Deconstructivism:

style, Follies and founders

Dr Ahmed Osman Ibrahim 1
Abstract
This research aims at shedding light on the most significant contemporary style, Deconstructivism architecture,
by defining it, showing the difficulties it faced when began, proofing that it is a style and not a merely fashion
and eventually assuring that it has distinctive architectural elements that are employed by all Deconstructivist
architects in almost all Deconstructivism architecture buildings. These architectural elements are termed as
Follies, without which buildings would not be acquiring a complete acceptance as Deconstructivism
architecture.
The method adopted in coming out with this research is theoretical in nature as the Deconstructivism
architectural elements, the Follies, are thoroughly studied and analyzed to conclude by describing their
distinctive formal profiles. The research goes on giving exemplars for buildings designed by the seven most
famous Deconstructivist architects, Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman, Bernand Tchumi, Daniel Libeskind, Rem
Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelblau who were the only ones hosted in the New York Museum of
Modern Art in 1988, the first time Deconstructivism architects works were ever brought together, one exemplar
for each, by showing where such Follies are employed in their buildings to show how the most renowned
Deconstructivism architecture buildings gained their fame and social acceptance and appreciations.
Follies are attributes of Deconstructivism style especially when vividly found at the external premises of any
Deconstructivism building considering the fact that those found inside buildings emphasizing the much, such
buildings are belonging to Deconstructivism architecture. The research resulted in showing that Follies in
architecture are buildings or parts of buildings constructed primarily for decoration as they are as well meant to
act as points of reference that help visitors gain a sense of direction and navigate throughout the space.
Most significantly, the research concluded that all Deconstructivism architecture buildings are characterized by
architectural elements termed as Follies, without which buildings would not be acquiring a complete acceptance
as Deconstructivism architecture.
Deconstructivism architecture was mostly known before for its unprecedented structural treatment of surfaces
and the adoption of shapes that don’t have linear lines and form that don’t have linear edges that produce
buildings characterized by massive volumes and distorted architectural design elements. The research comes out
with the most distinctive profiles, the Follies, that become not only formal attributes of Deconstructivism style
that are constructed primarily for decoration but also help in directing people towards where they intend to go
towards, around or inside all Deconstructivism architecture buildings.

Keywords
Deconstructivism architecture, style, Follies, and Deconstructivism founders.

1-Introduction

During the last quarter of the twenty-first century new trends got to be known in the Western world.
Such trends brought about drastical changes in architecture most precisely in the notion of from to a
more intellectual and more mysterious that raised a lot of controversy among specialist critics, and
public intellectuals. None of these new trends receive the great attention deconstructivism received.
Deconstructivism appeared initially in the areas of language, philosophy, literature criticism and later
on moved to the architecture.
At the beginning the influence by deconstructivism arrived at a level at which it imposed itself to
become an architectural style which has been slowly and timidly accepted in architectural circles to
later on regain a significance in many countries all over the world. The notion of style was not vividly

1
- Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Planning, Qassim University,
Saudi Arabia. (E-mail; ahmedosmanibrahim@yahoo.com)

