"As is the case with all good things in life - love, good manners, language, cooking. . . personal creativity is required only rarely." —Leon Krier on architecture
When race and sexual choices overrule the author's intent and the logic of the situation. Or when a quota system is clearly at work, as it seems to be in every Netflix offering. Thanks for telling me what I mean.
Woah! Great recap of the problems with that monument to hubris.
I once worked on the 22nd fl of a 52 fl building. I was never comfortable with this arrangement. Then one afternoon the power went out, substation fire and it was not coming back for hours. I took the oppty to GTFO and used the stairs. I was shocked at how long it took to get to the ground floor. And this was not a panicked situation, as there were very few others on the stairs with me.
We humans are not meant for skyscrapers. At least this human is not.
06/08/26: We had the pleasure, in 1991, while working on the 48th floor of 1 World Trade Center, of descending those 48 floors after a transformer on the East Side of Manhattan blew up. Next Day: Couldn't move. Strangely enough, when the bastards blew up 1WTC on 02/26/93, down the stairs we went again (eventually, hours after the boom). Next day: Felt fine, even though I had been one-half of a team carrying a man in his wheelchair on the way down the stairs, a lot more strenuous physical task. Didn't hang around for 2001.
06/08/26: It won't be up there very much longer. Either it will be swiftly condemned and torn down, or before that happens, the damned think will simply disintegrate. And all these morons who bought apartments in the building had to do was do TEN MINUTES due diligence on HARRRY MACKLOWE, possibly NYC's most insane real estate "operator."
Ambitious plan, but the footprint is too small. It's already falling apart. Concrete cladding is disintegrating. The building sways too much. Cracks have appeared everywhere inside. Plumbing is iffy. (How many pumps are required to get water to the top? I wouldn't trust a water tank sufficient for the entire building ATOP it!) Occupants are suing for $165M. Once condemned, will Mamdani move homeless and IA (illegal aliens) into it?
That is scary! Already falling apart. Another NYC eyesore that will deteriorate, especially under Mamdani. (Imagine if he took it over and moved in homeless! ) We don't make concrete like the ancients did (their shit is still standing - this thing is 11 years old). It reminded me, despite catering to rich oligarchs and celebrities, of a novel named "The World Inside" in which all of humanity lives in 2000-story buildings (no one has weighed in on whether that's even possible, but it's scifi) that are totally self-contained, fed by a portion of society who elected to remain outside and do the farming/ranching.
Your comment reminded me of how awful Broadway has become because actors are on stage in order to act for other actors, rather than actual audiences. It's nothing but a form of "artistic "
06/08/26: See if you can find on the NY Post website (a horror) Johnny Oleksinski's article/review of the Tony Awards ceremony (last night). A fiasco. But what did they expect when the dead-since-the-early-1990's Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Dead) was the guest of honor?
LOL. I lived on the Bowery for 20 years and used to walk by this job site regularly. I would always ask the crew out front how things were going. I received unanimous eye rolls and snickers everytime I asked. And let me tell you, this job went on FOREVER. The workers knew the deal. It was needlessly complex and the architects were outrageously demanding of the building crew. They felt like abused children when I spoke to them. This building is a blight on city of New York.
A friend who was on a temporary rotation in a well known NYC bank had the misfortune to live in an “architect designed” flat—just the interior. The architect was a total scold, dropped by frequently to remonstrate if the fruit bowl was a few inches away from the spot he had “designed” for it. Naturally the space was uncomfortable and unlivable. My friend found a way to advance reassignment just to leave the wretched place.
The only sane explanation for such an insane structure, as with many others, is the expression of a dark, diseased mind, or perhaps a very corrupted sense of vindictiveness.
Searching for the right words: Nonsensical? Wasted opportunity? Maliciously ostentatious? Esthetically desperate? . . . maybe just silly & sad. . . . or perhaps just why?
Extra bonus points for making the stately building behind it hidden from the road. I love old copper roofs. All of the nice old building in my hometown, Montreal, Canada have a combination of slate and copper roofs. None of the new ones do. The old ones are built of local stone for the exteriors and local hardwood for the interiors. They'll still be standing after WWIII
It's not just the last few years. Something happened after WWII that has caused most new buildings to either be hideously weird like this one or boring boxes bereft of basic aesthetics. It seems most of the beautiful buildings that have stood the test of time are pre-WWII construction. Many of the post-WWII buildings are ugly like this one or just dull boxes on day one, let alone as they age (which only makes them worse).
