Beijing Buildings

Beijing’s bursting architectural boom, due to the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics, is either an example of “authoritarian architecture” or a proliferation in architectural advancement.

According to Philip Kennicott, the Washington Post architecture critic, who writes this “Towering Ambition” article, much of China’s current architecture is meaningless. Here’s a video by Travis Fox for you to decide:

The United Kingdom’s take in The Times isn’t so great either; although, I happen to like some of the structures and their contemporary feel, particularly the stadiums and the gigantic video facade, which remind me of other light show postings.

I find Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” stadium very similar to Martin Puryear’s “basketry-like” sculpture, particularly “The Old Mole” and the “Thicket,” which are on view in an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art (June 22 – September 28th). His work has been compared to a modern day Brancusi and even I.M. Pei’s architectural abstraction — therein the similarities with China’s National Stadium perhaps but in sculptural form.

However, it’s his “Ladder to Booker T” featured here above the Hermes Statue in the Rotunda of the National Gallery of Art’s West Wing that gets prominent attention. The West Wing is primarily reserved for more traditional art, so I have to give the museum kudos for featuring this ladder to nowhere where it would be least expected.