RAIMUND DID NEW YORK

Greetings and Salutations, Race Fans.

I was in New York in October. I spend a good deal of time there due to the fact that it is an easy flight from Raleigh and that it is one of those markets that requires frequent trips. (someday soon we should talk about the "80-20-80" rule... a twist on the 80-20 rule).

Now I know that I am way, way behind on the posts. My apologies. As I write this I am in Charlotte, NC for a group of meetings with our new rep scheduled for tomorrow. I am listening to a tribute to Billy Crystal on the TV in my hotel room and the sounds of tribal drums on the TV in the room below me. The people next door are obviously on a honeymoon and the tribal drums are adding to their, let's say, "time together." I debated in getting caught up on all the posts I owe you OR listening to the various sounds surrounding me in this poorly built, excuse of a hotel room. (HEY HILTON! What is the STC rating on the floors? How about the walls?) At any rate, I decided that instead of posting a ton of posts, I would post just this one from October.

Like the North Dakota post below, this post is a kind of tribute-slash-love-song to one of my favorite buildings of all time. This building is the Austrian Cultural Center in New York City by Raimund Abraham The photos above do not do it justice. The construction photos and drawings are from an Arc Record article. Quite simply, it is an amazing building.

This building combines my favorite form (the triangle or, in 3-D, the pyramid -especially the asymmetrical kind) and my favorite architectural problem: a narrow lot. Mr. Abraham does more in a tiny limited sized lot than most architects do with twelve times the lot. The lot is 25 feet wide and 81 feet deep. The facade is ZINC. Not our zinc (SON OF A MONKEY!), but zinc none-the-less. It has begun to develop a beautiful soft gray patina... all zinc does this. It is stunning.

Look hard and check out the cube lit up in the early evening sky.

I usually DO NOT wax rhapsodic about my favorite architects. I feel that there is way too much hero worship in architecture and too few real ones to be had. I will visit the famous. Look at their work. Appreciate their genius. However, it is rare for me to say that so-and-so is one of my favorites. Mr. Abraham and his very limited portfollio of work is. He makes up for quantity with quality.

I had looked and looked for this building every time I traveled to New York. Somehow I got the address wrong each time or ran out of time. In fading early October evening light, persistance came through and I stumbled upon Raimund's masterpiece. This project, the Austrian Cultural Center, was a competition winner. Mr. Abraham, by the way, is more versed in the academic world than he is in one of private practice. Which makes this building even more remarkable.

If you would like to know more about the building, check out the virtual tour on www.acfny.org

It is fantastic! And do yourself a favor next time you are in NYC. Go to a great restaurant near Times Square and then, as the sun is just starting to get low, go for a walk and find 11 EAST 52nd Street... you will be glad that you did.

Until next time, I hope that you enjoyed this brief introduction to Mr. Abraham and the Austrian Cultural Center.

-G