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Contemporary architecture

What do you think about contemporary architecture?

  • It's brilliant

    Votes: 4 30.8%

  • It's fine

    Votes: 2 15.4%

  • It's OK

    Votes: 2 15.4%

  • It's not bad

    Votes: 1 7.7%

  • It's horrible

    Votes: 3 23.1%

  • I can't decide

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Total voters
    13
Canell

Canell

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Please, share your thoughts on contemporary in regards to other styles of architecture. Are you this type:

contemporary-architectural-design-of-axis-viana-hotel-in-portugal-by-vhm.jpg


Or this type:

PrioryCottagepr4.jpg


Or this type:

madeleine.jpg


:cool:
 
Contemporary is nice, I hate the local Virginia architecture in alot of places which is basically an enforced modern emulation of what a colonial building looks like. It gets old fast and is really drab and ugly.
 
i like all kinds of architecture........if it's good.
 
It depends on whether or not it's still practical inside the building. If so, then sure, why not? It's interesting to look at, IMO. Just don't sacrifice practicality for something as impractical as looking different.

Though in residences, I do really enjoy the 'open living spaces' internally which is becoming more contemporary. Where the kitchen, dining and living room are exposed entirely to each other. I feel like it's going to help promote family life again... or force teenagers to hide in their rooms even more...
 
I get really caught up in the architecture here in New Orleans. I guess I didn't know whet to make of the glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre. My reaction was not "I hate it" but I immediately started envisioning other options. I don't remember what my brother thought. He's got better taste than me.
 
sazerac said:
I get really caught up in the architecture here in New Orleans. I guess I didn't know whet to make of the glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre. My reaction was not "I hate it" but I immediately started envisioning other options. I don't remember what my brother thought. He's got better taste than me.
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Well Mr. Pickle, does this mean your Brother is a Cucumber? LOL!
 
Canell said:
Please, share your thoughts on contemporary in regards to other styles of architecture. Are you this type:

:cool:
Click to expand...

I am this type, more Mediterrian, Tuscany, Spanish arch, rod iron, court yards, pools & fountains, and outdoor living with bars, patio furniture, fireplaces, stucco & rock & tile.

NewHome.jpg
 
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shintao said:
Well Mr. Pickle, does this mean your Brother is a Cucumber? LOL!
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Sorry Charlie, Starkist doesn't want tuna with good taste. Staskist wants tuna that tastes good.
 
liblady said:
i like all kinds of architecture........if it's good.
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Yeah, any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black. :lol:
 
Form vs. function, image vs. substance, appearance vs. efficiency?
The appearance of a building, to me, is less important than its efficiency. That being said, nearly all styles can be made more efficient and it won't even be noticed. Considerable efficiency can be attained with some loss in appearance and still be acceptable to an "image" person.

Any posters familiar with Architecture 2030? Edward Mazria is a prophet without honor in his own land. If we had been building according to his proposed building codes for the last 3 decades (since his passive solar book came out), our energy needs for heating and cooling (electricity and natural gas) would be considerably less than they are now.
 
sazerac said:
Sorry Charlie, Starkist doesn't want tuna with good taste. Staskist wants tuna that tastes good.
Click to expand...

Ahh, I see. My apology for mistaking your body shape for a, ah,.................. pickle.
 
I'm not a fan of most contemporary architecture. Too much glass and prefab stuff in the interior... makes the stuctures look fragile (even if they have steel frames and actually aren't) and uninteresting.

I can usually find something to like about most architecture prior to the industrial revolution; I particularly like the monumental stone structures and cathedrals... they took real time and craftsmanship to build, and sometimes you can even see where mistakes were made and compensated for during the process.
 
it's like music
if it is well composed and executed it does not matter from what genre it originated



there is an expression that writing about music is like dancing about architecture. appears i am now found guilty
 
Everything has it's own purpose and benefits.
Location matters - does it fit in with the surroundings? Is it different from the other buildings? Does it give ot or take away from the area?

You can take the same design and place it in a rural setting and have it blend in well - put it in a suburban or city area and it might clash and look horrid.

I do like contemporary - Bauhaus level of contemporary. Simple, crisp, building-block approach, use of flat spans of glass and brushed aluminum lattice work. However, some contemporary is out of place considering it's location - or inappropriate considering it's purpose. I don't like the Clinton Library in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas - it looks like a trailor rather than a respectable museum in honor of a President.

don't like: (Clinton Library:)
http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/images/0501clintonLibrary.jpg
 
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It really doesn't matter to me, I'm a function-over-form guy. I want it to work. I don't much care what it looks like so long as it works.
 
UtahBill said:
Form vs. function, image vs. substance, appearance vs. efficiency?
The appearance of a building, to me, is less important than its efficiency. That being said, nearly all styles can be made more efficient and it won't even be noticed. Considerable efficiency can be attained with some loss in appearance and still be acceptable to an "image" person.

Any posters familiar with Architecture 2030? Edward Mazria is a prophet without honor in his own land. If we had been building according to his proposed building codes for the last 3 decades (since his passive solar book came out), our energy needs for heating and cooling (electricity and natural gas) would be considerably less than they are now.
Click to expand...