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known until the emergence of modern architecture. In ancient civilizations the styles were taking very
long period of time to evolve, these periods could extend to reach thousands of years as Greek
architecture continuous for about 3000 years, whereas in modern architecture styles could only extend
for few years sometimes even shorter to be controversially called fashion.
Since the appearance of deconstructivism it happened to have so many opponents who had viewed it
at its beginning as merely fashion, which could rapidly diminished. When deconstructivism architects
started producing their works they never admitted that what is produced by them should be termed
deconstructivism, some of them even denied the fact that there is something called deconstructivism
architecture. Even though when analyzing any other non deconstructivism building, design principles
tools are employed to explain the visual value of such a building, this is not, therefore, the case with
deconstructivism buildings as in deconstructivism buildings notions contrary to design principles are
employed.
The term Follies becomes what characterizes deconstructivism buildings as deconstructivism
buildings are in a way or another having some architectural elements that help formally decorate
buildings as well as functionally boast directing users when moving in space and this is what
Deconstructivism architects commonly employed in the design of their buildings.
There are various founders of Deconstructivism among which are these famous architects; Frank
Gehry, Peter Eisenman, Bernand Tchumi, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid and Coop
Himmelblau are the only ones who were hosted in the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1988.
Even though these architects are the most renowned Deconstructivism architects at that time, but still
there are so many others who later on produced works categorized as Deconstructive architecture.
Deconstructivism architecture focuses on the seven international architects whose recent works mark
the emergence of a new sensibility in architecture. The architects recognize the imperfectability of the
modern world and seek to address, in Johnson's words, the "pleasures of unease." Obsessed with
diagonals, arcs, and warped planes, they intentionally violate the cubes and right angles of
modernism. Their projects continue the experimentation with structure initiated by the Russian
Constructivists, but the goal of perfection of the 1920s is subverted. The traditional virtues of
harmony, unity, and clarity are displaced by disharmony, fracturing, and mystery. The 1988’s
Museum of Modern Art exhibition in which and for the first time the Deconstructivism architects
works were ever brought together includes drawings, models, and site plans for recent projects by
Coop Himmelblau, Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha M. Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind,
and Bernard Tschumi. Their works are preceded ban introductory section of Constructivist paintings
and sculptures drawn from the Museum's collection, cited by Johnson, (1988) [10].
According to Oxford Dictionary, style is defined as the general formal appearance of anything or the
manner of doing anything. This is in a way similar to the definition of the term Fashion in the same
dictionary, which is as well defined as the manner of doing or making something, Hornby, (1988) [8].
Hurlburt, (1977) considered style as a particular distinctive mode or form of construction or execution
in any work or art [9]. He goes on emphasizing the distinction between style and fashion stating
that;”A careful distinction is needed between the style arrived at by designers working toward a
common objective and the merely fashionable solutions that grow out of imitation”. Style, which is
earlier defined, is produced out of a certain objective or philosophy. Both style and fashion are design
products. In architecture, therefore, design style is used instead of design philosophy and architectural
design philosophy is referred to the architect's design philosophy. Conway et al., (1994) stated that
styles take their name from the physical or visual features of buildings as the movement of art
nouveau style, from historical periods as the Queen Anne revival style, or from a geographical area as
the Indian style [4]. Some styles such as modernism were identified before they came into being,
while others such as art deco acquired their name long after they achieved their greatest popularity.
Referring to the Encyclopedia of Wikipedia architectural styles classify architecture in terms of form,

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techniques, materials, time period, region, and so on cited by Herbert (1983), [7]. This in a way
similar to the explanation Conway gave. The notion of style overlaps with, and emerges from the
study of the evolution of the history of architecture. In architectural history, the study of Gothic
architecture, for instance, would include all aspects of the cultural context that went into the design
and construction of these structures. Architectural style is a way of classifying architecture that gives
emphasis to characteristic features of design, leading to a terminology such as Gothic style.
The concept of style is used in all the visual arts such as architecture, not only by historians but also
by archeologists, anthropologists, sociologists and philosophers. Archeologists often employ stylistic
analysis, alongside an investigation of materials and technique, in order to date and identify
architectural remains and other finds. Architectural historians use stylistic analysis as an important
tool of identification. There are numerous examples of books that focus on particular styles, and the
history of architecture has often been presented as a serious of styles that follow one another
chronologically. This was the method applied by Fletcher, (1975) in his book A History of
Architecture [5]. He looks at styles chronologically, compares, and contrasts them in order to identify
the specific characteristics of each style. He compares the decorative moldings of ancient Greek and
Roman architecture and compares the round-headed openings of English medieval Norman-style
cathedrals with the various types of pointed-arched openings of the gothic style.
We say, a building is in a particular style this implies that there are other buildings or artifacts that
share similar features. Not all the buildings, which comprise the group, will necessarily be identified
in form, for they may vary in how many characteristic features they share. Most buildings in the group
will have all of those features that characterize the style, but not every building will have all of those
features. We expect gothic cathedrals to have piers, buttresses and openings with pointed arches.
Some windows are simply lancet with no tracery, others have plate tracery, and yet others curvilinear
tracery. Often there is no single physical attribute that is both necessary and sufficient for membership
of a style. In other words, we cannot say that a building is not gothic just because it does have
buttresses, or conversely that every building that utilizes buttresses is gothic. Voysey, the art and craft
architect of the late nineteenth century, employed buttresses in his domestic architecture and we do
not call his work gothic. Style is defined through the physical or visual characteristics of buildings.
Structural elements such as columns, protective elements such as columns hat shield openings from
the weather, and decorative features such as the carving on a molding may all be used to identify a
style. In other words, structural elements and decorative features are characteristics of style, but they
are not styles themselves. Therefore, Follies could be attributes of Deconstructivism style especially
when vividly found at the external premises of any Deconstructivism building considering the fact
that those found inside buildings emphasizing the much such buildings belong to Deconstructivism
architecture as Conway et al., (1994) affirmed [3].

