In a message dated 98-04-29 14:35:57 EDT, [log in to unmask] writes:
> > I had to wonder what the product would be if the resources to indulge in
ornamentation to that degree were available today (haven't we been here
already?). :) b. marcus
> Planet Hollywood & The Rain Forest Cafe
No joke here. We are starting a project on the facade of a building where be a
subject Planet Hollywood. Question came up at pre-con meeting regarding color
of posts and sideboards for sidewalk bridge. They asked installer of SWB, our
subcontractor, if it could be painted another color than green, answer, yes,
pick a color. So they say they want it painted a particular gold color. Check
on paint they specifiy, cost $200 per gallon. They want a paint that will last
into the millenium - but expect someone else to pay for it. Not ever discussed
in pre-contract award stage, suddenly this BIG price tag item from out of
nowhere. Planet Hollywood had not even been involved in the negotiations up
until that point. Scope creep at hyperdrive.
Another example of luscious ornamentation, at today's labor market, would be
the New Amsterdam theater interior restored by Disney. What they did of it is
a wonder to behold, but knowing the percentage of *other* areas of the complex
not touched (an upper theater and several basements) I get this feeling that
it is stage paint and creative lighting.
Ornamentation becomes more available as computer technology allows machines to
make increasingly more complex variations in material design based on
mathematical algorithms and in turn construction systems are devised for site
installation that reduces involvement of intelligent labor. Very interesting
stone walls being built that arrive in panels on a truck and are set in place
with a crane. Stone carving machines exist to do 3-D objects out of marble &
limestone based on CAD drawings. A lot of the ornamentation on the buildings
were built out of pattern materials, particularly in the case of cast iron -
Bogardus' big idea was replication of a panel system, now we use Sto and
Dryvit (a cementitious polymer coating over a styrofoam base - clean that with
a lazer!). Terra cotta is a bit easier to work with than cast iron, and NYC
has examples that go to the extreme of imaginative ornamentation in this
material, yet there remains the replication of multiple images from the same
mold/pattern. If sheetrock was made with relief patterns, and people wanted
thier walls to have floral bumps on them, the technology exists to make and
install bumpy sheetrock. But foam seems to work pretty well, and we have been
experimenting with using custom foam moldings on some of our exterior
replications. The price of foam is several times less than for replication in
fiberglass, and much less than for cast iron. From the developer's perspective
it is either use foam moldings, or do nothing at all.
The most startling degree of architectural variation I have felt was in
Acapulco, over the hill in the residential section, away from the tourist
areas. The masonry walls run in rectangles on many levels, boxes piled all
over the place, with serpentine walls running in strange directions. The
higher level boxes are considered best as a thief has to run further through
the maze to get away, no roads, only footpaths and steps winding around
wherever the box got put by whomever decided to build... no architects - at
least, not until they need to be preserved. Everything open to catch the wind
and rain water. Concrete columns start up and sprout rusty re-bar like metal
trees. CMU walls with stucco half completed. And the jeep pick-ups with the
soldiers and rear mounted machine guns are impressive. The socio-economic
motivations behind this architectural insanity are based on the tourist
dollars. I do say insane as I had nightmares for several days as a result of
spending two days wandering around in the slum - this was my vacation? Then I
went to Poland and relaxed in the hospital. I don't need no stinking theme
village. In a good Acapulco tourist year they build until they run out of
money, which I think they get from hawking gold necklaces over near the cliff
diver site, or by selling wierd stuff while you are foolish enough to think
you might enjoy the sunset on the beach. Possibly they kidnap obnoxious
Armericanos at the resorts? A lot of partially built buildings, and more
shacks built out of scrap lumber and sheet metal salvaged from dead vehicles
than buildings. A stonemason in Acapulco makes $7.00 per day. I don't expect
many of them to show up at IPTW without scholarship.
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