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Comment by sayangel | Hacker News Reader

This is so sad, but true. I've talked with a lot of architects about how virtual reality can revolutionize the way they design and a lot of them always end up telling me that the visual portion is often overruled by the numbers. Especially when dealing with real estate developers its all about the bottom line.

My hope is virtual reality will bring the human element back into architecture.

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It all sort of clicked for me when I realized Modernism was no longer a style or a democratization of architecture but rather a reflection of a lack of investment in the built environment.

I'm actually a lapsed architect. I was really passionate about making great communities and urban environments but the realities of capital and our political structures just don't make that feasible right now. What an unfortunate industry where the best buildings were created a century ago. Who wants to be apart of that?

Regarding VR helping architects: Maybe? Robots CNC'ing interesting facades might help even more. Unfortunately technology has been used by architects to undercut other architects, and not for the benefit of the building. This is a fantastic article that I agree with:

http://www.utexas.edu/architecture/center/benedikt/articles/...

I'll definitely have to give that a read.

Have you seen this Marc Kushner talk? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hha0NsYXS5c&feature=share

Would love to hear what you think. He kind of argues that historical buildings are no longer the best ones nor the only way for us to build great things. And that "Architecture is not about math or zoning — it's about visceral emotions."

Good building design is independent of time and style. The NJ library he linked to is garbage not because it's aping classicism but because it's poorly-designed flippant junk. People want to see care and craft no matter the style.

Are old libraries best-suited for modern programmatic requirements? No. Does New York's Public Library's reading room make you feel better...

http://m7.i.pbase.com/o3/89/198089/1/108166607.2tKeYd60.libr...

...than Seattle's?

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/washington/seattle/librar...

Of course.

Seattle's Public Library is really clever with daylighting and its book spiral, but it will simply never be the civic statement that NY's library is.

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Frank Gehry's Bilbao was an anomaly, but that hasn't stopped architects and developers from trying to get their name in the public's conscious. Individualism when it comes to buildings is so overrated. People don't visit Paris, London, Barcelona, Venice, etc. because they have signature buildings, they visit because there's a communal form language to form a strong identity. Buildings are a supporting role, but people don't want to admit that.

So here's the original pavilion that burnt down:

http://markatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Fire-Islan...

http://queerty-prodweb.s3.amazonaws.com/wp/docs/2012/01/Pict...

And here's the author's replacement:

http://www.architectmagazine.com/community-projects/fire-isl...

Thew new project seems like it has more in common with an OMA (Rem Koolhaas) competition entry than the waterfront. Why the over-scaled cross-bracing for a two story structure? Why does everything have to be triangular? How much more did this cost than just making a building similar to what existed? Is it really so innovative to create an expensive, over-wrought building with an "architecture" stank on it that looks more contextual on Architizier than the physical site?

Marc seems to be encouraging flashiness for the sake of instagram likes rather than what makes sense long term for the locals.

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