2-Deconstructivism architecture
The French Philosopher Jacqes Derrida has commenced the idea of Deconstructivism in the year
1980. In Deconstructivism or sometimes referred to as Post structuralism, architects depended on the
structural treatment of surfaces and the adoption of shapes that don’t have linear lines and form that
don’t have linear edges to produce buildings characterized by massive volumes and distorted
architectural design elements Hays, (1998) explained [6]. Those who often referred to
Deconstructivism as post-structuralism believe that, this kind of architecture has the ability to go
beyond current modalities of structural definition. In Deconstructivism structures are not required to
reflect specific social or universal ideas, such as the necessity of fastness in the execution of required
works or universality of form, and they do not reflect a belief that form follows function.
The boredom and dullness of many repetitive and monotonous building forms had lead to the
emergence of intellectual revolution searching for whatever new in architecture. It is only architecture

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gumptious intellectuals have the ability to extract pearls from the oceans of ancient architecture that
composes a great deal of rich and precious ideas. Deconstructivism, which was clearly known due to
its rapid spread in the eightieth, could never be understood without linking it to the twentieth of the
19th modernism, precisely when going back to analyze the Monument to the Third International,
which was designed in 1919 by Vladimir Tatlin. The Sculpturalism design form was an interpretation
to what affected the society such as economical disability, which was symbolized by the tumbling and
imbalanced form that was considered as a continuation of the Russian Bolshevism ideas.
According to Mallgrave, (2005) the architects of the eightieth referred back in their works to the
structural and mechanical concept of Constructivism which was inspired by Vladimir Tatlin’s
Monument to the Third International [11]. Many works evolved from Tatlin’s edifice then followed
with cheap and simple structure construction elements either firmly tied or not.
This new architectural movement is a continuation of Post Modernism ideas. According to Rickey,
(1995) Post Modernism architects called for perfection in architectural works, whereas
Deconstructivism architects called for disturbed Perfection, which become the formal imperatives for
Deconstructivism of which buildings are partially scattered and expressed to come out with vivid
architectonic reflecting the random social directions (Similar to what Tatlin’s edifice reflected) [12].
Deconstructivism is as well an expression to the impossible careworn attempt to create an
uncountable feelings that characterize the present global village (Globalization).
Starting in the late 1980’s, Post-modernism shifted to “Post-post-modernism,” also referred to as
Deconstructivism. While Post-modernism is a resurrection of the past, Deconstructivist architects on
the other hand attempted to deconstruct architecture by “exploding “ the Building, its elements, or the
design idea from within to without, resulting in a style that is non-systematic an unorthodox.
Deconstructivism is characterized by disjointed angles, an unbalanced appearance, and a feeling that
the whole structure would tip over due to the un-syncopated nature of its whole composition. The first
official confession of Deconstructivist Architecture was via the exhibition that was organized in the
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1988 in New York. In that exhibition projects of seven architects
were displayed.
Since then Deconstructivist Architecture school of thought, offices and products started prevailing all
over the world. Analyzing and exploding both architectural forms and functions to their components
is what was produced by Deconstructivist Architecture. These components included society or city
mega structures were what occupied not only architects but also extended to French Philosopher
Jacqes Derrida whose writings and essays were the base for the theoretical aspect of Deconstructivist
Architecture. It is from his writings that architects such as Bernand Tchumi and Peter Eisenman
benefited from. The collaboration of Bernand Tchumi, Peter Eisenman and Jacqes Derrida resulted in
the distinctive design of Parc De La Villette Park in Paris, built in 1987, Paris. Figure (1), [16]

Figure (1) Parc De La Villette Park in France, built in 1987, Paris

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It was in this Park that the first best Science Museum of all Europe was built. It is a design assumed to
be the first step in Deconstructivist Architecture and the best exemplar in which the architectural
design elements or Follies, which distinctively characterizes Deconstructivist Architecture are
intensively employed.
The following statement: “Pure form has indeed been contaminated, transforming architecture into an
agent of instability, disharmony and conflict “was written at the entrance of Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA) in 1988 in New York, summarizing the ideas Deconstructivist Architecture was calling for.

3- Follies
According to Hornby, (1988), the term Follies is in general referred to lack of good sense,
understanding, or foresight [8]. It could also mean the act or instance of foolishness, costly
undertaking having an absurd or ruinous outcome, an elaborate theatrical revue consisting of music,
dance, and skits, obsolete, Perilously or criminally foolish action, evil, wickedness, lewdness or
lasciviousness. Follies in architecture are buildings constructed primarily for decoration as Barlow,
(2009) defined [1]. Architecturally, the follies are meant to act as points of reference that help visitors
gain a sense of direction and navigate throughout the space. While the follies are meant to exist in a
deconstructive space without historical relation, many have found connections between the steel
structures and the previous buildings that were part of the old industrial fabric of the area. The follies
help in organization and direction of visitors.
Follies are generally having the following properties; they are buildings, or parts of buildings. Thus
they are distinguished from other garden ornaments such as sculpture. They have no purpose other
than as an ornament. They often have some of the appearance of a building constructed for a
particular purpose, but this appearance is a sham. They are purpose-built. Follies are deliberately built
as ornaments. They are often eccentric in design or construction. This is not strictly necessary;
however, it is common for these structures to call attention to themselves through unusual details or
form. There is often an element of fakery in their construction. Follies could pretend to be the remains
of an old building but which was in fact constructed in that state [17].

