PATHETIC & BATHETIC ARCHITECTURE IN ALBANY, NY It’s Actually Worse Than The Previous Round [Warning: Architectural Eyesore Rant] Hey check out the newest round of renderings for the “soon-to-be-built” Albany Capital Center. timesunion/local/article/http%3A//timesunion/local/article/Convention-center-eyes-SMG-to-run-Albany-site-5653694.php#photo-6656424 Hard to believe but these are actually worse than the previous renderings (the current is the one with the red box in the center… we’re told to “ignore the color”… Oh, well in that case it’s fine… ) Blank walls of glass and cheap cladding. Proportions that defy the Golden Ratio in nature and the very human form it’s meant to serve. Short squat first floor. No transition at the top. Horizontal windows. Zero ornamentation. Zero curves (i.e. elements of traditional feminism -- You cant draw a woman with straight lines, said Frank Lloyd Wright). Zero traditional, time-tested design elements of beloved and successful buildings AT ALL… At a recent panel in Troy on Architectural Infill in an Historic District, we were cautioned by a panelist that implementing design standards in our city would stifle the “creativity” of architects. (If you dont see the creativity in this here design, then you just dont get it! What these creative architects have so cleverly done is to deploy the OPPOSITE of every element of successful, inspiring and beloved architecture. Its ironically and self-deprecatingly called “Hipster Architecture” because hey Its Hip to be Square. .... thats an ironic, self-deprecating 80s reference. To be ironic and self-deprecating is to be creative.) At the same talk, the moderator -- in his introduction -- scornfully referred to new buildings that incorporate “traditional” design elements as “pandering to history” (History: there is nothing to learn from it). Another panelist, an architect, mildly defended his peers by noting that architects often take the brunt of the criticism for these [shitty = my word ] buildings while it is actually their clients, e.g. developers, who demand this stuff. I can sympathize – but not empathize – with that situation. If that’s truly the case, then it’s time for architects to go “John Galt.” Continuing to build this demeaning schlock is so pathetic its bathetic. By the way, these are the best ideas for urban revitalization coming out of Albany: a convention center and a casino. It seems like all of the restaurants in Albany are for sale at the moment. But ... thats purely a coincidence. blog.timesunion/dowdondrinks/so-you-want-to-be-an-albany-restaurateurbar-owneretc/17267/
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 20:12:10 +0000
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