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In architectural terms, a “duck” is a building whose structural shape represents its purpose or the product sold therein. The term was coined by architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, who studied the vernacular architecture of Las Vegas. The duck, often a gimmicky roadside attraction, looked like a doughnut and sold doughnuts, or like a duck, and sold ducks. In 1997, the Longaberger company, which manufactures wood baskets, opened a 180,000-square-foot office building in Ohio, shaped like a wood basket — in other words, a giant duck.
On Feb. 2, Amazon announced that the focal point of its second headquarters in Arlington County — or HQ2 — would be a double-helix-shaped building in Pentagon City, rising some 350 feet, clad in glass and girdled with trees. The Helix, as it has been dubbed, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, but what kind of duck is this? Amazon, whose founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post, explained: “The natural beauty of a double helix can be seen throughout our world, from the geometry of our own DNA to the elemental form of galaxies, weather patterns, pine cones, and seashells.”
DNA is the salient point. The double-helix-shaped molecule is fundamental to all known organisms, just as Amazon is fundamental to all known commerce. It is the root of everything, just as Amazon sells everything.
Continued at the link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/amazon-new-headquarters-the-helix/2021/02/17/36968326-6d75-11eb-ba56-d7e2c8defa31_story.html
