Residential Starchitects on the Rise in New York

I wanted to make quick reference to a fun article in this week's Sunday New York Times called "Nice Tower! Who’s Your Architect?".  It's about the new trend in residential New York "starchitecture". I still haven't made up my mind if it's a blessing or a curse to have residential developers finally realize it might be appealing to have an avant-garde world renowned architect design their building. It's appealing because I always find it challenging and exciting when people like Frank Gehry press physical space to their limits. It's unappealing because, as an unknown architect, I have fewer chances to break into this upper crust of design stars. If you only choose a brand name designer then how do the young guns move up?

In the last five years more than a dozen have been completed; maybe a dozen more are scheduled to break ground this year. They range from soaring, elaborately decorated towers by international celebrities like Jean Nouvel and Frank Gehry to smaller but equally ambitious architectural statements by lesser-known talents like Mr. Denari.

Comments

[Barry A. Smith]

Nice post. Thanks. The Starchitecture movement has made it to the Midwest too. East Lansing Michigan to be exact. Zaha Hadid.

http://studiosmith.blogspot.com/2008/03/architect-zaha-hadid-eli-broad-art.html