Building legacies – for good
VISITORS are travelling far and wide to marvel at statement pieces of contemporary architecture.
Deyan Sudjic celebrates amazing structures created to make people feel good.
I remember getting off the plane the first time I flew to New York, back in the 70s and walking, openmouthed, almost in shock, through the awe-inspiring TWA Flight Centre terminal at John F Kennedy International Airport.
This was a light-filled set of billowing concrete shells that seemed as if it were a gigantic bird poised for flight. It was like nothing I had ever seen. I knew at once that I had finally arrived in the heart of the modern world, mid-century style.
It seemed like all of New York at its most glamorous, personified in a single building, a piece of architecture offering an experience that had already made the entire trip worthwhile.
Since then, I have travelled all around the world, and in so many places the experience of new architecture has been the most memorable.
It’s the buildings that let in the public – the museums, the markets, the religious buildings, the hotels and malls – that are really special.
The 20 landmarks here are some of my favourites, great pieces of architecture and design that define our times, but also 20 places in which to experience city life at its most dynamic.
Architecture is the most public art. At its best, it is about making places that make you feel good to be in them, that create a sense of something special.
Great buildings make history. They embody the character and spirit of the places we love, which is why we can feel such a sense of loss when they are thoughtlessly destroyed.
That explains why Eero Saarinen’s remarkable terminal building has survived TWA going bust, and why it is now being brought back to life as a hotel. This is a quality offered by all great buildings, whatever period they come from. For four centuries, the essence of London was summed up by the dome of St Paul’s.
A uniquely English version of the baroque, it was how Londoners orientated themselves and visitors understood the nature of the city they were in. Now it is Tate Modern’s turbine hall that gets the crowds.
Beijing is less the Forbidden City of the imperial past – or Tiananmen Square – where Mao proclaimed the People’s Republic in 1949, than the famous “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium, designed by the Swiss architects of the Tate Modern, Herzog & de Meuron.
It has marked the emergence of China as a credible contender for superpower status.
When Bilbao opened its outpost of the Guggenheim museum 20 years ago the world paid attention, not because of the art, although that giant floral puppy by Jeff Koons was pretty cool, but for the sensational nature of Frank Gehry’s architecture.
Almost overnight, what had been a fading industrial city in the Basque country became a prime destination, with thousands of visitors keen to see what was then billed the most spectacular building in the world.
Resembling something between a train wreck and a crashed meteorite, there had been nothing else quite like the titanium-clad structure, and every ambitious city keen to get noticed wanted one.
This was not a new idea. Spectacular buildings have been attracting pilgrims since the days of the pyramids. Las Vegas has built a collection of trophy buildings that remind visitors of somewhere else.
But standing out for the sake of it is not the way to make an attractive city where people feel comfortable.
Great architecture needs the quality of generosity, welcoming everyone, and it needs to offer a sense of creative originality. When I go to a new city, I love to experience new architecture with that special quality of attracting people. — The