I worked for a number of years in the MIT Stata Center, an office building designed by Gehry. It was a trainwreck on so many levels. This article (http://www.fastcompany.com/641146/lost-funhouse
) details the some of the construction issues, but even if the building had been watertight, on budget, and on time, the design itself made it difficult to work in.
Yeah, Gehry made I.M. Pei look practical and user-driven, which is probably his greatest achievement to date.
(Some of the Pei buildings were decent, but really none of the newer MIT buildings were all that great. Building 20 actually exceeded most of the new buildings in functionality, and it was a wooden shack. Even the "core" buildings around the IC are kind of defective in a lot of ways. Sad for a university with an architecture school.)
Indeed. The quality of design affects the quality of construction. The cost per square foot is typically shocking and the Ghery definitely places form over function. After visiting many buildings by Ghery, Hadid, Holl, and Libeskind I've found them all to be lacking. If you prefer modern design with refinement seek out Ando or Meier. There are plenty of others, as well, who have much more talent.
Foster as well as Piano have some very refined work. Foster is at his best when doing renovations and additions. He has a very delicate approach which is handsome and actually celebrates and enhances the existing structure.
I'm still waiting for some great Chinese architects to step up. They aren't given much room to flex their talents, however, due to the very brand conscious nature of the consumer. For instance there is a recently completed Ghery building here in Hong Kong with a flat on the 8th floor listed for $400 million Hong Kong Dollars, or roughly $51.5 million USD. Insane. But that's what the market is after.
