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From: "Architexturez." <interface.services@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 11:16:42 +0530
Towers Will Change the Look of Two World Cities
By Nicolai Ouroussoff
The current mania for flamboyant skyscrapers has been a mixed blessing
for architecture. While it has yielded a stunning outburst of
creativity, it has also created an atmosphere in which novelty is often
prized over innovation. At times it's as if the architects were dog
owners proudly parading their poodles in front of a frivolous audience.
This mad new world was much in evidence last week when planners
announced the results of two major international competitions that
included some of the world's brightest architectural luminaries. In each
case, a tower design will significantly alter the skyline of one of the
world's most beloved cities. But while the design for the Phare Tower in
Paris is a work of sparkling originality that wrestles thoughtfully with
the urban conflicts of the city's postwar years, the other, the
gargantuan Gazprom City in St. Petersburg, Russia, is a bone-chilling
expression of corporate ego run amok.
Together, they train a lens on the range of architectural approaches to
a daunting problem: the clash between the classical city and the
inflated scale of the new global economy. And they underscore the limits
of the creative imagination when it is detached from historical memory.
| These fragments I have shored against my ruins
cont'd....
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