Monday, April 22, 2013

The more things change

Years ago we saw the most striking building in Montreal on the St Lawrence River. It turned out to be Habitat 67 designed by a 23-year old apprentice of Louis Kahn, Moshe Safdie. The apartment complex was one of the highlights of Expo 67 that was based on the theme ‘Man and his world’ (not a million miles away in spirit from the Auckland Art Gallery’s theme for this year’s Triennial ‘If you were to live here’ with its architectural design lab). 

In Kansas City we saw a spectacular building from the other end of Safdie’s career, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.  Rolling between references to the Sydney Opera House and the Guggenheim it's a startling modern presence in a city that has had the foresight to retain much of its early architecture. Safdie’s most recent project is Crystal Bridges, an art museum in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Images: Moshe Safdie's Kauffman Center for Performing Arts in Kansas City (click on images to enlarge)