Wow. The new Seattle Central Library, designed by Rem Koolhaas, is this slideshow of the new building as it’s being developed. It’s beautiful, but also weirdly dated, just like those big crumpled-paper buildings by Frank Gehry.
Don’t get me wrong, buildings like these are architecturally beautiful, but I wonder whether or not such great works of architectural art are best suited for public use. Do buildings so adamantly designed, not as a purely functional work but as something very clearly artistic, only bait the fiscal conservatives out there to rant and roar about the misuse of public funds? The populace of Seattle is a very liberal bunch, and they voted in the tax increase that paid for it, but I wonder about the ammo this provides to the opposition, all those people out there who snarl and snap about the NEA and the NEH. Should such artistic constructions be restricted to the homes and private buildings of those who are willing to pay for them, or are they better suited to be considered public works of art, which cannot be bought and sold?
Storyteller, scholar, consultant. Loving son, husband and father. Kindhearted mischief-maker.
I'm the Director of the Games and Simulation program at Miami University in Ohio, where I am also an Assistant Professor in the College of Creative Arts' Emerging Technology in Business and Design department. I'm also the director of Miami's Worldbuilding and Narrative Design Research Laboratory (WNDRLab). I have a Master's in Comparative Media Studies from MIT and a PhD in Media Arts and Practices from the University of Southern California.
In past lives I've been the lead Narrative Producer for Microsoft Studios and cofounder of its Narrative Design team, working on projects like Hololens, Quantum Break and new IP incubation; in a "future of media" think tank for Microsoft's CXO/CTO and its Chief Software Architect; the Creative Director for the University of Southern California's World Building Media Lab and the Technical Director, Creative Director and a Research Fellow for USC's Annenberg Innovation Lab; a Visiting Assistant Professor at Whittier College and director of its Whittier Other Worlds Laboratory (WOWLab); the Communications Director and a researcher for the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab; a founding member of the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT (now The Futures of Entertainment); a magazine editor; and a award-winning short film producer. more »
The opinions put forward in this blog are mine alone, and do not reflect the opinions of my employers.
3 Comments