Climbing Great Buildings: BBC2: The Imperial War Museum: 30 minutes.
by Simon Zohhadi on Thursday, 30 September 2010 at 11:51 ·
Designed by Daniel Libeskind after winning design competition held in 1997. Building design based on concept of rebuilding broken pieces of porcelain. Compared with rebuilding after war. Based on modern architecture known as `deconstructivism' which came out of the 1980's. The building has few regular shapes but curved external walls and roofs. Deconstructivism not influenced by historical buildings and forms; it is an entirely new concept and is `individualistic'. Ignores every style of construction that went before.
Budget was reduced by a third. As a result, the architect chose aluminium cladding instead of building out of solid concrete. Has a boat like appearance. Floor follows curve of roof, dropping from one end to the other, creating a disorientating feeling. Internal areas built to both give an impression of war and for display purposes (hence the white walls).
The air shard tower is 180 feet high. the entrance is like a concrete bunker but the space in the air shard opens up. The air shard is irregular in shape and is like a giant climbing frame (made out of aluminium).
Restricted budget led to a more imaginative approach and perhaps a better design than the original vision.
NB: Architects should note this fact.
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