3-1 Exemplars of Follies

The nine meter height giant female spider sculpture which is called Maman in French which
translates as Mother in English is Follies found in The Bilbao museum built in 1997, Bilbao, Spain
and designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Owen Gehry. The sac like structure underneath
contains 26 marble eggs, Figure (2), [18].

Figure (2) The outdoor sculpture exhibit, the giant female spider called
Maman or mother

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The run-away science-fiction film nine meter height giant female spider together with the ninety nine
wolves’ sculptural replicas has a surreal look that makes people to interpret them differently. This
interpretation is one the many objectives museums in generally present. The female spider sculpture
Follies decorates the building site as well as help in directing people towards the entrance of the
museum.
These exhibits with others as the American artist Jeff Koon’s Tulip and Puppy exhibits available in
the museum are received with mixed reactions of amazement and amusement. The stainless steel with
mirror finish surfaces Tulip is an amazing colorful external sculpture, Figure (3), [19].

Figure(3) The American artist Jeff Koon’s Tulip exhibit

The Puppy is a wonderful horticultural floral puppy a 12.4 m tall exhibit. It is a stainless steel work
with an internal irrigation system with the entrance of The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in the
background. This Follies decorate the building site as well as help in directing people towards the
outdoor viewing deck from where visitors could widely appreciate looking at the sea, Figure (4), [20].

Figure(4) The American artist Jeff Koon’s Puppy exhibit

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The giant bicycle wheel and the reddish structure behind the giant bicycle wheel shown below are
some of so many follies found in the Paris Parc De La Villette. Besides its decorative purpose, the
follies help in organization and direction of park visitors; they could as well be employed by users,
Figure (5), [21].

Figure(5) Follies in Parc de la Villette

4- Deconstructivist founders buildings with follies

4-1 Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry is a Canadian-American based in Los Angeles. His works are considered as the
most important works of contemporary architecture and he is classified as the most important
architect of our age. He is considered a modern architectural icon and celebrity, or a major
Starchiest. As a truck driver in Los Angeles Gehry graduated from the University of Southern
California's School of Architecture at the top of his class with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. He
studied city planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Gehry is associated with the Los Angeles School of architecture. The existence of this school remains
controversial due to the lack of a unifying philosophy or theory Chollet, (2001) attested. This school
includes some Gehry’s contemporaries such as Eric Owen Moss and Thom Mayne of Morphosis.
Gehry has been called the apostle of chain-link fencing and corrugated metal siding [2].
Gehry’s style at times seems unfinished or even crude as according to some critics his buildings waste
structural resources by creating functionless forms, do not seem to belong in their surroundings and
are apparently designed without accounting for the local climate. Gehry has gained a reputation for
taking the budgets of his clients seriously, in an industry where complex and innovative designs like
Gehry's typically go over budget. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao despite its architectural
innovation has far less cost compared to Sydney Opera House. First, Gehry employs a tactic called the
“organization of the artist” in which he will be able to prevent political and business intervention in
the design. Second, he made sure he had a detailed and realistic cost estimate before proceeding.
Third, he used CATIA (computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) and close
collaboration with the individual building trades to control costs during construction, his other firm
Gehry Technologies developed Digital Project.

4-1-1 The Jay Pritzker Pavilion

The Pritzker Pavilion or Pritzker Music Pavilion are other names for the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, is
a bandshell in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois,
United States. It is located on the east of the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District.
The pavilion was named after Jay Pritzker, whose family is known for owning Hyatt Hotels. The
building was designed by architect Frank Gehry and constructed in 2004. All rehearsals at the
pavilion are open to the public; trained guides are available for the music festival rehearsals, which

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are well-attended. The pavilion has a capacity of 11,000.
The performance venue was designed with a large fixed seating area, a Great Lawn, a trellis network
to support the sound system and a signature Gehry stainless steel headdress. It features a sound system
with an acoustic design that replicates an indoor concert hall sound experience. The pavilion and
Millennium Park have received recognition by critics, particularly for their accessibility; an
accessibility award ceremony held at the pavilion in 2005 described it as "one of the most accessible
parks, not just in the United States but possibly the world. These interwoven stainless steel headdress
members act as Follies that decorate the building site as well as help in directing people towards the
Pritzker Pavilion, Figure (6), [22].

