Corporate headquarters buildings as sculpture

When I was writing those articles about culture-based revitalization in European cities for an EU project here, I couldn't write that Bilbao's seeking out of "architecturally startling" buildings was wrong headed, as I might say about buildings in a city like Washington, given my historic preservation bona fides and my preference for context sensitive architectural and urban design, which values the "ensemble" or the landscape as a whole, rather than a hyper focus on a particular building.

It's difficult for "new" (modern) architecture to not be discordant in the context of pre-1930s building stock, both commercial and residential.

Instead I wrote that the overall ensemble of architecture was strong enough to withstand the introduction of new buildings that were more sculptural than being designed to fit in.

Crystal City in Arlington Virginia is mostly known for faceless 1960s and 1970s corporate boxy glass curtain walled office buildings, so it's a perfect setting for the proposed headquarters building for Amazon's HQ2 there.  

It's very sculptural ("Amazon unveils its HQ2 and double helix-inspired building in Arlington, Virginia," USA Today).

It's not dissimilar from some of the architecture of the company's new buildings when they relocated their headquarters to the SoDo district of Seattle ("Inside the Amazon Spheres: The plants, the architecture, and a transforming city," Curbed).

Architecturally startling design is not new to corporate headquarters and campuses ("The rise of the corporate campus," The Conservation, "The Lousy Urban Design Of America’s Most Innovative Companies," Fast Company).

I haven't read the book, Pastoral Capitalism: A History of Suburban Corporate Landscapes, although it's been on my radar for a long time.