Basket Building... Yes that Basket Building.
I was taught to hate the basket building, but I think I actually love it.
I still remember the first time I heard about the Longaberger Basket Headquarters in Dresden, Ohio. A friend of mine applied to intern at NBBJ and the first thing he said was “I applied to that firm that did the basket building.” He followed up the statement by pulling out the book “101 Things I Learned in Architecture School” and flipped to the page which defines the architecture term “duck”. Next to the definition of “duck” is a sketch of an absurd giant basket. We mocked the stupidity of wasting money on such a design.
I don’t recommend the book “101 Things I learned in Architecture School” (I have no idea why Kent State required us to purchase this book), but it did provide the simplest definition for a “duck” that I have ever heard “A duck is a building that projects its meaning in a literal way”. It’s called a duck because Robert Venturi pointed out, to his knowledge, the earliest example of this typology, a duck farm sales stand for ducks and eggs. In contemporary architectural discussion, “duck” is often used as a derogatory term, even if it did not originate as such. The basket building is easily the most famous modern example of the least self-aware architectural typology known to man. It’s easy to see why architecture schools teach people to ridicule such designs. Why would we need to go to architecture school if designing a building is as easy as literally designing a giant basket?
I convinced myself that this building was worth of ridicule. I would espouse that this building is an example of everything that is wrong in architecture:
American consumerism
Clients that can’t help but trip over their own “vision”
Pushover architects
Lazy design
This is probably the most famous building in Ohio and it represented everything that is wrong with Ohio and America.
Finally I moved to Columbus, Ohio in 2014. In casual conversation I would jest with other architects about the bad, lazy design. I would hear little pieces about the history of the design process, and slowly but surely my opinions of the building changed. The first defense of the building was from my friend who worked for NBBJ. “The structural design of the handles is intense. The handles had to be heated to prevent ice from building up and crashing through the atrium. Did I mention the Atrium?” It was like watching your friend stand up to a bully, but I was the bully. I was unmoved. I couldn’t understand why the architects would design such a stupid idea. I later learned through another conversation, that the partners legitimately tried to convince the owner that this was a terrible idea. Not only did this give me newfound respect for the firm, it also made me realize that we were all completely wrong and the owner was correct, this was a good idea. The advertising paid for itself in the 20 years they occupied this building.
The reason I felt the urge to write this, let’s call it an apology, was a short twitter thread with Paul Goldberger. It started with the following image mocking the “architecture of gentrification”.
I commented that it was one step away from a giant basket, mocking the Longaberger Headquarters. After some shared laughter, someone jokingly stated “How dare you disparage the basket!” and it was then that I realized that I LOVED that building. It was not “everything that is wrong with Ohio and America” it was “everything that is Ohio and America”. Ohioans are weird. Americans are weird. That building is weird. The amount of courage (or stupidity) Longaberger possessed to build a giant basket as a building probably only exists in the Mid-West. I replied to the comment that “I actually love it, but it’s fun to mock”. Paul summed it up the best “Well, on one level I sort of like it too. After all, I’m a guy who once drove 40 miles through rural Ohio to see the basket building.”
The basket building was recently abandoned by Longaberger and sold. It’s going to be a luxury hotel and you bet I’m going to drive 40 miles through rural Ohio to stay there.