Each design should have a conceptual idea at its basis. Obviously this idea should supersede the design, not the other way around. The problem of design then really becomes what to when the design needs change that is fundamental to the concept of the design. Should the concept then be changed as well? This, I believe is a critical point in every architect’s career. This came to my mind when I saw the revisions to the Shanghai World Financial Centre. The Tower designed by KPF and later by Leslie Robertson and the main feature of the tower is obviously the opening at the top. It started with a circle (1), which was then crossed with a bridge (2) and is now a square (3). A project that starts with one architect and then has another architect take over is not easy, and to me the concept of the design has suffered visibly. The square just looks very weak.
When I worked for Hiroshi Hara on the Umeda Sky Tower, the concept was to design towers connected in the top. This concept lost most of its potential as the initial concept: connecting four towers, lost its design strength when first one than another of the initial 4 towers were abandoned. The third tower, the Westin Hotel, was even under construction when the owners decided to build their own (ugly little beige) tower. Hara’s concept was losing force but he somehow managed to keep his initial idea in the connection of the two remaining towers. (although one can imagine that four towers would have been spectacular). For Hara the idea of connecting multiple towers expressed in his drawings is equally important as the constructed building itself. He called this “the prospect of the world”. The creation of a possibility of architecture.
