June 2019 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

Behold, the Vancouver House condominiums by the Bjarke Ingels Group (“BIG,” as they style themselves — no grandiosity there). Does the building appear to want to topple over and crush you? Isn’t that cute? Beware of what you wish for, especially with the Cascadia Fault lurking in the deep background. Architecture Magazine says the building “delivers an emotional impact.” I’ll say. Something like, “get me the fuck outa here!” It goes on to say, “The tower and base are a new interpretation of the local typology deemed ‘Vancouverism’ of a new urbanist podium coupled with a slender tower, which seeks to preserve view cones through the city while activating the pedestrian street.” This is baloney, of course. There’s no such thing as a “new urbanist podium.” Rather, that is a convention of old-school Modernist “Vancouverism,” which produces whole blocks of blank walls enfronting the street — an urban life killer. Preserving “view cones” is just additional grad school rubbish.