Steven Holl Gives NYU Philosophers Something to Smile About

1.

sweet

2.

termites

3.

It doesn't have pilasters. I hate it.

4.

Baghdad is BACK, baby!

5.

Really impressive work. I love Steven Holl's taste.

6.

I find Holl's latest work to be extremely derivative of Lebanese architecture, specifically that of Beirut c. 1985. Not impressed.

7.

Swiss Cheese!

8.

Truly we are in a degenerate age, when architecture no longer can lift the soul. What is this? Even Adolf Loos would find this insulting. Blech. About as much depth as a McDonalds here.

9.

Steven's Hole's?

10.

The exterior looks great!

11.

Is all that's inside a stairwell? It's sweet, but...

12.

And this is so good because?

I'm not saying it's bad, but it doesn't do much for me. For starters, why so white?

13.

Because white light, as you can see here, actually contains all the colors of the rainbow, together as one--just like NYU itself.

And the reason they only show the stairwell is because the rest of the building looks like any old loft: a token "architectural" element wasting rectilinear space somewhere, and the rest chopped up into offices and cube farms.

14.

What is worrysome is not so much that S. Holl's architecture has become an imposture and a pretty conservative one but that NYU should not be able to realize it.
We hope the budget was modest given the result.

15.

there's much more depth to holl's work than holes, white, and rainbows. he explores architecture through phenomenological principles of body-subject reltationships. it is obviously successful as more people use the [inconvenient] stairs than the [convenient] elevator in this building. his architecture is about experiencing a more authentic relationship with the world, here through light. before you criticize a brilliant architect and philosopher, try knowing their design principles and maybe a little about philosophy, first.