Jibba
May 13, 2008, 3:49 AM
ABC Office Building by Bertrand Goldberg:
http://www.bertrandgoldberg.org/works/images_xl/abc1.jpg
Photo by Hedrich-Blessing. www.bertrandgoldberg.org
http://www.bertrandgoldberg.org/works/images_xl/abc2.jpg
Photo by Hedrich-Blessing. www.bertrandgoldberg.org
http://www.bertrandgoldberg.org/works/images_xl/abc3.jpg
Photo by Hedrich-Blessing. www.bertrandgoldberg.org
From bertrandgoldberg.org:
"This unrealized project for a new American Broadcasting Company headquarters was a sixty-story office tower at 67th and Columbus Avenue in Manhattan. It was to have housed both ABC's corporate body of 1400 employees and their broadcast studios. The proposed building was a complex circular structure of concrete and glass which resembled a set of bundled tubes. Goldberg clustered related 'companies' and knitted them together, arranging interior space so that it more closely followed ABC's organizational structure. The various clusters were organized around a communal space in the center for joint enterprises. Goldberg providing a windowed, daylit area for the secretaries, and each level of management had easy access to one another. The focal point of the design was a major transmission antenna, a graceful structure that would have been the tallest in New York City. It was never built due to financial difficulties.
As described by Goldberg in his Oral History, 'in our perhaps over studied way, we began to pry into their business organization, and we discovered that the way they actually operated was quite different from the way they thought they operated. They were actually a series of little companies, each with its own special way of making money and functioning in a communications system.'"
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This tower, to me, is one of the best examples of Goldberg's design philosophy. The form is a pure expression of the tower's function, and the layout of the space is innovative and likewise enabled by the "bundled tubes" scheme that forms the basis of the design. I also find the contrast between the office tower and the observation tower to be incredibly pleasing and well-designed, with the choice of materials for each imbueing each respective structure with the perfect visual weight; the observation tower is more than twice the height of the office tower, and yet the massing and materials lend a perfect balance between the two. Of course, this analysis could obviously become irrelevant depending on how the built design turned out, but unfortunately no one will ever know.
So I am obviously a fan of this design...what about the rest of you?
http://www.bertrandgoldberg.org/works/images_xl/abc1.jpg
Photo by Hedrich-Blessing. www.bertrandgoldberg.org
http://www.bertrandgoldberg.org/works/images_xl/abc2.jpg
Photo by Hedrich-Blessing. www.bertrandgoldberg.org
http://www.bertrandgoldberg.org/works/images_xl/abc3.jpg
Photo by Hedrich-Blessing. www.bertrandgoldberg.org
From bertrandgoldberg.org:
"This unrealized project for a new American Broadcasting Company headquarters was a sixty-story office tower at 67th and Columbus Avenue in Manhattan. It was to have housed both ABC's corporate body of 1400 employees and their broadcast studios. The proposed building was a complex circular structure of concrete and glass which resembled a set of bundled tubes. Goldberg clustered related 'companies' and knitted them together, arranging interior space so that it more closely followed ABC's organizational structure. The various clusters were organized around a communal space in the center for joint enterprises. Goldberg providing a windowed, daylit area for the secretaries, and each level of management had easy access to one another. The focal point of the design was a major transmission antenna, a graceful structure that would have been the tallest in New York City. It was never built due to financial difficulties.
As described by Goldberg in his Oral History, 'in our perhaps over studied way, we began to pry into their business organization, and we discovered that the way they actually operated was quite different from the way they thought they operated. They were actually a series of little companies, each with its own special way of making money and functioning in a communications system.'"
_______________________________________
This tower, to me, is one of the best examples of Goldberg's design philosophy. The form is a pure expression of the tower's function, and the layout of the space is innovative and likewise enabled by the "bundled tubes" scheme that forms the basis of the design. I also find the contrast between the office tower and the observation tower to be incredibly pleasing and well-designed, with the choice of materials for each imbueing each respective structure with the perfect visual weight; the observation tower is more than twice the height of the office tower, and yet the massing and materials lend a perfect balance between the two. Of course, this analysis could obviously become irrelevant depending on how the built design turned out, but unfortunately no one will ever know.
So I am obviously a fan of this design...what about the rest of you?