Anodyne
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
 
Patkau Architects Inc. -- included in Andrew Gruft's massive Canadian architecture exhibition at the Belkin Gallery (review forthcoming). My command of architectural theory is pretty limited, but I'm a long-term admirer of their Seabird Island School and Strawberry Vale Elementary School (scroll down through the 'projects' link for images of both). I first saw Seabird Island returning from a climbing trip at twilight: a huge building, its "wings" unfolding against the green mountains like a heron's in the failing light. I catch some echoes of 80s-era Frank Gehry in their incongruous juxtapositions of wood against metal, angle against angle, etc., but these jarring formal shifts always seem related to the site in unanticipated and subtle ways (eg., Seabird Island's "wings" echoing the mountain skyline behind).
- posted by cjb @ 9:49 PM


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