1 “BUILDING A BAD REPUTATION:SLOPPY AMERICAN CONSTRUCTION”by Julie V. IovineNew York Times Aug. 8, 2004ABSTRACT:When building in the United States, Herzog & deMeuron likes to have a Plan B. The kind of stolid cast-concrete walls that give European architecture a lookof permanence from Day 1 are out; they just don'tcome naturally on these shores. So for the new deYoung Museum in San Francisco, the architectsdecided instead on a flashy metallic skin. They calledon [A. Zahner], a 108-year-old family-run metalcompany in Kansas City, Mo. The idea was to coverthe building in a textured copper skin, embossing itwith an image of sunlight filtering through trees.Without any precedent on which to draw, Zahner, acompany whose name is in the Rolodex of everyEuropean architect with American aspirations, figuredout a way to make 3,000 individual panels pixelatedwith dents of varying depth to produce the desiredimage. Seurat would have marveled.Early in the process, representatives of theMuseum of Modern Art's construction managers,Amec Construction Management, went to Japan tostudy how Mr. [Yoshio Taniguchi] works. ''At firstthere was this big fear that the kind of quality possiblein Japan was impossible here,'' said Guy Nordenson,the American engineer who worked on the project.''Some of us took that as a challenge to achieve theequivalent level of craftsmanship.'' But just to be onthe safe side, the architect decided to vary his usualmethod. Instead of relying on the perfect installationof massive elements, he figured out a much moreforgiving way to achieve the same effect. TheModern's construction model involves a substructure,or invisible supporting skeleton, onto which largesmooth panels -- a signature of the architect's design-- are clipped. That part is fairly standard. But inaddition, Mr. Taniguchi designed another, underlyingframe that is entirely adjustable, so that if the panelsare attached imperfectly they can still be readjusted.Mr. Taniguchi ''never let down his standards,'' Mr.[Terence Riley] said. ''He just took a bit of a differentapproach than he might have in Japan.''The Forum for Contemporary Art in St. Louis.Some foreign architects have been disappointed withAmerican concrete. (Photo by Renzo Piano BuildingWorkshop)(pg. 28); Renzo Piano relies on mock-ups,such as this one for the High Museum of Art inAtlanta. (Photo by Renzo Piano Building Workshop)(pg. 27); When building in America, the Swiss firmHerzog & de Meuron likes to have a Plan B, like thistextured copper skin for the New de Young Museumin San Francisco. FULL TEXT (Aug 8, 2004)In the architect's vision, the two-story concretewalls of the grand lobby would be breathtaking: notonly monumental in scale but with an even gray finishso shiny it would suggest a polished mirror. Insteadthey were stained from roughly mixed sand. Andstreaks in the concrete were not going to make thegrade, not at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.After all, the museum hadbeen designed by TadaoAndo, the Japanesearchitect whosetranscendently simpleconcrete buildings haveelevated a lowly material tothe level of highest luxury.There had alreadybeen problems. In a largegallery, the concrete cameout mottled, with a texturealarming to a benefactorwhose collections weresupposed to hang there.So the offending wall wastorn down and rebuilt. Andthis time the heavy wetslabs were slowly vibratedin place to make the graysludge settle to the airless density of a flourlesschocolate-cake batter. Or as another contractor onthe job, Roger Reed of A. Zahner, said, ''The architectwanted it vibrated till it looked like butter.''It was not the first American project on which Mr.Ando had had a bad experience with sloppyexecution. In fact, the architect's reputation formeticulous standards was so daunting that some 50contractors had refused to bid on the job. In this case,he insists, it wasn't his own perfectionism that was atstake. But clearly the architect's reputation precededhim: the client, he explained in a recent e-mailexchange, ''wished more perfect concrete by TadaoAndo.''As more high-profile buildings by foreignarchitects rise in the United States, and as computersallow architects to strive for engineering, design andconstruction complexities never before imagined, agathering rumble can be heard across the professionabout the way America builds. The country hasgarnered a reputation for overlooking gaping joints,sloppy measurements and obvious blemishes, andrefusing to deviate from even the most outmodedstandardized practices. Having exported its expertise,in the 80's and early 90's, to destinations fromSingapore to Dubai, it is now facing stiff competitionfrom Europe and Asia, where the building traditionsfavor singularity, craftsmanship and durability overspeed and cost.Most recently at Seattle's new Central Library,Rem Koolhaas, the Dutch architect, set out to debunkwhat is perceived as an all-too-common attitude inthe American construction industry: if it looks hard tobuild, don't, because it will be too expensive.According to Joshua Ramus -- a partner atKoolhaas's firm, Office of Metropolitan Architecture,who is in charge of American projects -- no Americancontractor wanted to take on the building's highlyunusual structure, which is folded like a giganticmesh party napkin. ''They said there was no wayanyone could do that on that budget,'' Mr. Ramussaid of the $165 million library. ''We said: 'Invest inthinking. It may be expensive but it's a lot cheaperthan bad building.' ''Construction in the United States relies on the2quick fix, said Sara Hart, a senior editor atArchitectural Record. ''Got a gaping one-inch spacebetween frame and window? Just fill it in with siliconeand call it a day. Not perfectly flush or plumb? Whocares!'' is the typical American response, she said.''While in Germany or Switzerland, they'd rather diethan have a gap of more than one-eighth or evenone-sixteenth of an inch.'' And though no one iscalling Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hallslapdash, most American construction aspires tocookie-cutter commercial development rather thanhigh-profile brand-name architecture. Furthermore, inEurope, buildings tend to be smaller and clientsaccustomed to spending more. One way or another,the conditions have made for considerable braggingrights on the part of European and Asian architects.Dana Buntrock, an architecture professor at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, and the author of''Japanese Architecture as a Collaborative