The Green Blade

Jean Nouvel is set to build another iconic building, this time in the far west. Selected by SunCal Companies, the residential landmark is located in 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The building’s façade is a distinctive luminous/transparent glass integrated with a vertical landscape. It is supposed to be a green project that will earn itself a LEED Silver certification. 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard, will be an iconic gateway to Century City. It is situated on a now-vacant 2.4-acre site and will reenergize the area by bringing 177 new residences to what was once an office building and a restaurant.

According to Nouvel, the concept of the project stems from the idea that “21st century contemporary architecture must express the art of living in a particular place at a particular time.” Thus, the building will extend the horizontal landscape vertically. This is achieved as the residents will experience the city from behind the plants that surround their homes, manipulating the foreground and background.

The background will consist of a striking landscape as each home will face in two directions. The higher floors will also reveal downtown districts lights and the Santa Monica Mountains. The foreground however will gradually open up to the background as vegetation enters the home transversally in the form of interior gardens planted by the residents. The interior space of each unit extends out beyond the glass line onto a planted balcony landscape. The plants grow hydroponically, without soil.

“The green blade is thin, eleven times higher than it is wide. It tries to prove that it is possible to tame height by simple pleasures like reflections, shadows, and vegetation vibrating against the depth of faraway horizons.”

Daniel Libeskind... did he choose the right profession?

Felix Nussbaum Haus. Osnabrück, Germany.


Berlin Jewish Museum. Germany.


London Metropolitan University Graduate Center. UK.


Denver Art Museum extension. USA


Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Toronto, Canada.


Starchitects... Some are admired... Others, on the other hand, face a huge wave of hatred and criticism despite being commissioned with significant buildings and constantly being sought after. One of those starchitects is Daniel Libeskind.

I like Libeskind designs, they look intriguing... however I don't think they qualify as architecture... they are more like sculptures... I have visited his Jewish Museum in Berlin and bought a book about it... all the pictures in the book are taken before any exhibit or item was placed in the museum... the pictures show blank walls with weird window shapes and empty floors... and it looked amazing... but when I visited it I felt like it was not designed to accommodate the exhibits... I felt like the exhibits were vandalizing the building... and that's what wrong with Libeskind buildings in my opinion... they don't serve the purpose of the building but act as sculptural objects...

You can see how his sculptures evolve as well in the above picture... they started as zigzag buildings with abstract windows and evolved into "crystals" with scattered windows. I guess this raises the question whether Libeskind should have became a sculpturer instead of an architect??