Previously Published 23 October 2015
As this column attests, we have a tendency to visit modern buildings by famous architects. While we typically are proud of what our colleagues have accomplished, we felt nothing but embarrassment when we visited the City of Cuture in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. This project, by Eisenman, was supposed to do for Santiago what the Guggenheim did for Bilbao. The City of Culture was supposed to be a world cultural magnet, with art galleries, concert halls, etc. The fantastic curving forms are meant to reinforce the hills and the city geometry. Alas, this is not the reality. The building complex is not finished, and likely never will be, given enormous cost overruns. Some of the stone cladding is already crumbling and streaked with rust. Unlike the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the City of Culture is completely divorced from the city fabric; it seems that the only way to get there is by an indirect car route. When you walk around the buildings, there are very few other people. I had the impression that the building was a product of some sort of alien intelligence. But I think that our son, Max, said it best, “It seems to me that all of this will need to be torn down.”
