Mimetic architecture: Why does this building look like a fish? - CNN Style

 

"As highways and freeways were being built across the country, drivers began to notice hot dog restaurants in the shape of dachshunds, coffee shops styled as giant cups and donut-shaped stores selling ... well, donuts. It was a form of direct marketing that was easily seen by increasingly mobile Americans who were spending longer in their cars.

"Mimetic architecture is often derided as a joke, kitschy and superficial," says Sir Terry Farrell, founder of London-based Farrells architects. Farrell was the mastermind of a 1981 egg-cup-shaped morning TV studio in London, where the eggcups on the roof symbolized that the show was broadcast at breakfast.

"But there is more to it that than that," says Farrell. "Driving down a highway, we instinctively know that an oversized orange is most likely (a store that will) be selling oranges; a super-sized shoe probably (is a store that) does shoe repairs; and that a gigantic guitar (is a store that) sells guitars. "

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Mimetic architecture: Why does this building look like a fish? - CNN Style: rooftop of this breakfast TV studio. Credit: Farrells "