muschamp madness

FOLLOWING UP ON EARLIER POSTS regarding the weakness of contemporary architectural criticism:

Herbert Muschamp returns to the pages of the Times today with a rambling, stream-of-consciousness reflection on Edward Durell Stone's 2 Columbus Circle, claiming it as an icon for New York's 1960s gay culture. How this tiring and somewhat senseless article -- actually, more of a diary entry -- slipped past the Arts editor, I have no idea. The strangeness of this aimless piece approaches -- yet does not match -- the absurdity of his article on Zaha Hadid from 2004, which contains one of my favorite moments of architectural "criticism" ever printed:

You might find Hadid lying by the pool at the Delano in South Beach, where she often goes to chill out, her body glistening with oil, hands swatting at imaginary flies. She could almost be a British housewife letting her hair down at Butlin's Holiday Camps. And her laugh is a real ah-hah-hah!

I leave you with that image...

link: The Secret History of 2 Columbus Circle by Herbert Muschamp