The Centre Pompidou-Metz is located in the city of Metz, France. It is an art museum, and the architect Shigeru Ban was involved in its modern and complex design. From looking at pictures of this piece of architecture, I first noticed the complex and wavy shape of the roof. From afar, I feel that the flowing roof lines almost create a dynamic feeling to the entire structure, which contrasts the straight and fixed lines seen on typical buildings. The structure of the roof is created from wooden beams, arranged in a hexagonal pattern that was influenced by a woven Chinese hat. The curving pattern formed from this design is quite intriguing to look at, especially from underneath the roof. Another thing that I noticed about the Centre Pompidou-Metz is the level of connectedness between the interior and exterior due to a lack of extended walls, which provides a welcoming feeling (gate closed in picture). To me, the structure’s overall design is well balanced; it’s gracefully elegant yet not overly extravagant or flashy, making it appealing to look at.

Photo & info source: https://www.archdaily.com/490141/centre-pompidou-metz-shigeru-ban-architects

Like the Cardboard Cathedral of New Zealand, the Onagawa Container Temporary Housing is built to help those impacted by natural disaster. As the name suggests, the buildings are constructed from many stacked shipping containers and there are a total of 9 buildings located in Onagawa, Japan. From the speaker Richard McKown and other sources, I’ve noticed that repurposing shipping containers is a widely used technique for quickly constructing buildings. From the exterior, my impression of these temporary buildings is that they appear to be very organized and use space efficiently to house many people without a lot of land. While the individual housing units are probably quite small for long-term living, the design seems to function well as temporary or emergency housing.

Photo & info source: https://www.world-architects.com/en/architecture-news/reviews/onagawa-container-temporary-housing

Here is the Cardboard Cathedral of Christchurch, New Zealand, designed by Shigeru Ban. It is meant to be more of a short-term, earthquake-resistant structure to temporarily substitute structures affected by the earthquake. The sides of the building appear to be fashioned from shipping containers, while the roof consists of 98 cardboard tubes. I think the multi-colored glass are a nice addition to an otherwise blank-looking exterior. When looking at this building, the cardboard tubes are, to me, one of its most interesting aspects. While I would normally assume cardboard to be too weak for building construction, it is somehow successfully used here. I learned that the tubes are specially treated and waterproof, but I wonder how thick the hollow cylindrical tube walls are, and consequently how much they weigh. The structure is supposed to be more resistant to earthquakes than traditional buildings, and I assume part of the reason is that cardboard is probably more flexible than regular building materials like bricks and concrete. Overall, I feel that the building’s A-frame design with shipping containers uses materials efficiently and can be quickly constructed, creating a simple yet effective structure.

Photo & info source: https://www.archdaily.com/413224/shigeru-ban-completes-cardboard-cathedral-in-new-zealand

This is the Aspen Art Museum located in Aspen, Colorado that was designed by Shigeru Ban. Despite being a very modern building, it features an extensive use of wood/composite wood for both structural and styling purposes. The building contains wooden roof beams and the exterior has a woven pattern, created with a material called Prodema, which is comprised of paper and resin under a real wood surface. For me, the woven exterior is the part of this building that stands out the most, and it reminds me of a woven basket, which is something that’s artful yet natural and organic. Thinking deeper, I feel that there exists a sharp contrast between the natural, wood-like material on the exterior and the artificial, square grid-like pattern they are arranged in. A natural structure is not so organized, yet humans have a desire to neatly organize things, typically into geometric shapes. Here, the Aspen Art Museum has a strong repetition of rectangles/squares.

Photo & info source: https://www.archdaily.com/546446/aspen-art-museum-shigeru-ban-architects

Although I randomly encountered this building while walking through MIT campus, it left such a striking impression on me that I had to take a picture with my phone. Typically, straight lines and symmetry come to mind when I think of modern architectural designs, but the Stata Center appears to purposely disobey such trends. While I did not have a chance to go inside the building, the seemingly cartoonish outside with crooked lines create such a great sense of uniqueness to the structure, evoking my curiosity. I would later find out that the building was designed by the architect Frank Gehry, who also designed other buildings with a similar, unconventional style. The design of the building reminds me that in a world where many things tend follow a trend, whether logic-based or not, something that deviates from the orthodox allows it to stand out, to be noticed. While it may be impractical or more expensive to implement something unique, there can be beauty in the sense of individualism and character it brings.

While I did not plan to visit Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, I received free tickets to go, and so I took the opportunity. Similar to most destinations in Boston, I took the subway to get there, which is typically the fastest method that avoids all the traffic and stoplights. At first glance, the building’ exterior gave me an impression not of extravagance or modern design, but rather a sense of history, like classical art. For me, the most noticeable feature at the entrance was the four columns that are reminiscent of ancient Greek architecture. While I did not know it at the time, I learned from this architecture class that those were Ionic columns with the “rolled-up” elements at the top. Once entering, there is a ticketing area followed by an area where personal bags are collected, probably for security purposes and theft prevention. After that, it’s mostly just rooms and rooms of artwork and sculpture. I spent several hours walking around checking out the seemingly endless number of exhibits, and it was overall a positive memory for me.

On a late-summer day, I visited the Boston Public Library as I was exploring the city. I took a subway train there, and it was a short walk from the station to the library. Based on my knowledge, the library was comprised of two interconnected buildings, the newer Johnson Building and the older McKim Building, which almost juxtapose each other. When I walked to the entrance of the Johnson building, I first noticed how I was able to clearly see the interior due to the amount of glass used in the design. To me, the glass that stretched all the way down to the ground provided a feeling of connectedness between the building’s interior and the outside sidewalk. As I roamed inside the Johnson building, I remember most vividly the multiple-floors with walkways and orange-colored accents. As I went further into the library looking at books and climbing stairs, I eventually got lost and had to take some time to find my way back out.

As a major in mechanical engineering at the University of Oklahoma, Felgar Hall is a building that I go to a lot for my classes. My first impression of Felgar is that although it has a similar style as other buildings on OU campus with red bricks on the exterior, the design, especially around the windows, seem older. Some parts of the interior also show the older age of the building, while others have probably been renovated. Walking inside, an occupant is instantly greeted with stairs that lead up or down. Going up, there are mainly classrooms, and going down leads to an advising area as well as engineering laboratories and a machine shop. Whenever I think of Felgar Hall, I would begin to recollect all the different classes I had and all the people I met there over the years I attended OU. With so many memories and experiences at Felgar, I remember the building as a place where I learned and advanced myself.