The publication of a great temporary building/sculpture in Buenos Aries has brought back memories of spiral buildings. This tower of Babel is wrapped in used books in every language of the world. The stair is a simple bird-cage scaffolding stair up the middle, with the books suspended in chicken wire. People are invited to take the books, slowly eroding the building. We once did a cloak-room for the British Museum in a competition when it too was a skeletal structure, and then only obtained volume as visitors coats filled the walls.Other obvious spiral buildings, like the Guggenheim, are examples of how directly the circulation inside clearly expresses itself in the external form of the building. Maybe the next Guggenheim could show the paintings outside as well as in. And maybe visitors could leave with some of the artwork as well.....