Figure (6) The trellis decorates the building site as well as help in directing people towards the Pritzker
Pavilion

4-2 Peter Eisenman

He is an American architect whose architectural works are often referred to as formalist,
deconstructive, late avant-garde, late or high modernist. Eisenman's writings on formal analyses are in
line with renowned writers as Andrea Palladio, Le Corbusier and James Stirling and others. Besides
being a teacher, an editor, a curator, and writer and a practitioner he was also an early advocate of
computer aided design. Eisenman received a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from Cornell, a Master
of Architecture Degree from Columbia University and Ph.D. degrees from the University of
Cambridge Eisenman the architect tells much about himself in Eisenman, (2004). He taught
architecture in so many institutions, but currently he teaches theory seminars and advanced design
studios at the Yale School of Architecture [18].
Eisenman was a member of the New York Five known as the Whites, as opposed to the Grays,
Charles Moore and others. The most famous in the five architects group are Eisenman, Richard Meier,
and Michael Graves. Eisenman's works are based on architectural form derived from his academic and
theoretical standpoint that resulted in structures that are badly built and hostile to users.
The Wexner Center was the first major public deconstructivist building that required extensive and
expensive modifications due to necessary design weaknesses such as incompetent material
specifications, and spaces exposed to direct sunlight resulting in more fine art exhibition than
architecture.

4-2-1 Wexner Center for the Arts

The Center was built in Columbus, Ohio state in 1989, named in honor of Leslie Wexner, who was a
major donor to the Center. The Wexner Center for the Arts is a multidisciplinary, international
laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art in the whole of Ohio State
University. Through exhibitions, screenings, performances, artist residencies, and educational
programs, the Wexner Center acts as a forum where established and emerging artists can test ideas
and where diverse audiences can participate in cultural get togethers that boasts the understanding of

8
contemporary art. In its programs, the Center balances a commitment to traditions with a commitment
to rocket acceleration of modernization. It as well affirms the university’s three major missions of
education, research, and community service.
The Wexner Center is both a laboratory and public gallery, but not a museum, as it does not contain
artifacts even though it assumed possession of 3,000 artworks formally belonged to the University
Gallery of Fine Arts. The collection serves a secondary role in the Center's programs in the visual,
media and performing arts. The Center is made available to University students and scholars for study
and occasionally drawn upon for exhibitions at the center or elsewhere.
The Wexner Center was the first major public building to be designed by Eisenman, previously
known primarily as a teacher and theorist. The design includes a large, white metal grid meant to
suggest scaffolding, to give the building a sense of incompleteness to comply with the
deconstructivism tastes Eisenman adopts.
There is a staircase taking to the upstairs screenings and talk’s large room entrance. Two odd
positioned columns appear, one suspends as people take the staircase upstairs and the other is
positioned at the left reducing the width of the staircase, these two staircases together making it
uncomfortable and unbearable for some to walk upstairs, but if at all the activities there disserve it
then such obstacle could easily be overtaken.
Visitors to the sprawling Andy Warhol exhibition at the Wexner Center sit on star-shaped seats to
watch video interviews produced by the artist, who died in 1987.
Both these architectural elements, the white painted scaffolding-like metal grid and the staircase are
considered as Follies since they decorate the building site and interiors as well as help in directing
people towards where they intend to go, Figure (7), [23].

Figure (7) The white painted scaffolding-like metal grid decorates the building site and helps in
directing people towards where they intend to go

4-3 Bernand Tschumi

Bernand Tschumi who is an architect, writer, and an educator is son of the well known architect Jean
Tschumi. He works and lives in New York and Paris. Tschumi studied in Paris and Switzerland,
where he received his degree in architecture in 1969. Tschumi taught architecture in Britain and
America where he became Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at
Columbia University. Tschumi has argued that it is not always necessary to have a relationship
between architectural form and the events that take place within it, an advocacy contrary to what has
been belived in regarding this matter. He also argued unquestioned cultural narratives when combined
film and literary theory with architecture as he was teaching design studios and seminars based on that
approach. This approach according to Tschumi, (1994) unfolded along two lines in his architectural
practice, [13]: first, by exposing the conventionally defined connections between architectural

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sequences and the spaces, programs, and movement which produce and reiterate these sequences; and
second, by inventing new associations between space and the events that 'take place' within it through
processes of defamiliarization, de-structuring, superimposition, and cross programming. Tschumi,
(1994) wrote distinguishing between the forming of knowledge and the knowledge of form, [13].

