Originally published at: Hollywood could soon get a wild-looking high-rise, called The Star | Boing Boing
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I’ve seen that design before…
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I’m all for architects taking risks, but JESUS is that building ugly.
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Yeah i hate it. On some level i appreciate that it’s not a standard boxy high rise but the shape is still pretty boring
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I’m reminded of the arcologies in Paul Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife also built by the Chinese.
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Will it also include Bruce Dern and some cute little robots to tend the gardens?
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Given the modern propensity of design ideas getting ahead of practical and engineering concerns, I find myself imagining a design fault called “San Andreas.”
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That looks like R2-D2 has to pee really badly
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I feel like “different” is now considered a value un high-rise architecture.
We have a building in Toronto that was designed without any consideration for how the windows would get washed. I guess they’ve figured it out now but vertical curves are not practical, especially if they expand from the bottom.
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I’ve been trying to find some concept art for the so-called funicular that will travel up the side of this building and onto the roof, but I’d bet that it’s not really going to be a funicular, more likely a fancy elevator.
But, to be honest, maybe an elevator is better. They’re very strictly regulated and have excellent safety records. LA has had a couple terrible accidents with its tiny Angels Flight funicular due to bad engineering and maintenance.
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So will that top section work like a magnifying glass?
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It depends, i live in Austin and i’ve seen a couple of unique high rises go up that looked different. And terrible.
Yeah it is pretty easy to tell when they pass the concept stage. The window wash hardware becomes visible.
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Forget the window wash hardware—the concept art doesn’t even include safety guardrails to keep people from accidentally plummeting off the 17th floor.
Even the architecture in the Star Wars movies had more safety considerations than this.
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Apparently, China has decided to ban skyscrapers, so perhaps MAD is hoping to outlast the lean times.
https://www.newgeography.com/content/007167-weird-building-supertall-skyscraper-ban-china
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The linked article begins by noting…
The skyscraper is an American invention. During the first 75 years of their existence, skyscrapers were concentrated in a small area south of 59th Street in Manhattan
…but doesn’t really delve into why that is. The truth is that skyscrapers don’t really make a lot of sense unless you need to build in an area where you’ve physically run out of space and there’s nowhere left to go but up. Mainland China doesn’t have that problem, and Los Angeles is a gigantic sprawl of a city where most buildings aren’t more than a few stories high (and don’t need to be).
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Hong Kong does (or did, as their problems are correctly seen as arising not from lack of space but instead from an excess of ideological decadence)
I’d like it better if the entire building would spin to capture wind energy.
Although the value of a corner office might go down. Still, you never get bored with the view.
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I don’t know… maybe LA in general needs to be dealing with it’s homeless problem rather than building weird buildings? 
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