Bubble 10-Condom in the City- Torre Agbar

Introduction

This picture is taken from BUTTERFLY EYE VIEW. The topic sounds horny..... What is your perception of this this creature?... Truly from me .... it looks horny. There is a sudden of a creature that has emerge in a city....

Issue
No issue.... is just that it reflected how horny this architect can be......


Explanation
The true story is.... Torre Agbar..a magnificent skyscraper.. in Barcelona. It was designed by a French Architect Jean Nouvel in association with the Spanish firm b720 Arquitectos... and this building is owned by Agbar Group.....

Well the idea got from metaphor inspiration...the Montserrat... mountain near Barcelona...and by the shape of a geyser rising into the air.When you look at it... the idea of the geyser is almost there. i guess.



On the right is the picture of Montserrat. the picture taken from Wikipedia... The purpose is to show the comparison between inspiration and realization...When a building inspired by metaphor.... usually hard to describe by the public. Only the architect knows about what it is all about...

Do you really think that it is truly and inspiration... Maybe it is just an idea pop up from the architect's head one morning and than try to win the competition by relating something local...The architect giving and letting his art piece so abstract ..... and hard to interpret.....

That is what always happen ... Well its true when the Maybank tower in Kuala Lumpur is a famous metaphor design that people relates it with 'Keris' (traditional weapon) designed by Hijaz Kasturi famous amous Malaysian Architect... Actually the building did not related to any KERIS, but when people start to relate to it... than the Keris inspiration came in... after the form has been finalised. It was not intended by the architect at all.... information i got from Hijaz Kasturi himself that came to our lecture series in UiTM.


Issue of designing skyscraper is not only by sculpting the sky... it also relates to the environment such as heat gain by reflection on the glass. thus once more one factor of increasing heat to the earth.... How about maintenance issue.... how hard to polish the glasses of the whole building. Look at the detail of Torre Agbar itself... The idea of this building is to give vast reflection of illuminating coloured lights at night..... The effect during the day is so pixelated.. Alright it achieved the geiser inspiration.... But practicality of cleaning?


Designing a buiding is not just aesthetic....do not care about the design looks like a 'condom' in the city but for me a building is a man made ecosystem... we need to relates and assimilate the building with the surrounding.... Torre Agbar implemented the idea of a good ventilated double wall which the technology gives the building stability. How? the ventilated wall decreases the wind load that crosses through the building... Thus it gives stability to the building....

Solution
There are a lot of aspects to adore this building. even though first perception failed Get to know the building better. such as. the aspects.of.services, maintenance, aesthetic, and technology implementd, but the practicality to clean each glass for me is still ridiculous. Apart from that I still admit The 'Condom' detailing is magnificent.