At first I thought this was a joke. But if you go and look for other pictures, this is a real building designed by Frank Gehry and was completed in July 13, 2009:
This facility focuses on Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative brain diseases. Funny, I feel like I'm getting a degenerative brain disease while I look at it.
Don't get me wrong. As a "thought piece" the building is interesting. It certainly is "playful" and it "stretches the limits of the definition of what is a building". But who in his right mind would want to inhabit that monstrosity?
I hate concrete buildings because they are sterile, but architects love concrete as a building material and many, many "modern" buildings are made out of the cold grey of concrete... an inhuman colour with an inhuman coolness, and an inhuman texture.
Similarly, architects love the Frank Gehry design. I hate it. When will the "profession" of architecture stop its obsession with insider jokes and self-referential commentary and discover that the job of architecture is to produce livable buildings that are warm, fun to live in, enhance the neighborhood by being pleasing to view. Stop making cold industrial Bauhaus monstrosities and now this new style of "visual nightmare" like the above. For a complete of Frank Gehry buildings go here. For a Lou Ruvo look-alike, try here.
Crazy architecture isn't just a current phenomenon, it has gone on through the ages. Here's an example of "art nouveau", the famous Casa Batlló in Barcelona, designed by Antoni Gaudí. From Wikipedia:
It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Much of the façade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís) that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues. The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur.
There have been "mad" architects throughout history. But only with the coming of the 20th century does it appear that they got commissions to build truly bizarre designs.
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