Lawn Lenses

An anonymous comment on a previous post pointed to a New Yorker article by Paul Goldberger on the Bloch Building in Kansas City by Steven Holl, an addition I've posted about a couple times previously. The article includes a slide show of dusk images by David Allee, images that undeniably present the building as a series of lanterns, or "lenses" as the architect imagines them.



These long-exposure images (unlike the more "truthful" point-and-shoot exterior shot at Inhabitat) not only convey the concept, they make it appear questionable while also raising a couple questions. Should a large museum addition (or any building) expend so much energy for effect? And while Holl excels at bringing natural light inside buildings in complex ways -- making one wonder where the opening to the outside even is -- here his inversion of that seems too simple, just flourescent lights next to a channel glass wall (or apparently so). Regardless, with the commotion that's been brewing about this building for while, and that's slowly coming to a head before it's June 9th opening, this building is sure to be a stunner and help bring some tourists to the Midwest.