Taken as a whole, these three look alright from this view. Although I assume the Tadao Ando Modern looks better as a hole than it does built. (No offense meant, I actually really like the building, I just doubt it is very interesting from the air.) Kahn’s Kimbell museum looks kinda cool, and you can see the little courtyards which also work to let natural light into the galleries. And Casa Manana, one of Buckminster Fuller’s first geodesic domes looks the same from the air as it does from the ground.

I was struck by this image a few moments ago when I was Google Earth-ing. I thought “Huh, clever” of the management to put the name on the roof, which I assumed was for helicopters carrying stars to the Academy Awards. But then I remembered that stars walk on the red carpet, they don’t helicopter in from above. And I don’t see a landing pad anyway. Then what is this text for?

We are bombarded with advertising in Los Angeles. Our most famous monument was once a billboard advertisement itself. The benches we sit on while we wait for the bus (I’m talking about others of course, I’m way too rich to ride the dirty bus. And the driver can’t break a Twenty.) are emblazoned with the face of Snoop Dogg or Young Jeezy or whatever rapper has a new cd coming out soon. Then it hit me. With the popularity of Google Earth, are we to see a blitzkrieg of rooftop advertising? Rooftop advertising has already occurred in the flight paths around airports; roofs usually persuading you to this rental car company or that one, or this hotel or that one, travel-y things. This is a whole new territory though, no airplanes, no helicopters, just people desktop travelling from city to city.

The problem is time. Satellite images we view are up to 10 years old. So strategists would have to be, err, strategic in their marketing. Logos only, no trendy shit. No spokespeople, they may be unrecognizable/irrelevant/boring/dead/Eddie Murphy ten years in the future. But I think it could be done. Most cityscapes are a very dreary grey when viewed from the air. Think how much a shiny red Coca-Cola logo would jump at you as you were planning your trip on Google Maps.

Also. Architects may have to start considering our buildings from other vantages. The roof plan needs to be further scrutinized due to our new birds eye tendency. No longer can we put all of our time into section and elevation. Point:

Hard to even recognize. It looks like it could be a power plant or maybe a ride at Magic Mountain. The folds and curves of the Concert Hall all but disappear from the air. It’s plain, boring. But, it cuts cost. I can’t imagine trying to convince a client that we needed another $100K of Stainless Steel so Google Earthers wouldn’t be disappointed. But it’s something to think about.

Corbusier almost certainly designed Villa Savoye with Google Earth in mind.

La familia zamora, originally uploaded by jasonfking.

I’m having a very mexican christmas.