Monday, June 24, 2013

Peter Cataldo - Zibaldone 7


Due to the laws of physics, without the ground, buildings would not have anything to hold them up. The relationship between a building and the ground is crucial to a building’s structural performance. If the foundation is compromised the building will have very little chance of prolonged survival.
            However, not all buildings have to have a perpendicular, rectangular meeting with the ground. They can meet the ground in various ways, seemingly unstable, without corrupting the structure. The way in which a building meets the ground can comment on how physics works on buildings, for example, or it can show openings into the building, or reflect on other ideas presented throughout the building.
            The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada has a part of its building that looks as if it is rectilinear volume being pushed down by gravity creating “breaks” in the façade.

1 comment:

  1. Odd that the joint between the glass and the stone is similar.

    ReplyDelete