Life Without Buildings: Rem Koolhaas, Tunisia, and Sandcrawlers: an architecture blog

29 April 2008

Rem Koolhaas, Tunisia, and Sandcrawlers



It would appear that the Star Wars Universe owes another debt to architecture. A reader sent in the above image with a note saying that the Hotel du Lac in Tunisia may have served as the inspiration for the Sancrawlers used by the Jawas to travel across Tatooine. Another visit to Wookiepedia (an increasingly important Life Without Buildings resource) tells us that filming for A New Hope largely took place in Tunisia, so it's entirely possible that this building did, in fact, have an influence on the production design. BONUS: a little trivia for you Extended Universe fans — "du Lac" was the origin of the "Dulok," the natural enemies of the Ewoks. Obvs.



The form of the Sandcrawler also brought to mind a more contemporary building — the Casa da Musica. Admittedly, this one is a bit of a stretch, as the Rem Koolhaas-designed building, really only resembles the dessert-planet vehicle from one angle. Plus, we know that it was based on an unbuilt design for a private residence — hence the name. But is it possible that somewhere in the inner workings of Koolhaas' mind, there exists some subconscious collection pond of sci-fi culture that gets channeled into his designs? Surely, the origins of Louisville's Museum Plaza must be extra-terrestrial in nature.

And finally, just for good measure, Life Without Buildings would like to present the second in a series of architects thinking about spaceships: Koolhaas considers the Sandcrawler.



· Otto Wagner and the Millenium Falcon [Life Without Buildings]
· What's Up With All The Death Stars? [Life Without Buildings]

Comments on "Rem Koolhaas, Tunisia, and Sandcrawlers"

Blogger David said ... (10:13 AM) : 

When it comes to sandcrawlers, you can't miss the connection to Liebeskind 's addition to the Denver Art Museum:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/10/12/arts/12libe_CA0.600.jpg

It looks even more like a sandcrawler in person.

-- David

 

Anonymous datenrettung festplatte said ... (11:36 AM) : 

The architecture concept is really imagine. Thanks for your post and also for sharing the pictures. I will hope that you will post more interesting post like this. Thanks!

 

Anonymous Filme downloaden said ... (4:29 PM) : 

wow, oh my god! THIS is a star wars thing

 

Blogger Sean Watson said ... (3:24 PM) : 

I love the comparison to the man's head.

 

Anonymous fgautron said ... (8:38 AM) : 

Hi,
And I see some similarities between the Edo-Tokyo Museum of Kiyonori Kikutake and the AT-AT Walker :-)

 

Anonymous Jacob Slevin said ... (10:20 PM) : 

Do you think the Cornell Architecture building is also influenced by the spaceship? Check it out @ http://www.aap.cornell.edu/aap/explore/milstein-slideshow.cfm

 

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