August 2015 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

Behold the Anaheim, CA, Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC). It’s a LEED Platinum champeen! It is also running a $2 million operating deficit after opening earlier this year. Revenue was expected from naming rights, but so far no corporation has paid to have its name plastered on the end-wall. An average of 460 Metrolink and 300 Amtrak passengers boarded trains daily at the Anaheim station during the first month of operation. That’s fewer than the number of customers who eat at the Harbor Blvd and West Ball Road Taco Bell any given day. Well, sorry to twang on the sad state of public transit in The OC, but let’s face it: SoCal is the Vatican of Happy Motoring.

As for the building itself: sigh…. what you’ve got is just a plastic shed. The diamond-shaped ethylene tetrafluoroethylene skylight panels can transmit a jillion different colored lighting effects at night. Like infants everywhere, Americans enjoy brightly-colored things that glitter. I wonder, though, how the stuff will hold up to the brutal daily UV bombardment over the years. My guess is that the windows will go opaque, and then turn to powder before the 21st century is half over.

Thanks to Natalie Gloving for the nomination.