Comments on: South Harbour http://www.lewism.org/2008/03/11/south-harbour/ A Tectonic Notebook Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:00:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: lewism http://www.lewism.org/2008/03/11/south-harbour/#comment-46010 lewism Mon, 05 May 2008 09:10:55 +0000 http://www.lewism.org/2008/03/11/south-harbour/#comment-46010 David, First off thanks for posting your thoughts, I agree basically with evrything you are saying, the plan is as you have written. It might be worth also raising a couple of other points I have thought of since writing this post. H&dM were and probably will always be best at materials and the 'materialisation' of a project. I would cite Goetz, SBB, Allianz Arena just as the tip of the iceberg to illustrate my case. However they seem to me very average in space planning and spatial design. So this project will really succeed or fail purely on this waveform glass cladding. That case really is still there to be proven. Have you read the latest ark magazine by the way, they really don't like the whole scheme, and bring up a number of important points? One last thing, I don't think a very average plan is necessarily a big problem for the design to be sucessful, but size, cladding and realtionship with the waterfront are really all key here and that's all still to be proved for me. David,
First off thanks for posting your thoughts, I agree basically with evrything you are saying, the plan is as you have written. It might be worth also raising a couple of other points I have thought of since writing this post.

H&dM were and probably will always be best at materials and the ‘materialisation’ of a project. I would cite Goetz, SBB, Allianz Arena just as the tip of the iceberg to illustrate my case.

However they seem to me very average in space planning and spatial design.

So this project will really succeed or fail purely on this waveform glass cladding. That case really is still there to be proven.

Have you read the latest ark magazine by the way, they really don’t like the whole scheme, and bring up a number of important points?

One last thing, I don’t think a very average plan is necessarily a big problem for the design to be sucessful, but size, cladding and realtionship with the waterfront are really all key here and that’s all still to be proved for me.

]]> By: David Lash http://www.lewism.org/2008/03/11/south-harbour/#comment-45976 David Lash Sun, 04 May 2008 06:18:06 +0000 http://www.lewism.org/2008/03/11/south-harbour/#comment-45976 ..went to his lecture on this in Otaniemi. It struck me that the final scheme wasn't actually that interesting- yet makes complete commercial sense. An efficient hotel is perhaps like an efficient prison in that it administered from a central location, with the check-in desk forming the hub of the wheel. Creating a cross shape (and Swiss cross at that) is then maybe a more commercially driven decision than a creative one. Then to simply copy and paste one floor atop the next with perhaps a balcony terrace to level 2 - well, yawn. He showed a slide of maybe 80 preliminary models for the design, I swear I've seen some of those models before on other projects! The wave form glass cladding may be a redeeming feature, but who knows how the value engineering will drive things. Finland has its own brilliant architects, do we really need a clever and aptly successful Swiss bloke with a second-rate idea watered down by harsh commercial decisions? (hey it looks like a ice palace - not particularly innovative) ..went to his lecture on this in Otaniemi. It struck me that the final scheme wasn’t actually that interesting- yet makes complete commercial sense. An efficient hotel is perhaps like an efficient prison in that it administered from a central location, with the check-in desk forming the hub of the wheel. Creating a cross shape (and Swiss cross at that) is then maybe a more commercially driven decision than a creative one. Then to simply copy and paste one floor atop the next with perhaps a balcony terrace to level 2 - well, yawn. He showed a slide of maybe 80 preliminary models for the design, I swear I’ve seen some of those models before on other projects!

The wave form glass cladding may be a redeeming feature, but who knows how the value engineering will drive things. Finland has its own brilliant architects, do we really need a clever and aptly successful Swiss bloke with a second-rate idea watered down by harsh commercial decisions? (hey it looks like a ice palace - not particularly innovative)

]]> By: Mark http://www.lewism.org/2008/03/11/south-harbour/#comment-41092 Mark Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:48:26 +0000 http://www.lewism.org/2008/03/11/south-harbour/#comment-41092 Don't have much to say on the plans for Helsinki, but I love that top picture, far more inspiring than the grey sky I see out of my study window. Don’t have much to say on the plans for Helsinki, but I love that top picture, far more inspiring than the grey sky I see out of my study window.

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