New Yorker architecture critic harsh on Apple 'spaceship'

New Yorker architecture critic harsh on Apple 'spaceship'

New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger has written a harsh critique of Apple's forthcoming "spaceship" campus, designed by Foster + Partners. The writer describes the building as a "gigantic donut," and calls it "troubling, maybe even a bit scary," in part because it lacks the functionality of the devices Apple makes. "A building is also a tool, but of a very different sort," Goldberger says. "In architecture, scale -- the size of various parts of a building in proportion to one another and to the size of human beings -- counts for a lot....

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The Apple Donut! iDonut!!

It sounds like Mr. Goldberger is suffering from a case of "Sour Grapes" envy, probably wishing he was the architect that Apple hired to design the new Spaceship building.

Charlie do not let him see the Pentagon!!

chscag said:

It sounds like Mr. Goldberger is suffering from a case of "Sour Grapes" envy, probably wishing he was the architect that Apple hired to design the new Spaceship building.

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That is exactly what I was thinking.

I'm not afraid of UFO's you wuss! Bring it on!!!

chscag said:

It sounds like Mr. Goldberger is suffering from a case of "Sour Grapes" envy, probably wishing he was the architect that Apple hired to design the new Spaceship building.

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I'd give a man who has won a Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism and has written arguably the most prominent urban architecture column in the world for the last 14 years a little more credit than that... especially considering he doesn't design buildings.

One of the benefits of the Pentagon building is a person can walk from any point in the building to another in less than seven minutes. I can see a similar claim once the new Apple campus is completed.

Discerptor said:

I'd give a man who has won a Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism and has written arguably the most prominent urban architecture column in the world for the last 14 years a little more credit than that... especially considering he doesn't design buildings.

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Sounds like the problem with our society... We idolize people who can criticize, but don't actually do the work themselves.

That's the beauty of Architecture, it is very subjective and everyone has a point of view.

Maybe he is a bit annoyed that it was design by a british firm, who knows.

I think it looks great. In a way similar to the apple brand, beautifully refined on the outside (slender steel and glass panels, double stacked offices so that everyone has a view, central circulation space which together guard the secret and in this case, the garden, on the inside, unless you fly to work that is, which not many people do.

apple all over

J

RONE said:

Sounds like the problem with our society... We idolize people who can criticize, but don't actually do the work themselves.

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"Idolize" is a strong word. I'd be surprised if anyone in this thread other than the OP had even heard of him prior to him daring to criticize something Apple paid for. He is quite respected in the field, enough so to have been brought in as an advisor on projects with legitimate cultural influence. I'll just leave this here for your later perusal if you'd like. The bottom line is that knee-jerk assuming someone in the news (and not just this guy, as I've seen this happen multiple times on this forum) not singing praises for Apple is a hack or has unsavory motives is completely uncalled for.

Personally, I think his assessment is technically correct, but I don't think Apple is trying to cater to the architecturally obsessed with the design of this building.

Discerptor said:

I'd be surprised if anyone in this thread other than the OP had even heard of him prior to him daring to criticize something Apple paid for.

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If the News Bot has "heard of him" before today, I think we have bigger issues.

I'm not the one that chose the News Bot's current name >.>

Discerptor said:

"Idolize" is a strong word. I'd be surprised if anyone in this thread other than the OP had even heard of him prior to him daring to criticize something Apple paid for. He is quite respected in the field, enough so to have been brought in as an advisor on projects with legitimate cultural influence. I'll just leave this here for your later perusal if you'd like. The bottom line is that knee-jerk assuming someone in the news (and not just this guy, as I've seen this happen multiple times on this forum) not singing praises for Apple is a hack or has unsavory motives is completely uncalled for.

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Nope, never heard of him. But I really couldn't care less if he likes Apple's design or not. I just hate people who build their career by being a critic and not actually doing the work themselves. I read the bio you linked and looked at his Wikipedia page, neither of which have hanged my opinion of him. It's easy to complain about something; It's hard to do it right.

I think the 1st comment in 'Skynets' link somes it up

Nonsense writes

An Architecture critic, and being paid as such, has to write something

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RONE said:

Nope, never heard of him. But I really couldn't care less if he likes Apple's design or not.

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Except your initial thought before even knowing that much about him was "He must be a jealous architect," later to be changed to disapproval of his profession.

This is getting off topic, though. On the subject of the building itself, I seem to recall reading a while back that Steve Jobs had a certain amount of input when it came to the design. Can anyone find the article saying as much? I always found his level of micromanaging interesting.

Discerptor said:

Except your initial thought before even knowing that much about him was "He must be a jealous architect," later to be changed to disapproval of his profession.

This is getting off topic, though. On the subject of the building itself, I seem to recall reading a while back that Steve Jobs had a certain amount of input when it came to the design. Can anyone find the article saying as much? I always found his level of micromanaging interesting.

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Yes, you're right, my first thought was that no matter what he said to the press he would not have turned down the opportunity to have his name associated with the Apple 'mothership.' Then I realized he wasn't an architect and came to conclusion #2.