mendelsohn appreciation day

A frequent comment about Erich Mendelsohn is that his spirit is better preserved by virtue of the fact that so many of his sketches for buildings remain unbuilt and unbuildable. (Of course, China may be working on a full scale Mendelsohn theme park as we speak, merely as a way to exercise their construction industry)

How did he draw like that? How do we know that they are buildings and not abstract sculpture?

One issue with his designs that gives credence to my claim that his work is unbuildable lies in the way that surfaces are portrayed as perfectly seamless. Building scale prohibits this effect except for a brief period immediately after the cladding is applied. From that point on, everything deteriorates. Modern buildings that look seamless are simply a collection of well-organized control joints. Mendelsohn's work captures the spirit of movement, but denies its impact at the level of the detail.