![]() The nickname “vagina stadium”, quickly given by jurnalists to the soon to be fi nished construction, made the female architect furious. Even Zaha Hadid Architects were accused of such things for her design of the Quatar’s 2022 world cup. This was in fact later confi rmed by the Dutch architect, admitting in his book Control published in 2004 of aiming to create an openly provocative design. Its shape has been said to resemble not only a pair of legs, as can be assumed from the name, a pair of legs occupied in a sexual act. For instance, Rem Koolhas’ design in Beijing for the CCTV Headquarters, also known as “The Legs” was nominated the “Most controversial design” by the magazine Time. However, architects’ erotic fantasies do not stop to the male reproductive organ. This penis-shaped tower is what we could defi ne as an example of phallic or erotic architecture. The tower, in fact, has a shape that reminds immediately to that of a male organ, even though intended as a “geyser rising into the air“. What he probably did not want to achieve, or at least not according to his interviews, is such an explicit sense of eroticism as he did with his Tower Agbar in Barcelona. Taking as an example his Cartier Foundation, the two parallel, clear glass panels on a surface create uncertainty because of the way they play with transparency and refl ections, conveying a sense of mystery and tension. In an interview with The Guardian, he stated that “When there isn’t mystery, there isn’t seduction” and again, “Without a doubt, concealing is one of the elements of eroticism and therefore, of erotic architecture”. French architect Jean Nouvel had a similar opinion to that of his Brasilian collegue. In fact, as he proclaims, “life is more important than architecture”. He gathered inspiration from a world very close to the human scale, the one of sexuality and sensuality, and brought it to a whole new level. Niemeyer therefore, in a period dominated by pragmaticism and rationalism, managed to break the conventional box of architecture intended as “four walls and a roof”. The curves we fi nd in the body of the woman we love.” In fact his architecture, even though not explicitly erotic in terms of the shapes used, aims to seduct the viewer with its grandieuseness and its silhouettes. What attracts me are free and sensual curves. Nor straight, hard and infl exible lines created by man. He declared that “Right angles don’t attract me. ![]() Oscar Niemeyer, a 20th century brasilian architect, best known for his masterplan of Brasilia, became famous for his sensuous, curvy, nature-inspired designs. Therefore, the question arises: are these buildings actually shaped on purpose to remember human organs? Or is the eroticism hidden in these forms only in the mischievous mind of the viewer? It is then clear that the stereotype in which the screen writers are tapping into is that of those funny-looking skyscrapers that are nowadays populating the city centre of all the major metropolises in the world. However, those television skits, which its only apparent purpose is to get a laugh or a giggle from the audience, are in reality more than often aiming to parodize real-life situations. ![]() Hammond, completely unaware of the clearly phallic shape that his creation was resembling, declared that he wanted his tower to “emerge from a thicket of unkempt brunette shrubbery”, contributing to the ambiguity and absurdity of the scene. In this very episode, Ted’s fi rm was commissioned to design the headquarters for a major bank and fi nancial services company. And if you still have no clue of who we are talking about, you might as well spend the next summer break binge-watching the whole 9 seasons of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Hammond Druthers was the boss and head of the fi rm in which probably the most famous architect of the 21th century was working: Ted Mosby. For those who do not remember these lines, let me refresh your memory.
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