Wikipedia for all references; Google images for art

Transformation

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From something, something else

Transformation is more than that…

Noticeable transformation, circle to square

Generational transformation, old consumed by new

Let’s examine generational

Dimensional transformation is really alteration

1. Eiffel Tower: The Hijacked Design

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Trace of Koechlin and Nouguier’s first

sketch. Yes, that is a Lady Liberty, but she

is French, not American.

Didn’t you see “National Treasure 2?”

Without the Eiffel Tower there would be

no skyscrapers; it transformed the world.

As a child, Buckminster Fuller could not grasp basic geometry.

He lacked abstraction skills required to imagine a chalk dot

represented a mathematical point. He could see just a chalk

dot.

Expelled from Harvard twice: First for blowing his funds

partying with a vaudeville troupe, and when readmitted, for his

"irresponsibility and lack of interest.“ (God, I love this man –

author’s note)

At 32, bankrupt; jobless; living in low-income public housing in

Chicago; young daughter Alexandra dead from complications

from polio and spinal meningitis; depressed; drunk; and

blaming himself for her death, he had an epiphany: Embark on

"an experiment, to find what a single individual [could] contribute to

changing the world and benefiting all humanity."

New Bohemian movement in New York in the Roaring 20s,

Eugene and Marie O’Neill, Isamu Noguchi, and Constantin

Brancusi, all of which led to the Dymaxion car. The door to

fame opened.

His most famous design never achieved acceptance like he

hoped, except of course we now know the carbon atom is a

Bucky ball. That’s some kind of insight, and he didn’t have a

microscope. The element Fullerene is named after him.

Cool, he’s an elemental.

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The cinema, not my sketch that is…

Cinerama with Fuller dome, one of the few commercial structures made from

Fuller’s xxx design. Got to hand it to them, their theater seems tailor-made for

the Shrek premiere.

3. Trussed-Core Impossibly Tall

Type: Mixed-use

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Construction started January 2004, completed 2010

Cost USD $ 1.5 billion

Height

Architectural: 828 m (2,717 ft)

Tip: 829.8 m (2,722 ft)

Roof: 828 m (2,717 ft)

Top floor: 584.5 m (1,918 ft)

Observatory: 452.1 m (1,483 ft)

163 floors

46 maintenance levels in the spire

2 parking levels in the basement

309,473 m2 (3,331,100 sq ft)

Architect: Adrian Smith at SOM

Developer: Emaar Properties

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It’s the size of the trusses – because that’s what

they are – used in the construction of Burj Khalifa

that put it in perspective. Those at the base top

five stories each, poured concrete.

They’re stacked on top of each other in varying

sizes, at varying levels. Folks live and work in them.

The inspiration comes from a local six-sided

flower, and the two Y-shapes the blooms make.

They brought concrete into the 21st century on

this project. A world-changer.

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Its skin hasn’t changed much since 1855, but the Smithsonian

even survived a fire that destroyed most of the confiscated

libraries of South Carolina after the Civil War..

It was the low bid, in the jargon of our day, red stone from close-

by Maryland cheaper than granite from somewhere else.

It stands on the Mall the essence of American eccentricity, putting

the “majesty” of the imposing white marble and granite that

dominates to dull shame. James Renwick, Jr., wasn’t

trained as an architect. Well-

to-do upbringing and travel

cultivated an intelligent and

creative mind. He started at

Columbia University when

12, graduated at 18.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral in

New York City is one of his

20-some-odd structures.

However, don’t give him

credit for the inspiration for

the Romanesque Castle:

The Smithsonian board

MADE him do that.

Renwick’s style was close

enough.

From the Castle comes all

things gothic in the USA, or

most of them. Its

construction gave new birth

to the movement that still

continues.

Next time you see some

Goth guy or gal you can

trace their roots to 1855 and

the Smithsonian.

And it’s not just the cathedrals and churches that make Red Square what it is…

There’s the Kremlin and of course Lenin’s Tomb.

It’s a few hundred years of Russian history, big, expansive and impressive.

Several complete armies have paraded here at the same time.

100s of thousands people.

Finding records on Soviet architects is hard here in the West.

Massive sometimes comes with a steep price.

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