New Forms Taschen 072

In different circumstances, other American architects, Hodgetts + Fung have evolved toward a different approach to the essentially nomadic naturę of much con-temporary design. TheirTowell Library (1991-93), situated in the midst of UCLA's Brentwood campus, was intended as a temporary replacement for Powell Library, the main undergraduate facility, which was to undergo a three to five year closure for seismic renovation. According to the architects, “the complex consists of four linked tented forms conceived to look different and unpredictable from all direc-tions." Using a white and gold polyester skin, cinder błock walls, off-the-shelf light-ing, or exposed sprinkler pipes, the architects succeeding in completing the build-ing, which receives 500 students at a time, for the Iow, budget price of $ 3.5 million. Known for their projects related to the entertainment industry, Craig Hodgetts and Ming Fung, who have taught at SCI-Arc sińce 1987, encouraged the idea with this building that informal, low-cost temporary structures can also be well designed, a concept that is of interest, for example, to the city of Los Angeles because of its large homeless population. Berlin, the once and futurę Capital of a reunited Germany, presents another face of urban change. In the Mitte area alone, some 900 construction projects are in various stages of planning, with the Federal Chancellery, Tiergarten tunnel and new central Lehrter Bahnhof all already under construction. This station, designed by Von Gerkan, Marg and Partner, will boast a

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