Torre Agbar- Jean Nouvel 

The Torre Agbar located in Barcelona, Spain is one of Jean Nouvel’s well designed buildings. I really like how it is standing tall in the middle of a Calm city. It draws attention to its vibrant colors when it lights up in the night sky. Not to mention, this tower has an oval and circular shape to it, just like a rocket ship! There are not many buildings shaped like this, which gives the building more purpose! It is one of the new symbols of Barcelona. Nouvels tower design of the outer curtain wall is “clad in different-coloured glass louvers which can be tilted at different angles”. Allowing the tower to have a saturated color effect. The shape of Torre Agbar was inspired by Montserrat, which is a mountain near Barcelona. The design allowed the building to have over 4,500 window openings as well as 4,500 LED luminous devices which allows it to form images on the tower shown below.

https://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/page/517/torre-agbar.html

http://architectuul.com/architecture/torre-agbar

http://www.jeannouvel.com/en/projets/

This design of the current and soon to be development of the Seguin Island Urban development project is a piece of art. This design of Jean Nouvels is one that will display his true meaning of architecture at a massive scale. His visions provide modernism architecture following Arabic fretwork. This design is still not in the works, but it displays how Nouvel views the future. When I first saw this design, I thought it was something off the movie, Divergent. The white and reflective façade makes the building glow in the daylight. It is unfortunate that the development has not begun, yet because Nouvels knows what this development can become. Hopefully soon this urban development can start, and we can see a beautiful area of unique architecture.

    Jean Nouvel who was a French architect, had many designs all over Europe, Asia, and Australia. One of his He design that I liked is The Seven-Colored Tower! This beautiful skyscraper has a reflective and nature feel to it. The one thing that I realized about this building was the way Jean was able to façade a building. The way he was able to reflect and regulate light is what makes the design of The Seven Colored Tower so aesthetic. This building taller than the others allows more light in a smaller town to show its true colors. This is a geometrically designed building is to allow for facade to display more light reflecting different colors off different facade. This is what allows The Seven Colored Tower to get its name!

This landmark at the OU has had past troubles with keeping the clock face on the tower. As in 2010 they replaced it for the second time as it was blown down by a Norman wind storm. According to The Oklahoman, “The Verdin Company office in Dallas made the $18,000 custom-built clock and its staff helped install it in the tower. Once the clock was in place, the workers installed its motor, put the clock hands on its face, and then reinforced clocks on the towers’ other three sides to prevent future mishaps”(Tyree). This clock tower has a lot of cool facts behind it, but it will always be a place and a sight that Sooners will avoid. If I really wanted to be in college forever then I might risk the walk under the tower but for now I will just admire its beauty and the myth!

There is a lot of tradition at The University of Oklahoma and the clock tower is a part of it! The clock tower is about one hundred and ten feet tall. In the pictures below, you are able to tell that it is four-faced. One important thing about the tower’s height is that due to it being so tall, you are able to see if from other parts of campus! Since it is visible from places all over campus, it brings a lot of attention and visitors to that area. At the bottom of the tower, it is surrounded by nearby gardening and sculptures. During the weekend of Martin Luther King Day, I learned that the clock tower is where people will meet up and celebrate MLK there! I think that it is very cool and important that our university can use their buildings to allow people to meet and celebrate important people! This is a positive way that the tower has impacted our campus and community!

The clock tower to me has a negative reputation. It is intriguing that a building can cause someone to have so much fear. Buildings can hold such a significant meaning and allow emotional feelings to arise when one walks past a building. For me, this tower has not affected me, but there is always the lingering thought in my head when I pass it that something could happen. One day I was waiting outside the library waiting for it to be open, and Norman was in the middle of experiencing a snow day. There was a girl waiting by the tower as well. She was most likely waiting for the library to open. Minutes went by and her patience for the library to open quickly began to grow short. I looked over there and saw her walking under the tower. I immediately spoke to myself out loud saying, “NOOO. She did not just do that.” I did not know if she did not realize she walked under it since she seemed so caught up in her phone or if she was unaware of the clock’s abilities. It took everything in me not to just run over there and tell her what she did. Everytime I walk past the tower, I think of the lady and the snow storm. I wonder what the future looks like for her.Many people avoid the clock tower and do not even risk getting near it. Personally I am not that afraid of it, but I make sure that I do not just linger around that area. 

Tyree, James S. “OU Clock Tower Gets a ‘Face-Lift.’” Oklahoman.Com, 8 May 2010, oklahoman.com/article/3459749/ou-clock-tower-gets-a-face-lift. Accessed 24 July 2020.

The Cursed Clock Tower at OU 

The day I toured The University of Oklahoma as a senior in high school, I was informed that the clock tower is cursed. This myth is well known at OU and has caused students to avoid going under the clock despite any situation. The clock tower at OU has influenced me in a positive way because I never would go under the tower. It is next to Bizzell Memorial Library on campus at The University of Oklahoma. A rumor surfaced many years ago that if you walk under the tower as an undergraduate, you will not graduate in four years. That is what the tower is known for on campus. When I was a freshman, I was told about the clock tower and instantly felt a sense of caution everytime I made my way to the Bizzell Memorial Library. When I am on my way to my early classes, I walk around the tower just like all of the other students.