4-3-1 School of Architecture of (FIU) Florida International University

The Paul Cejas School of Architecture Building designed by Bernard Tschumi in 2001is named in
honor of the former Ambassador to Belgium and South Florida civic leader who was one of our most
important advocates in the establishment of the School of Architecture of Florida International
University, Miami. It is one of the FIU university 26 schools and colleges and is a school within the
College of Architecture and the Arts. The school was founded in the 1980s.
The school building’s yellow, orange and red ceramic tile exterior makes it to be the most identifiable
building on campus and by this idea Tschumi succeeded in the Follies concept by decorating the
building for easy recognition as well as help in directing people to it since it is distinctively painted,
Figure (8), [24].

Figure (8) The school decorative distinct yellow paint eases directing people towards it

The 30,600 m2 facility features a multi-level technologically advanced studio with space for 375
students. Students enjoy the exterior courtyard space and an ultra-modern auditorium with an
advanced audio- visual system Tschumi, (2005) attested, [14].

The Art and Art History Department is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art
and Design (NASAD). Tschumi approached the design bearing in mind the location and peculiarity of
Florida International University. It is located in the largest and fastest-growing metropolis in the
southeastern United States, a city that combines glamour with commerce and is situated at the
epicenter of a zone of influence that extends into the Caribbean and South America. Bernard Tschumi
Architects approached the design for a new building for the School of Architecture to expand young
School and as a forum for exchange between vibrant cultures in a growing city.
According to Tschumi, et al., (2003) the veneered structures clad in bright variegated tiles and twisted
slightly to contrast with the rectilinear formalism of each wing, contain the public programs of the
building: a reading room, gallery, lecture hall, and a multi-use terrace. Florida International
University’s School of Architecture wanted a signature project but they lacked the funds to create
36,000 m2 of architectural gold. Tschumi’s solution was to create an exaggerated formal figure
through fabricating an exaggerated context which creates a high degree of contrast with the adjacent
structures. There are five buildings that are part of the complex. Three of the structures are simplified
tilt wall concrete structures. The tilt wall structures create a rigid datum that begins to form a
background for the brightly colored red and yellow generators.

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4-4 Daniel Libeskind
He is an architect, artist, set designer professor and theorist who mostly designed museums and
galleries around the world. Libeskind started as a musician performing on Polish television in the
fifties. He briefly worked as an apprentice to architect Richard Meier. He was later on hired to work at
Peter Eisenman's New York Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, but he quit almost
immediately. An institute concerned with research, education, and development in architecture and
urbanism. It was joined by young architects seeking alternatives to traditional forms of education and
practice. History and theory of architecture and an intensive design tutorial were taught by the
Institute’s instructors who are considred the most renowned architects and critics of the time living in
or visiting America. Some of such renowned architects and critics who taught in the institution are
Peter Eisenman, Rem Koolhaas, Aldo Rossi, Charles Gwarthmey, Frank Gehry, Diana Agrest, Mario
Gandelsonas, Rafael Moneo, Robert Stern, Bernard Tschumi, Michael Graves, Richard Meier,
Kenneth Frampton, Manfredo Tafuri and Anthony Vidler, among others.
This private Institute helped shape much of the autonomous theoretical discourse that dominated
architectural culture in the last 30 years of the 20th century; it as well concentrates more on applied
theory and research utilizing new technology, cross-disciplines, materials and methods. Such private
organizations, even though had a great influence on the sphere of architecture in general it contributed
little to debate, criticism, multidisciplinary experimentation, progressive education, improvisation and
applied theory compared to public architecture education institution like Columbia University, Cooper
Union, and Pratt Institute which have better success at creating greater intellectual friction and
stimulation and to a great degree hampered by the requirements of professional accreditation.
Libeskind taught at numerous universities across the world, including the University of Kentucky,
Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Currently and since 2007, Libeskind is a visiting
professor at the Leuphana University, Lueneburg, Germany.
Libeskind completed his first building at the age of 52 in 1998 after which critics had dismissed his
designs as "unbuildable or unduly assertive." The first design competition that Libeskind won was in
1987 for housing in West Berlin, but soon thereafter the Berlin Wall fell and the project was canceled.

