Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Randall Stout Architects, world architecture news, architecture jobs

04/02/10 malcolm Ho-You, Ladysmith

Is architecture a jumble of forms that is meaningless expect to please the naked eye----------or arouse once senses with twisted ridiculous shapes. What happened to form follow function ? Malcolm Ho- You Architect Ladysmith BC

02/02/10 jon brees thogmartin, los angeles

absolutely ridiculous. certainly no frank gehry. liken to the trash mies copiers propagated the urban scene with in the last century.

02/02/10 meme, melbourne

What a hideously ill conceived spoodge of silliness. The interior looks like some tacky 80's sci-fi movie. The exterior is indescribably ugly and lacking in any cohesive design language. It reminds me of Homer Simpson's art project.

02/02/10 Bruce, Cambridge UK

Please tell me this is a spoof and that Canada didn't spend millions of dollars on this ugly and poorly-detailed public building!

02/02/10 owen, leicester, uk

Apalling detailing internally - there is an art in crashing disparate forms together, and this hasn't got it! Everywhere you look it's: "oops, what are we going to do with that bit?" And as for the boring bits we like to ignore like internal cleaning and maintenance.........

02/02/10 Glen Grayson, Halesite, NY

A classic "meal of desserts". I will hand it to him that at least he took the forms expressed on the exterior and carried them through to the interior. Unlike much of Gehry's work, which is just a wedding cake on the exterior, over a structural box.
That said, just because high powered computers make it possible to design and construct projects like this doesn't mean that we should.

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02/02/10 Phil, Clearwater

Looks like my metal trash can when it was run over by a vehicle. Bilbao it's not

02/02/10 rdevarga, austin

silly rabbit ..... tricks are for kids

02/02/10 Jose Gil, Miami

Please do not show in your magazine this kind of trash.

02/02/10 Jeff, Des Moines

Gehry wannabe! "swirling forms", such an original idea...

The only concession is that there is consistency of form from outside in, unlike the spaghetti of steel on the inside of Seattle’s EMP.

02/02/10 Critical, NYC

Swooping steel meshes... was this an architecture critic who wrote this article? Niki May, what is your background? This building does a disservice to our profession. On a related note; this is the reason why one must do study model after more study model to understand form and material scale to say the least.

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02/02/10 Fred, Troy, NY

How do you say "garbage" in Canada!?

02/02/10 Rob Garvey, Winnipeg

Hey Edmonton, suddenly our Human Rights Museum [Predock] is looking pretty good, eh?

02/02/10 Philip, Hay River, NT

This ambitious and interesting building deserves closer attention than the impressionistic whack-job comments it has drawn. I would say that it's complexity would need on-the-site multiple experiencing over time to confirm if it is just the frothy misguided trifle many commenters here characterize it as, or if it the powerful curved forms give pleasure in the interactions of their multiple regimes, and with the rectalinear masses. I note that the sloped glazing is portrayed in the photographs as obscured by the snow and ice common to Edmonton's climate--time will tell if the glazing detailing is adequate to prevent leaks. The numerous exposed fasteners of the interior finish appear obsessive and unappealing in the photos.

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02/02/10 Dave, San Francisco

The Aurora Borealis? Really? I don't think so.

02/02/10 Steve, Calgary, AB

Ok, it isn’t perfect but at least it has sparked public architectural debate which Alberta sorely lacks. I wish all buildings received criticism like this at all levels. You should see some of the trash in Calgary that masquerades as ‘modern/ contemporary’ architecture. Hopefully the debate will force architects to produce buildings worthy of the 21st century.

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02/02/10 Paul, Kelowna

As an ex-Edmontonian (of more than 20 years) I can truthfully say that I saw the Aurora Borealis perhaps twice during that time. To base a whole design's parti on that ephemeral basis strikes me as specious and grasping at straws to justify what is basically a Gehry wanna-be. Given that Mr. Stout used to work for Gehry this may be just a case of the student following the master. However this doesn't excuse the deconstructivists' approach in general: Gehry's response would have been just as fatuous and dismissive of the climate and historical grid which forms so much of the urban and environmental context that is Edmonton. The one architectural gesture that Mr. Stout correctly incorporated was the opening up to and acknowledgement of Winston Churchill Square to the northwest of the site...

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03/02/10 mr eyday, toronto

appalling. this thing is a farce.

05/02/10 william rogan, shenzhen, china

stout must be one HELLUVA salesman!

03/02/10 Randi Millman, Ithaca, NY

I am very surprised by the ridicule this building has gotten - I am not sure why really. Before we criticize it further, perhaps we should see it in person and then comment.

05/02/10 Roberto, Florida

Pherhaps Architect's design intentions was to make appear his building like the main piece of art to be displayed before our own naked eyes. It remainded me of a Sanford and Son TV re-run that I watched recently in wich Mr. Sanford built out of different pieces of metal trash his final piece of art legacy without any success.

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09/02/10 jeremy scott wood, Boston, MA, USA

form follows frenzy school of design

03/02/10 DR, seattle

I'm embarrassed to be an Edmonton native. This abortion of a building is a total travesty...a rip off of Stout's own work and several other "form" generating designers, most obviously Gehry. It's a total missed opportunity as several years ago the project had potential to be a significant piece of Canadian architecture with the short list of Erickson, Hadid, Alsop and unfortunately Stout. There was excitement in the city with the arrival of a new public space and desperately needed world class art facility. Several local designers voiced their concern over Stout's selection, but the anti-critical local media paid no attention. Now we see the AGA committee chose wrong and the scar is open spilling puss and blood into the streets. Put this one behind you, Edmonton, learn from this mistake and move on to an enlightened future.

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03/02/10 CP, Toronto

This is even worse than Libeskind's addition to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Looks like a Libeskind failed effort to do a Gehry.

25/08/10 russell claxton, macon

This is far better architecture than the comments here would lead one to believe. The point of Gehry's work, and obviously Stout's, is the joy of freely-formed shapes that can now be used to define spaces. This wasn't feasible before computer-aided design / fabrication.

The way in which this manner of architecture composes views and spaces - to / from the outside and within the building envelope - can be truly enjoyed by anyone not burdened with self-important "knowledge" of architecture. The detailing - eg allowing gaps in metal components of an interior wall - is deliberate and departs significantly from the stodgy correctness expected in 20th-century thought.

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Art Gallery of Alberta opens to reveal its true inspiration

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