Market v. Meaning: Starchitecture Clash of Rem Koolhaas and Peter Eisenman

This article by Giancarlo La Giorga includes quite a few very nice images in addition to stimulating dialogue:

On June 10, internationally renowned architects Rem Koolhaas and Peter Eisenman shared their often-conflicting opinions on what they consider to be the most pressing issue in architecture today, during a discussion entitled "Urgency" at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montréal.

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"It is not always clear whether we are using our position to engage in an intellectual discourse or an incredible ego free-for-all. Unfortunately, we have not been able to provide any dignity to the profession due to our complete technical inability to conquer market pressures and our willingness to be totally manipulated," [Koolhaus] said.

Eisenman said:

"We are in the rococo phase of modern architecture. The consummate rococo figure is Santiago Calatrava, whose work people like, in the same way they like Gothic architecture, because it's sweet and you don't have to think about it. You see it once and go 'Wow!' Of course, we know that not much happened in 300 years of Gothic architecture. It was always the same 'Wow!' However, I personally resent, for example, two billion dollars being spent on a subway station in New York City that looks like a bird. I have no idea why a subway station should either look like a bird or cost two billion dollars."