4-4-1 The Denver Art Museum

The Denver Art Museum built in 2006 in Denver’s Civic Center, Colorado. The museum contains
comprehensive collection of the American Indian art Willensky et al., (2010) asserted, [15]. The
collections are more than 68,000 works from across the world. The expansion of The Denver Art
Museum was designed by Libeskind called the Frederic C. Hamilton building is clad in titanium and
glass. Georgia O’Keeffe Exhibit was brought to the Denver Art Museum to exemplify the tied
relationship between architecture and Visual Art. Beside outdoor Georgia Libeskind’s design was
started as a simple and humble freehand sketch called according to critics the perceptive shape design
idea developed to become the controversial Jewish Museum Berlin. O’Keeffe Exhibit or sculpture
there are the 'Scottish Angus Cow and Calf' by Dan Osterville, the 'Big Sweep' by Coosje van
Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg, a giant bronze spider by French-born American sculptor Louise
Bourgeois is placed in front of the entrance and other sculptures were also found according to Calnek,
et al., (2006). The giant bronze spider has been exhibited in The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The
Georgia O’Keeffe Exhibit acts as Follies that decorate the building site as well as help in directing
people towards its outdoor open yard, Figure (9), [25].

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 Figure (9) The Georgia O’Keeffe Exhibit that acts as Follies

4-5 Rem Koolhaas

Architect Remment Lucas known as Rem Koolhaas is a Dutch. He is an architectural theorist, an
urbanist and a Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at
Harvard University. Koolhaas studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in
London and at Cornell University in New York.
Koolhaas being a talented architect he was said to have inherited some abilities from his father who
was a novelist, critic, and screenwriter as well as from his grandfather who was a modernist architect.
Koolhaas is the founding partner of OMA, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in which he was
joined later after establishment in 1975 by Zaha Hadid one of his students, later become a renowned
architect. Koolhaas wrote a book titled Delirious New York in 1978, while he was a visiting scholar at
the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York, directed by Peter Eisenman according
to Koolhaas, (1994).
According to Koolhaas old architectural principles as composition, scale, proportion, detail and so on
no longer apply when a building acquires Bigness. Bigness referring to in Koolhaas’ design theories is
a characteristic which buildings of contemporary architecture acquire resulting in their peculiar forms.
As a professor at Harvard University Koolhaas wrote three books; Project on the City (2001) followed
by The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping (2002) and The Great Leap Forward (2002). All
three books involved Koolhaas's students analyzing of what others would regard as "non-cities",
sprawling and congested cities such as Lagos in Nigeria, West Africa, which the authors argue are
highly functional despite a lack of infrastructure. The authors also examine the influence of shopping
habits and the recent rapid growth of cities in China Koolhaas, (1993) asserted.

4-5-1 China Central Television Headquarters

China Central Television Headquarters of China or the CCTV Headquarters built in 2012 is a 234 m
height, Figure (10), [26].
[[[[[

Figure (10) China Central Television Headquarters of China or the

CCTV Headquarters built in 2012

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Koolhaas in collaboration with Ole Scheeren of OMA were the architects in charge of the building.
The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) won the contract after winning an international
design competition of which juries or adjudicators included architect Arata Isozaki and critic Charles
Jencks.
It is never a traditional tower, but interconnected six horizontal and vertical boxes, of which two
inward tilted or leaning towers are connected by a huge v-shaped girder on top and another huge v-
shaped girder at the base acting as an a podium, forming an unfamiliar unique structure with an open
center sharply contrasted to other buildings. The construction of the building is considered to be a
complex structural challenge provided by Ove Arup. The building’s grids of diagonals form the
stability system of the building and reflect the distribution of forces that the structure experiences
under different load conditions.
The building was intended to form a landscape of public entertainment, outdoor filming areas, and
production studios as an extension of the central green axis of the Beijing Central Business District
(CBD) in other words administration, news, broadcasting, and program production offices and studios
are all contained inside.
China Central Television Headquarters is the tallest building in Beijing; its observation deck sits at an
impressive 238 meters, 44 stories skyscraper with the tip of its antenna reaching 405 meters. The
observation deck offers incredible panoramic views of the city. CCTV Headquarters’ light gray
curtain glass perfectly blends with the misty skyline of Beijing. The building is nicknamed the "big
boxer shorts" by a Beijing taxi driver, due to its form, the name that later on becomes more famous
that Zhichuang meaning Knowledge Window or Future Window a names given to the building
interpreting its window-like appearance. The building’s unconventional form seems to change as
people move around it, so its appearance changes dramatically.
The whole building form is considered as Follies its window-like appearance decorates not only the
area where it is located, but also extends to decorate the whole capital Beijing. The window-like
appearance was also useful for directing passersby. There are three adjacent buildings to the complex,
towards the North, the Television Cultural Center (TVCC) building, towards the North Eastern side
there is the Service Building, and towards the Eastern side there is the Media Park.

