buzzwords, explained: The Building That Isn't There (Ephemeralism)

Ephemeralism's big moment arrived in 1994 with Jean Nouvel's Cartier 
Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris. Well outside the real glass 
walls, Mr. Nouvel, a French architect, put other glass walls that 
extended beyond the building and were meant to create disorienting 
reflections and general confusion as to where the museum itself really 
was, thereby ''dematerializing'' it (Mr. Nouvel's favorite word at the 
time) and making it difficult for what theoryspeakers call ''the 
dominant regime'' to find. I could try to tell you why this is an 
important goal, but it would make your head hurt as much as mine.

In due course, Ephemeralism embraced 1) transparency -- using plain 
glass walls or, preferably, confusing layers of glass like Mr. Nouvel's; 
2) voyeurism -- people outside on the street observing what people are 
doing inside and vice versa; and 3) branding -- making the exterior 
design remind you of the enterprise within. All this was supposed to 
return architecture to a certain messianic moment, to the original 
vision of Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier -- 
the White Gods!

cont'd....
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E5DA153FF931A25753C1A9659C8B63&scp=8&sq=wolfe+2+columbus+circle&st=nyt