No, not familiar with him, but I agree with what you say. Years ago I designed a home that would utilize solar, conduction & convection, had the plans drawn up, but never put it to use. One of the clever ideas involved a cooling system, with a sealed 100' culvert pipe (3') run underground (8'), and out to a filtered ventilation box under an shade oak tree. The other end entered into a long vent box against the living room under a wall of windows, similar to a long vented drain about 30 foot. In the summer, you open the upstairs windows for a cross ventilation to let heat out, while the cold air flows underground. In the winter with upstairs windows closed, the heat from the solar water tubes (a separate system) & fireplace eventually bring heat down to the floor, forcing the cold air out the bottom vent. The wall of windows have thick blanket drapes that raise up in the daytime and down at night.

The sealed solar water tubes are about 3' diameter & stand (12') verticle in the living room, catching the daily sun radiation & storing the heat, which is circulated through floor tubes that heat the ground floor rooms.

The ground level fireplace has a water tube heating system that circulates the hot water through the upstair flooring to heat all the rooms.
 
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Shintao - my brother in law is an Architect and used a similar idea in some designs at his own firm. I don't know if they were built - but underground and compression is a wise idea. I've considered building a similar system for us, here, just to see if it would work - sure beats not having any AC.
 
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shintao said:
No, not familiar with him, but I agree with what you say. Years ago I designed a home that would utilize solar, conduction & convection, had the plans drawn up, but never put it to use. One of the clever ideas involved a cooling system, with a sealed 100' culvert pipe (3') run underground (8'), and out to a filtered ventilation box under an shade oak tree. The other end entered into a long vent box against the living room under a wall of windows, similar to a long vented drain about 30 foot. In the summer, you open the upstairs windows for a cross ventilation to let heat out, while the cold air flows underground. In the winter with upstairs windows closed, the heat from the solar water tubes (a separate system) & fireplace eventually bring heat down to the floor, forcing the cold air out the bottom vent. The wall of windows have thick blanket drapes that raise up in the daytime and down at night.

The sealed solar water tubes are about 3' diameter & stand (12') verticle in the living room, catching the daily sun radiation & storing the heat, which is circulated through floor tubes that heat the ground floor rooms.

The ground level fireplace has a water tube heating system that circulates the hot water through the upstair flooring to heat all the rooms.
Click to expand...

I hope you get to build it someday...
One thing I managed to miss concerning earth coupled cooling, the soil surrounding the pipes needs to be damp. Dry soil doesn't conduct heat/cool very well..
I was asking a more knowledgeable person why it wasn't done in AZ, and he explained it. Obvious once he told me......
 
Hm, functionality some say... What about aesthetics? Let me give you an example: it makes a great deal of difference if one have one's coffee in a crafty painted porcelain cup rather than a plastic one. Agree? I think the same can be said about architecture too. I personally prefer more detailed and ornamented styles which refers to the pre-contemporary architecture, starting with greek-roman and spanning to this. I lack the cosy feeling with contemporary.
 
Canell said:
Hm, functionality some say... What about aesthetics? Let me give you an example: it makes a great deal of difference if one have one's coffee in a crafty painted porcelain cup rather than a plastic one. Agree? I think the same can be said about architecture too. I personally prefer more detailed and ornamented styles which refers to the pre-contemporary architecture, starting with greek-roman and spanning to this. I lack the cosy feeling with contemporary.
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I couldn't care less what kind of cup I drink my coffee out of, if I drank coffee, which I don't. So long as it doesn't change the flavor, what difference does it make? The point is the coffee, not the container.
 
Cephus said:
I couldn't care less what kind of cup I drink my coffee out of, if I drank coffee, which I don't. So long as it doesn't change the flavor, what difference does it make? The point is the coffee, not the container.
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First , it does change the flavour. Second, it makes a difference how the drink is served + other stuff that affects your sub-conscience. :)

Here is one house I wouldn't even want to step in. :roll: Please excuse my snobbishness. :lol:

 
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Canell said:
First , it does change the flavour. Second, it makes a difference how the drink + other stuff that affects your sub-conscience. :)
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It doesn't change the flavor unless something in the cup alters the coffee chemically.

Here is one house I wouldn't even want to step in.
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Nobody says you have to. I find the design of the house terribly inefficient, that's the only reason I wouldn't want to live there, other than the fact I'd have to live in Madrid and have no intention of ever doing so.
 
Canell said:
First , it does change the flavour. Second, it makes a difference how the drink is served + other stuff that affects your sub-conscience. :)

Here is one house I wouldn't even want to step in. :roll: Please excuse my snobbishness. :lol:

Click to expand...


sub-conscience? I think you invented a new word....perhaps a useful description of the way some people here act.....

conscience is an inner sense of right and wrong that hopefully compels us to choose right....

You meant conscious, I think....
 
UtahBill said:
sub-conscience? I think you invented a new word....perhaps a useful description of the way some people here act.....

conscience is an inner sense of right and wrong that hopefully compels us to choose right....

You meant conscious, I think....
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How embarrassing! :3oops: You are right, of course. Please, excuse my language, I haven't practiced for quite a while.
Eh, once upon a time I had a pretty good knowledge of the English language. Than I got old. ;)
 
Canell said:
How embarrassing! :3oops: You are right, of course. Please, excuse my language, I haven't practiced for quite a while.
Eh, once upon a time I had a pretty good knowledge of the English language. Than I got old. ;)
Click to expand...

is OK....
English is a very flexible language, it bends without breaking...otherwise politicians would have nothing to say.
 
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