New Forms Taschen 166

A finał, almost amusing example is that of Philippe Starck's, "La Flamme," built in Tokyo in 1990 for the brewer Asahi. Starek compared this structure to a "black granite urn placed on a luminescent glass stairway, and topped with a golden flame." Indeed the French designer believes that nothing should keep buildings from bemg designed like objects, a radical idea that has prevented him from work-ing frequently in Europę as an architect. The Japanese, however, for all their respect for tradition, are much morę apt to accept such a new concept. The Asahi building is in fact not very successful internally. It functions best as a symbol at the edge of a very busy elevated road, and it does show that different art forms can and do enrich the vocabulary of contemporary architecture.

Shin Takamatsu Syntax

Kyoto, Japan. 1988-90 (drawing) At least in the 1980$, Shin Takamatsu achieved a consider-able degree of recognition by designing buildings with a robotic or mechanical appcarance. Civen that the quality of Japanese construction is remarkable, his buildings achieve a kind of artistic perfection, which may not be evident m their aggressive or even comical designs. In the 1990s. Takamatsu has shifted to a morę 'neo-modern" style.

76 Art ano Architecture