and are cut by huge grooves that erode their shape. Eisenman is no sculptor and has apparently failed to translate his own intentions into cogent three- dimensional spaces and forms. There is nothing new in this:
even Eisenman’s supporters have had to admit his difficulties in constructing and materialising concepts. The glass curtain walls are a case in point: some of these are over 40 metres high and require a structure of their own which muddles the composition. The surfaces are sliced this way and that, with decorative mullions that correspond to some Eisenmanian geometry but fail to cohere as a pattern and give the impression of a skin-deep commercial architecture. The few completed interiors reveal a palette of plasterboard panels painted white, departing at angles and tracing serpentine curves. The effects of light are quite appealing and Eisenman has followed his research into transparency but all of this complexity ends up being monotonous and leads to an impression of sameness. There is too much architectural self consciousness and insufficient attention to human occupation and use. Here and there you stumble across a reddish diagonal line, then gradually figure out that this is supposed to register the presence of a skewed grid. Some of the geometries turn out to be merely cosmetic. It is a case of what Le Corbusier called ‘the illusion of plans’. Then there are those two unfortunate towers designed by John Hejduk, which Eisenman included as a favour to a friend; like giant bottles they take on the character of a folly and contribute further to the erosion of the seriousness of the scheme. In the lobby of the archive building, with its contorted
Top_ Aerial view of Gibellina after the 1968 earthquake Bottom left_ The interior of the archive
building is mired in confusion Bottom right_ Alberto Burri’s Grande Cretto, a memorial to the Gibellina tragedy, looks to have inspired Eisenman
and empty shelves, there is a curious video that presents Eisenman as a sort of magus or showman, repeating the same spells and incantations time and time again in an uninterrupted loop, with a translation text running underneath as in a news announcement. The City of Culture will help the people of Galicia understand their place in the world; it will be an ‘icon’ for Compostela (as if it needed another); it will recall the routes of the pilgrims and the shell of Saint James; it will be an obligatory visit for archi- tourists; it will distil the granite of the landscape and the glass facades of traditional architecture… You look for
034 The Architectural Review / October 2010 / View
the evidence of all this in these vast, twisting halls of skin-deep materials and colliding details which, for one recent North American visitor, conjured up the milieu and tackiness of a shopping mall. Did Fraga really entertain
pharaohic dreams of a monument and a public memorial? With this gigantic project the taxpayers of Galicia may be getting a shipwreck of the star system summing up its empty gestures and peddled political delusions. The City of Culture is still years away from completion and will eventually cost a fortune to run and maintain. It is just possible that the magical Bilbao Effect may not work on this occasion.
CORBIS; INIGO BUJEDO AGUIRRE/VIEW; CARLO COLUMBA
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