Discussion: A Return to Social Concerns - New Perspectives in Modern Architecture
The Prada Flagship Store in SoHo (2001), designed by Rem Koolhaas, represents a high-water mark in the collaboration between star-architects and fashion labels. The conversion of a shop with an area of roughly 2,100 m2 apparently cost around $40 million - an exceptional sum even for New York City. Ultimately, very little actual architecture was to be seen for the money. Since the 1990s, fashion firms and cultural institutions, property developers and politicians have vied with each other for the services of renowned architects as a means of achieving success. The phenomenon is known as "the Bilbao effect": since 1994, one has seen how exceptional architecture can be used to give an economic boost to a concern, a brand label or an urban area. In the original case, it was an industrial city that had slipped into insignificance. The method seems to be applicable to all kinds of situations. Through the creation of ever new architectural icons, some institutions and even entire cities sought success and a new status.
