The work is impressive (I’ll give it that) but the timing is terrible…
Koolhaas: “You would think that a bank is a kind of stable entity, a very conservative entity, but actually it is almost like the entertainment industry…” You would think.
Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory... More by Charles Mudede
It’s funny, but I see the downtown library as symbolic of the end of an era. An era of the book becomes an era of the ebook. And I now see this bank as a symbol of the end of another era. A symbol of the death of neoliberalism. Thanks Charles. Koolhaas is the kiss of death.
For what it’s worth, the new Goldman Sachs building is very well designed (though not by Koolhaas). And the mural by Julie Mehretu is fantastic.
Good god, if there’s anyone at the top of the pyramid of the 1%, it’s the inner circle of starchitects.
After watching the video, I can’t help but notice how this building shits all over the street life of one of the world’s great street-life cities. When it isn’t hiding from it altogether. Notice that from most places in the city, even a block away, you can’t tell where it is.
Koolhaas should have his hands broken.