments on blogs.

The Internet hates everybody, as they dream up sad migrant workers got lit up in flames.

This is what happens when something that is jaded by nature to be destroyed. Like a supermodel killed by anorexia, nobody cares about the lady but the sensation around it.

So what the **** can you do with a totally burnt building… but not burnt enough to collapse?

Perhaps the question is too predictable. Nobody bothered to answer. I guess they can replace all those expensive titanium with simple cheap corrugated steel. Nothing is impossible to fix. Fixing the building can just as well be part of the economy stimulus plan.

From Archinect:

Jan Kaplický, leading architect behind Future Systems, has passed away at the age of 71, hours after his wife gave birth to their daughter. [ČeskéNoviny.cz]

This is sad news indeed.

Even though I don’t particularly like their blobby designs, Future Systems had designed and executed some of the most interesting building ‘skins’ and forms of our time. Shown above is the Selfridges Building in Birmingham.

To my ignorance, he is older than I imagined. His work is much more youthful than his age. Though we had entered the age of more environmentally conservative buildings, I hope his work will survive the test of time despite the sea change. And given the current economic climate, we will see less and less radical buildings like these for quite a while.

And the best of luck to his daughter. It’s quite a fairy tale indeed when she grew up to understand her father through his buildings, like Khan’s son… Oh well. Maybe I’m romantizing this too much.

Somewhere in East Hampton, architects (and artists, or poets) Madeline Gins and Arakawa had built a house that defies death. (NYTimes interview)

It’s an adventurous sandbox enclosed within the protective shelter of a box. That’s what fending off bears in wild nature cannot give you. The green ceiling reminds you that you are protected in the grace of architecture.

While adults put expensive toys (e.g. stereo, cars, gym equipment) inside their house, in this case, all those expensive toys happened to be a playful (and challenging) landscape.

This is like playing in a MMORPG/Second Life sandbox in your Xbox or Playstation, but now magnified to reality… but what isn’t?

You can climb around the landscape the house, and reach the orange electric socket on the ceiling.

The artists declared that the design of the house is not to make you accept reality, but to defy it.

It’s the best house ever, yet.