They not only don't believe in beauty, they hate it, seeing it as inauthentic and kitschy. So they try to replace it with the Ugly so they can be as gods, knowing good and evil.
I thought this was the kind of bold, independent, proudly individualistic creative sneer at the taste gatekeepers that Ayn Rand celebrated in ‘The Fountainhead’?
But, yeah, I hate it. It’s completely, jarringly, embarrassingly out of context in its setting, for one thing. Kind of like RFK, Jr.
This kind of building is about as interesting as modern art-----which in my mind is not really art.
Art was Rembrandt paintings that were exact down to the eyelashes or the paintings of early Indian painters in the 1700's where all of the clothes and weapons carried by the Indians were 100% accurate and you could tell who the painting was about. With modern art it has to come with directions as to which way to hang it or it may get hung upside down.
This week I read Oliver Wainwright's column likening the Obama Presidential Library to an imaginary "Klingon prison," which I immediately appreciated (despite Klingons not taking prisoners), being a Star Trek fan since 1969. It also reminded me a bit of the Borg Collective's cube ship from the "Next Generation" series, that now also reflects this Cooper Union construction. I'm especially struck by the utter cruelty of displaying a single living tree in the upper left-hand corner of the roof deck. It has been assimilated into the collective.
So now I'm wondering... How much you wanna bet that Thom Mayne of Morphosis is an old Star Trek fan?
Something has gone horribly wrong. A grotesque pile, an amalgam of scrap metal piled up and claimed to be a place of learning. Perhaps it’s an expression of 21st century education. At least get some of the money back by recycling it into something useful.
I keep seeing buildings that architects design not to please occupants and bystanders, but to impress other architects.
Exactly like woke film writers! Writing to impress each other and not the audience. I’m sensing a theme here…
Try getting your film produced if it doesn't have the requisite characters.
Apparently two of the most profitable current films are on Youtube, produced outside the Hollywood control apparatus.
which 2 films are you referencing? Being retired, I watch a fair amt. of tripe. Have I missed any? LOL
Obsession and Backrooms.
Weird plots. Horror films never appealed to me, although I do like scifi. Thanks for responding.
You mean black, brown and gay.
When race and sexual choices overrule the author's intent and the logic of the situation. Or when a quota system is clearly at work, as it seems to be in every Netflix offering. Thanks for telling me what I mean.
06/07/26: Then you should take a gander at 432 Park Ave (NYC):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSANimmx4Lk
In the meantime, today's Eyesore looks like a botched appendectomy.
Woah! Great recap of the problems with that monument to hubris.
I once worked on the 22nd fl of a 52 fl building. I was never comfortable with this arrangement. Then one afternoon the power went out, substation fire and it was not coming back for hours. I took the oppty to GTFO and used the stairs. I was shocked at how long it took to get to the ground floor. And this was not a panicked situation, as there were very few others on the stairs with me.
We humans are not meant for skyscrapers. At least this human is not.
06/08/26: We had the pleasure, in 1991, while working on the 48th floor of 1 World Trade Center, of descending those 48 floors after a transformer on the East Side of Manhattan blew up. Next Day: Couldn't move. Strangely enough, when the bastards blew up 1WTC on 02/26/93, down the stairs we went again (eventually, hours after the boom). Next day: Felt fine, even though I had been one-half of a team carrying a man in his wheelchair on the way down the stairs, a lot more strenuous physical task. Didn't hang around for 2001.
That building actually scares me. It’s way too tall and skinny.
06/08/26: It won't be up there very much longer. Either it will be swiftly condemned and torn down, or before that happens, the damned think will simply disintegrate. And all these morons who bought apartments in the building had to do was do TEN MINUTES due diligence on HARRRY MACKLOWE, possibly NYC's most insane real estate "operator."
Ambitious plan, but the footprint is too small. It's already falling apart. Concrete cladding is disintegrating. The building sways too much. Cracks have appeared everywhere inside. Plumbing is iffy. (How many pumps are required to get water to the top? I wouldn't trust a water tank sufficient for the entire building ATOP it!) Occupants are suing for $165M. Once condemned, will Mamdani move homeless and IA (illegal aliens) into it?
