PERSPECTIVE
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London’s exhibit at MIPIM (top)
was a huge model of the city
nearly half the size of a basket-
ball court. Middle: A model of
Orange, a condominium project
by Foster + Partners. Left:
A proposed tower in London
Pedersen Fox Architects (KPF), the éminence grise of MIPIM, who began
attending in 1991 after hearing that Bernardo Fort-Brescia, of Arqui-tectonica, had gotten two projects here. I worked at KPF years ago and
have fond memories of the firm. Walking around with Gene, who is a
bona fide celebrity here, gave an insight into the workings of MIPIM. It’s
a schmoozefest, a networking event in the digital age, bringing the
global marketplace back to the scale of human interaction. All the
players—developers, investors, brokers, bankers, marketing firms, and
architects—socialize, catch up with one another, and learn about new
opportunities. Architects are poorly represented; those who attend mostly hail from the elephantine corporate firms with initialed monikers
(SOM, HOK, HKR, et al.) and European companies that have lately been
behaving like the mergers-and-acquisitions departments of the financial
world. RMJM, for example, has bought Hillier (no small potato itself),
and Aedas has absorbed Davis Brody Bond. (KPF seems quaint for having actual living partners.)
On the main level of the hall, grandstands exhibited the latest development projects of the great cities of Europe in over-the-top displays
that recalled automobile and boat shows. Looking to attract investors,
especially in the Russian sections, stunning, leggy Bond-type “
host-esses” stood beside models of turgid towers. These statuesque Amazons
caressing the tops of luminous erections were a perfect pairing of sex
and real estate. As in the AMC drama Mad Men, time at MIPIM has stood
still since 1960. Metrosexuals need not apply.
London, Paris, Rome, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Hamburg, and Berlin
all had gigantic displays. A model half the size of a basketball court
depicted the city of London. I had to wonder: Where was New York?
Even just to attract euros, it would behoove Mayor Bloomberg to drop
the provincialism and dispatch the city’s planning director, Amanda
Burden, to represent La Grande Pomme.
Within each city model, new projects were represented by intricate LED-illuminated plastic maquettes. Most towers were straight
out of German Expressionism and Bruno Taut’s City-Crowns of glass.
Flickering flames and facets are the style du jour and “twist and shout”
the theme. Even Bob Stern is not immune. The architect whose reputation is based on traditional design and faux-Italian villas has gone à la
mode in Paris with a faceted glass tower in La Défense for Aviva France
with the Hines Organization. Next to the Grande Arche, Morphosis’s
tower looks like a cross between a horse’s hoof and a dog bone. Clearly,
the age of theory and ideology in architecture is long over. What Thom
Mayne is trying to accomplish at La Défense—with a hell of shapes out
of Hieronymus Bosch—is beyond me. Unfortunately, the building will be
so tall that it will be visible from old Paris as well. continued on page 106
Courtesy Alexander Gorlin
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