sharing cultures

"...we can have a special contact in internet and send each others photos and informations about our cities or countries."

YIKES...

Architecture pen pal dating over usenet? Now I've heard it all. Bloody noobs...

I would particularly like pictures of my penpal in front of the Guggenheim, preferably naked. ;)

Doesn't that depend on the penpal? For instance, I don't think Don would be an appropriate subject.

Good point. With Don, behind the Guggenheim would be preferable. Frankly, I still thank that's too close!

It's the only FLW in NYC. So I'll take it. You're right in that it isn't a very big building. You walk in, take the elevator to the top and casually walk down the spiral looking at the art. Easy on the feet. 30-45 minutes and you're done. Of course, the Gwathney Seigel addition really turned in into a toilet bowl

I was assuming you were talking about FOG's Guggenheim, not FLLW's Guggenheim...

But it really doesn't matter, does it?

"Don" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news2.newsguy.com:

Don't get me started - I visited there and have been a fan ever since. IMO it's something you have to expereince inside *and* out. Pictures don't do it justice. You approach this odd, white concrete building through the sharp noisiness and deep, shadowed canyons and generally darkish streets of NYC, through a not-very-high entryway with glass doors streetside, and inside, and you're suddenly standing in Light, the sounds of other visitors diffused and almost hushed, similar to sounds in a forest, except you're not enclosed in a forest, you're awash in openness and a beautiful light.

My biggest problem with the interior was the stuff on the walls I like some modern art, but a lot of it, I don't - IMO painting a canvas one color and then plopping a dot or stripe onto it isn't art. I would have liked to put a collection in there myself, at least for a day, to see it. The building itself - it was IMO like being a bird riding the thermals, in that it was like gliding up a column of bright yet soft light. I haven't been there for over 20 years, but it's one of those enveloping/full-brain- engaging experiences I've never forgotten.

Same goes for Wingspread. Went there for a State Dep.t conference on terrorism, way back when I was taking courses at U. Wisconsat the time, I in Milwaukee (I got to go because one of my professors got me invited - I was going for my MA in International Relations/National Security, tho' didn't finish because I got a job in the DC area - should have finished instead but hindsight is always genius...) Anyhoo, that was quite an expereince, approaching this greyish building that was low to the grorund, looking almost like a slab or stone, and going through a door via a small, darkish semi-enclosure that even my head barely seemed to clear, and then walking into a truely huge space of rich woods and warm colors, infused with golden light. It took my breath away, all I could do for about a minute was stand there like a spotlighted deer. Beautiful.

After having been inside of it, I can't say much of anything bad about the outside. ;) I kind of like the contrast of it - the white inverted cone among the vertical darker buildings.

What about Ken?