Starchitecture Eroding

Eric Felton writes that buyers of splashy, starchitect-designed buildings are finding all too often that innovation in form leads to unforeseen structural problems.

1 minute read

September 28, 2010, 9:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Felton writes:

"There is a fundamental conflict in the building of landmark edifices, says Dana Sherman, who teaches engineering law at the University of Southern California. The museum and concert-hall clients "expect art in the outcome," and yet "they also expect engineering precision and certainty in the fabrication." Radically designed buildings are essentially massive inventions produced and sold without prototypes. Is it any surprise they tend to be glitchy?"

The new wing of the Art Institute of Chicago is cited as but one example.

Monday, September 27, 2010 in The Wall St. Journal

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