Lacaton Vassal – Statue

Lacaton Vassal’s submission for the Foundation’s new building, a competition won by Ms. Zaha Hadid almost a year ago. Talk about architecture, it features a lady in bikini.

The building is easy to use, robust and adaptable, efficient and economic, and quite ordinary in its envelope: transparent, light, open, easy to access, changing. It is made exceptional by a giant statue of a woman rising through its floors, which will be perceived in fragments. The statue represents a contemporary ideal of beauty, and radically reinterprets the traditional interrelation of sculpture and architecture.

I love statues, its a kind of art that brings out the architecture and spaces in a building.

A little history for you:
The Colossus of Rhodes was erected in 282 BC to commemorate Rhodes’ victory over the invading Macedonians, led by Demetrius I, son of Antigonus, a general under Alexander the Great. Made of steel, stone, and plated bronze salvaged from the abandoned weapons and siege towers of the failed invaders, the statue stood at 110 feet tall and depicted Helios, the patron god of Rhodes. An earthquake caused the statue to break at the knees 56 years after its completion. Contrary to popular myth, the statue did not actually straddle the harbor leading into the city, but stood stoically alongside it – more like the Dali painting shown.

Chares of Lindos was the unfortunate architect who designed the statue, and it’s believed that he committed suicide before it was completed. A controversial character, his true fate is lost to history, but one tale states that the Colossus was almost finished when a small flaw was brought to the attention of the architect, who was so ashamed he took his own life. In another story, the city of Rhodes decided to double the size of the statue, but Chares only doubled his fee, not realizing that doubling the size would require eight times the materials. (does that make sense?) He was driven into bankruptcy and then suicide. Clearly, the profession hasn’t changed much in 2000 years.

Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty, (150 ft high sans base) was inspired by Lindos’ short-lived creation. Both statues depicted a human figure standing atop a pedestal, holding a torch in their right arm. Helios, being the sun god, would most likely have been depicted with rays eminating from his head – an allusion made by the crown of the Statue of Liberty.

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