new Northwest Corner Building.

admissionsgeek
Wed, 19 May 2010 01:29:03 +0000

a) moneo is pritzker prize winner.
b) the building is not supposed to evoke the MMW Beaux Arts design, but rather be sort of a harbinger toward Manhattanville.
c) with environmental concerns, building with brick is as moneo even notes a sort of travesty. it would be like using mud in the 1905 (or gothic architecture).
d) what made columbia’s campus so remarkable from 1896-1905 as it was being raised was because it was the epitome of what was modern and cutting edge, moneo’s design does the same thing.
e) it is an engineering feat in which it stands on top of levien gym 11 stories above it, without needing any new columns to be built or disrupting the gymnasium. it was a challenge that required more of an engineering twist.

wifey, i am sorry you don’t appreciate it, sure it is entirely too functional (like actually having cutting edged resources to keep up with the joneses is a bad idea), but it is certainly more a reflection of this engineering/architectural moment than what was in vogue 10, 20, or 100 years ago.

columbia is only classical because it was once modern.