4-6 Zaha Hadid

The Iraqi British architect Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in
2004 to become the first woman to have that houner. Hadid received a degree in mathematics from
the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of
Architecture in London, where she met Rem Koolhaas, and Bernard Tschumi. She worked for the
Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), in Rotterdam, the Netherlands with her former
professors, Koolhaas and to become a partner in 1977 as Betsky, A. (1990) explained. By meeting
the renowned Irish structural engineer Peter Rice of Ove Arup & Partners who gave her support and
encouragement early on at a time when her work seemed difficult. Rice’s rigorous mathematical and
philosophical logic made his first job to be the roof of the Sydney Opera House with Ove Arup &
Partners and thereafter he became part of the winning team of Pompidou Centre in Paris partnering
Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano In 1971. Hadid established her own London based practice in 1980,
she also taught at the Architectural Association during the 1980s Austria, but previously taught
architecture at various prestigious universities around the world, including Harvard Graduate School
of Design, where she was the Kenzo Tange Professorship and the Sullivan Chair at the School of
Architecture, University of Illinois, Chicago. She was guest professor at the University of Fine Arts of
Hamburg, Germany the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University, the Masters Studio
at Columbia University, and the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at the Yale
School of Architecture.

13
As her counterparts, the constructivism architects, Hadid contributed in planning beside her immense
architectural built and non built works, distinct interior designs, marvelous industrial designs, bridges
and so many other designs as well.

4-6-1 Phaeno Science Center

The Phaeno Science Center is an interactive science center in Wolfsburg, Germany, built in 2005 after
architect Hadid won a design competition in collaboration with structural engineers, Adams Kara
Taylor. The building is under the custody of ministry of Culture, Sports and Education composed of
the following main departments or programs; Science Center, restaurant, cafe, shop, auditorium,
underground car park. The structure propped up on sleek cone-shaped columns, which sensual forms
draw strength from the energetic cityscape that surrounds it. The busy and populated city compelled
Hadid to come out with a Follies decorative form provided by two sides hand railed too long walkway
from the site entrance reaching to the building entrance so as to help ease directive to visitors coming
from different parts of Wolfsburg, the city to which the building belongs, has been preparing for this
moment for more than half a century when was founded as a factory town given a name in Germany
translated into English as "strength through joy”, Figure (11), [27].

Figure (11) Follies decorative building provided by two

sides hand railed too long walkway
[[[[[

The city's Volkswagen factory is the largest in Europe, still loom above the city. The finish architect
Alvar Aalto designed the city's marvelous culture center, with its flowing lines, central roof terrace
and naturally lighted interiors, as well as a Lutheran church. The jagged external forms and
expressionist interiors of Hans Scharoun's theater complex make it an architectural jewel. Hadid's
design, therefore, flows directly out of Wolfsburg's history.
The Science Center which houses physics, biology and chemistry exhibit is the endpoint of a chain of
important cultural buildings. It is the first of its kind in Germany, appears as a mysterious object,
giving rise to curiosity and discovery. A Visitor is faced with a degree of complexity and strangeness,
which is ruled however by a very specific system of structural organization as the prolonged void
positioned at the only top most floor.
She has also undertaken some high-profile interior works. She worked with the clothing brand
Lacoste, to create a new, high fashion, and advanced boot designed. She designed the Moon System
Sofa for leading Italian furniture manufacturer B&B Italia. In 2008, Hadid dabbled in cars. She
designed the Z-car, which is a hydrogen-powered, zero-emission city car for two people with a three-
wheel base.

5- Conclusion
The research concluded by clearly pointing out the main characteristics of a style that is necessarily

14
accepted despite strong opposition when began to gradual timid acceptance at the present time to
become one of the most controversial style ever known before. As the research was analyzing the
different structural and visual profiles of Deconstructivism architecture, it was concentrating on the
style of buildings being the most recognizable aspect of buildings by people, more precisely, the
passersby. Deconstructivism architecture is beyond no doubt a style that could easily be recognized
since its external appearance is vividly distinguishable. Deconstructivism architects even though
worked with no already agreed upon manifesto, but when hosted in 1988 in New York’s Museum of
Modern Art by Philip Johnson, architect and former Director of the Department of Architecture and
Design, The Museum of Modern Art; in association with Mark Wigley, architect and lecturer at
Princeton University, they proofed that their architectural designs were having something in common
let to what is now widely known as Deconstructivism architecture.
Despite many other structural profiles associated to either the nature of the overall skin of the building
or its treatment or colour, other almost isolated structures, adjoined members or buildings termed as
Follies, according to the research, are obvious structural and visual components of Deconstructivism
architecture.
For a building to be categorized in Deconstructivism architecture style it should structurally
incorporate a Follies or vividly have a visual appearance of Follies, to easily acquire the most
significant profile of Deconstructivism architecture.

15
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