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Architect Barbie Does Milano
Barbie has worn many hats in her long life. Mostly frilly ones, berets, and the kind fancy ladies wear when they go “skiing” in Cortina, but mostly just sit in the lodge and drink hot chocolate. Now, though, she’s donning a harder hat. After being everything from an astronaut to a corporate executive, Barbie’s career trajectory has finally taken a turn we can get into. She’s become a maker-innovator with the release of her latest incarnation: Architect Barbie.
For 2011 she’s taken on a career that’s eminently 21st century and in line with the forward-thinking ladies of today. With Barbie’s obvious appreciation for design – think pink Corvette convertibles and well-furnished plastic mansions – it’s surprising that it’s taken her this long to realise her passion for the built world. And since she’s been in the fashion game her whole life (and has a bigger wardrobe than Franca Sozzani, Anna Wintour and Anna dello Russo combined), it’s about time she used her highly cultivated taste and sense of style to solve some pressing problems. And we’re very happy that our hot plastic friend has broken the glass ceiling of one of the last remaining male-dominated professions.
So, Architect Barbie has arrived to do battle with the likes of Zaha Hadid, Eileen Gray, Kazyuo Sejima and other female luminaries of our day. What will she call her practice? Barbitecture? Will she trade in her subscription to Glamour for Domus and Architectural Digest? And we can only imagine the kinds of buildings she’ll dream up. While she’ll likely be behind some seriously well-executed shopping malls, we hope she’s passionate about urban housing and radical public green spaces, too.
In honour of Salone Del Mobile, Barbie paid us a visit and let her hair down for a whirlwind tour of Milan’s famous architecture. Once we managed to get her out of La Galleria and away from Piazza Duomo, she went absolutely crazy for Torre Pirelli. But Torre Velasca scared the living daylights out of her. And at the end of the day, she proclaimed that she was “so over pink,” thinking about switching to biodegradable plastic, and that Gio Ponti is her new hero.
Now you’re talking, Barbie.
