Blinded by the Light

The October 15th issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education has a cover story about the pending renovation of the Aronoff Center at the University of Cincinnati, designed by well-known architect Peter Eisenman: "At Just 14, Iconic Building Raises Preservation Issues."

The article describes the sad saga of yet another building technology failure of a 'Starchitect's' monument.  Also mentioned for their alleged misdeeds on other campuses are Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry.

Having been involved in a system failure myself, I know that mitigating circumstances may have been outside the architect's control.  Nevertheless, the appearances are far from good.  What's going on here?

• In their zeal to patronize the 'Arts' and build enduring edifices, are owners losing sight of the liabilities inherent in their 'experiments'?
• Have the 'Starchitects' become so enamored of their sculptural design statements that they have neglected incorporation of sound technology into their practices?
• Because of design factors driving up construction costs, are compromises in construction being rationalized in attempts to restrain runaway budgets?

I suspect all the participants should be chided into doing better.