April 2002 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

We don't get it. The split-rail fence belongs among the rural, not urban, typologies of human furnishings. But we're completely confused about these things thanks to the fiasco of suburbia. The need to append a parking lot to this senior citizen storage facility (the Raymond Watkin Apartments, Saratoga Springs, NY) has prompted city planners to treat the parcel of land as a pasture for Chevrolets and Toyotas. In fact, it is the adjoining building lot -- unbuilt upon for 25 years. As a bonus, we now get the building's blank side wall facing the public realm (or rather defacing it).