New York City Day Trip 1-- IAC building

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie7SB-C1VNc

On November 13th, 2010, a sunny beautiful warm Saturday,  a van full of Mount Holyoke students led by Professor Davis, Lauer and Kaynar went on a field trip to New York City to explore the architecture of the city. As one of the students in the group, I loved the trip and enjoyed the design works we saw on the way. This is the first journal of this series to record our exploration of New York City.

As we drove into the city, we passed Frank Gehry's IAC Building. I remember watching the above video of Vimeo projection on IAC building, but this was my first time to see the building in person.

The IAC building is located in the Chelsea Manhattan, with Hudson river on one side and the High Line on the other side.

sketches of IAC Building

This is the initial sketch of the IAC building, which looks really "Frank Gehry". 

This is a sketch from July 2005, showing the "sails" structure. The building's white color and rhythmic zigs are intended to evoke sails,  in homage to Diller's fondness for the water, who is the chairman and chief executive of IAC.

The following are some sketch models.

I have to admit, that personally, this one is my favorite model along all the study models I saw pictures of. I really like its dynamic shape and the flowing feeling it generates. It looks light, and fun, liking a dancer performing with confident and joy.

The winning design is the following one:

I am usually  not a big fan of all glass tall office buildings, but I cannot help being fascinated by this design and the use of the glass facade of this building with its white patterns. There are 1,437 glass panels on the 'curtain wall'  and 1,349 of them has their own unique shape and degree of twist. The 'sugar coated' look comes from the tiny white dot patterns on the glass, called frits. 

In the afternoon of our trip, we were walking on the High Line and enjoying the view, and the IAC building came into our sight again. Viewing it from the other side of the building, I start to appreciate how this building sits in the site of Chelsea Manhattan.

 

New York City is a place that carries a lot of memories in the history of city development. The surrounding site of  IAC Building is consisted of mostly old brick industrial buildings. The IAC Building demonstrate how important context is when designing a real building. He did not copy or follow the surrounding buildings, but plays against them by composing this modern structure. The sail like curves seem to embrace the surrounding buildings and speak to each of them.

I really enjoyed having the chance to experience one of Mr. Gehry's building. The feeling it generates is really different from just seeing the picture. I have to admit, that deep in my heart, I with the building is a little "crazier" and even more "Frank Gehry". As his first work in NYC, the IAC building adds a modern look to this area of NYC. I look forward to seeing the interior of it one day.

source: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/06/gehry_slideshow200706#slide=1