August 10, 2006
Failed Architectural Icons
Slate.com has published an interesting photographic essay on the difficulties in creating an architectural icon. From the proposed World Trade Center memorial, to iconic structures that we know an love, the article touches on the characteristics that many believe are necessary for architecture to actually BECOME iconic.
The point of the essay is that creating an icon requires a delicate balancing act, and is extremely rare—for every successful icon there are scores of failures. Most are modernist or postmodernist in character. I wonder how many we'll consider to be historically significant 50 years from now...or how many are already considered as such?!
Source: Slate.com, Failed Icons: Why it's so hard to make unforgettable architecture, by Witold Rybczynski
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