Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/03/25/escher-for-grifters.html
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One pictures the long line of former paper billionaires trudging to the top to fling themselves off following the next market crash.
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“The inclusion of an elevator that only stops on certain platforms“
Ah not only a new structure that isn’t ADA compliant- but one made with public funds.
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Ooh- maybe add a diving platform- and some judges holding up cards like the Olympics?
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Kate Wagner (the author of the Baffler piece) doesn’t seem to value exercise.
Although it sounds like there’ll be a big sign saying FUN IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
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“The Vessel” (also known by less flattering nicknames, like “the giant shawarma,” “the beehive,” “the pinecone,” and “the wastebasket.”
“The Dustbin (of History)” might be the most appropriate nickname for this monument to unchecked greed.
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It also means that paramedics are likely to have to haul people up or down a couple of flights of stairs to reach the lift to safety.
But, hey, I’ve learned the word, “ludic”; so this multi-million dollar project isn’t a total waste.
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There’s a lady who’s sure
All that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven
When she gets there she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for
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Rich people build stuff rich people like. They don’t necessarily build utilitarian or even useful structures.
I liked going to the mall when I was kid, now I can’t stand it. This thing is like a mall with no stores.
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Same here. Still - ludic is way too pompous to convey playfulness.
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Wow, that’s a thing that actually exists? I had assumed it was a hideous Escher-esque shoop.
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Wait — it’s not short for “ludicrous”?
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He seems more formal.
No nicknames.
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This frivolous excess tied to the excesses of capitalism does seem to make a clear example of why communist revolutions always seem to include a distinct architectural reaction.
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Man, that book looks like peak-1970s! 
@HMSGoose weirdly, now you mention the Communists, this stair-thing reminds me of a less dynamic version of the Monument to the Third International.
Edit: I guess that, at least, the Capitalist got their monument built; and it accurately evokes the soulless lack of imagination found in Corporate America.
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At least that one was gonna do shit*
These structures would rotate at different rates. At the base of the structure was a cube which was designed as a venue for lectures, conferences and legislative meetings, and this would complete a rotation in the span of one year. Above the cube would be a smaller pyramid housing executive activities and completing a rotation once a month. Further up would be a cylinder, which was to house an information centre, issuing news bulletins and manifestos via telegraph, radio and loudspeaker, and would complete a rotation once a day. At the top, there would be a hemisphere for radio equipment. There were also plans to install a gigantic open-air screen on the cylinder, and a further projector which would be able to cast messages across the clouds on any overcast day.
*even if the shit it wuz gonna do would be a painfully impossible sledge-hammer symbol of centralized planning…
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“Hey, quit pushin’ at the back! I hear there will be plenty for us all to eat when we reach the Donner Pass!”
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