A few weeks ago in the midst of World Cup fever, some old studiomates and I made our way to the Guggenheim to check out Hadid's exhibition. I was a fan of Hadid ever since her intentions for BMW's Leipzig plant was unveiled, my old roommate wasn't (complained about the lack of spacial qualities in her drawings) and the last guy was indifferent. As we made our way up Mr. Wright's spiral ramp (I think an entry on the new Mercedes-Benz Museum would fit in nicely after this entry), we came to the realization that her work was incredibly abstract, a bit too abstract for my tastes. Digressing a bit here, but Design Observer has an interesting entry about the signage at the Guggenheim.

In fact I thought the first five levels was a complete waste of space and time. Things didn't really catch my eye until we reach the sixth level where giant paintings were hung on the wall reminding me of the earlier 3D / Illustrator styled renderings that was all the desktop wallpaper rage a few years ago. Making our way to the top where drawings and models of her buildings were displayed we came to the collective realization that Hadid's work was similar to Calatrava's but lacking the awe evoking sculptural qualities (say that five times fast).

In regards to the Leipzig plant, I'm a fan of all the various program elements mixed together, at first I wished the assembly line snaking its way over the office spaces, and cafeteria was more functional (welding robots?) before realizing how annoying that would be for the human neighbors below.

Usually we find that the built structures never achieve the image or 'experience' communicated by the renderings, plans, other drawings and models . But in this rare case we wanted to toast her CD crew or the contractors themselves for being able to grasp what Hadid wanted and execute even with her less than stellar drawings.

For those in the area or willing to make the trip, the exhibition runs until October 25th.