Considering the world has come to expect achromatic, angle-less structures from swoop-savvy starchitect Zaha Hadid—projects like her Saudi Arabian metro station and "introverted sculptural" house are proof enough of this fact—her dark, jagged design for Glasgow's Riverside Museum of Transport (2011) came as a pleasant surprise, even from an architect whose portfolio is full of lovely, otherworldly deviations from the architectural mean.
The structure's particular brand of zig-zag—less like Bart Simpson hair, more like a steel-plated EKG—makes the building look simultaneously like a child's scribble and a hand-smelted, pistachio-colored architectural prize. In fact, the museum, recently named European Museum of the Year, is supposed to "encapsulate a wave or pleat, flowing from city to waterfront, symbolizing the dynamic relationship between Glasgow and the shipbuilding, seafaring, and industrial legacy of the river Clyde," Hadid has written. Whatever the appropriate metaphor—emerald geode, seismograph reading, cartoon grass, etc.—the structure is something of a stunner. More photos, below.
· Zaha Hadid's Riverside Museum Named European Museum of the Year [UnBeige]
· All Zaha Hadid coverage. [Curbed National]
Loading comments...