Very interesting lesson in geometry and physics.
That is scary! Already falling apart. Another NYC eyesore that will deteriorate, especially under Mamdani. (Imagine if he took it over and moved in homeless! ) We don't make concrete like the ancients did (their shit is still standing - this thing is 11 years old). It reminded me, despite catering to rich oligarchs and celebrities, of a novel named "The World Inside" in which all of humanity lives in 2000-story buildings (no one has weighed in on whether that's even possible, but it's scifi) that are totally self-contained, fed by a portion of society who elected to remain outside and do the farming/ranching.
Your comment reminded me of how awful Broadway has become because actors are on stage in order to act for other actors, rather than actual audiences. It's nothing but a form of "artistic "
masturbation.
06/08/26: See if you can find on the NY Post website (a horror) Johnny Oleksinski's article/review of the Tony Awards ceremony (last night). A fiasco. But what did they expect when the dead-since-the-early-1990's Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Dead) was the guest of honor?
This is design I'd expect from AI. No relation to humans at all. So far, except for an encyclopedic reference, I got no use for AI.
LOL. I lived on the Bowery for 20 years and used to walk by this job site regularly. I would always ask the crew out front how things were going. I received unanimous eye rolls and snickers everytime I asked. And let me tell you, this job went on FOREVER. The workers knew the deal. It was needlessly complex and the architects were outrageously demanding of the building crew. They felt like abused children when I spoke to them. This building is a blight on city of New York.
Maybe Commie Mamdani can seize it and convert it into a mosque.
There's one close by already
As a alumnus I endorse this idea.
I was thinking a homeless and IA (ill. Alien) shelter would be more his speed.
A friend who was on a temporary rotation in a well known NYC bank had the misfortune to live in an “architect designed” flat—just the interior. The architect was a total scold, dropped by frequently to remonstrate if the fruit bowl was a few inches away from the spot he had “designed” for it. Naturally the space was uncomfortable and unlivable. My friend found a way to advance reassignment just to leave the wretched place.
The only sane explanation for such an insane structure, as with many others, is the expression of a dark, diseased mind, or perhaps a very corrupted sense of vindictiveness.
Searching for the right words: Nonsensical? Wasted opportunity? Maliciously ostentatious? Esthetically desperate? . . . maybe just silly & sad. . . . or perhaps just why?
Why! That's what I've been wondering.
Extra bonus points for making the stately building behind it hidden from the road. I love old copper roofs. All of the nice old building in my hometown, Montreal, Canada have a combination of slate and copper roofs. None of the new ones do. The old ones are built of local stone for the exteriors and local hardwood for the interiors. They'll still be standing after WWIII
Looks like a Ikea kit gone wrong.
Funny and appropriate!
Looks as though a rhinoceros tried to mate with my furnace.
When will these starchitects learn?
When will they unlearn the garbage they were taught over the last several years?
It's not just the last few years. Something happened after WWII that has caused most new buildings to either be hideously weird like this one or boring boxes bereft of basic aesthetics. It seems most of the beautiful buildings that have stood the test of time are pre-WWII construction. Many of the post-WWII buildings are ugly like this one or just dull boxes on day one, let alone as they age (which only makes them worse).
They not only don't believe in beauty, they hate it, seeing it as inauthentic and kitschy. So they try to replace it with the Ugly so they can be as gods, knowing good and evil.
I wrote "last several years" not "few years."
Just screams “WTF am I doing here? I don’t belong”. 🤣
I need an eyeball bleach.
This is a form of aggression.
This architect has a future with Barack Hussein Obama as a client. Or maybe the architect was George Costanza?
Costanza is definitely the subconscious genius behind this ‘wonder’!
His answer to the quandary, ‘Why would anyone want to see this show? — Because it’s on TV.’
Does ‘Because it’s in New York’ work?
Just another shrine to arrogance in spades, stainless steel spades, repurposed.
I thought this was the kind of bold, independent, proudly individualistic creative sneer at the taste gatekeepers that Ayn Rand celebrated in ‘The Fountainhead’?
But, yeah, I hate it. It’s completely, jarringly, embarrassingly out of context in its setting, for one thing. Kind of like RFK, Jr.
GENUINELY HIDEOUS.
PICTURE SHOULD BE REDACTED.
Save the picture for the urban war crimes tribunal. The cursed building itself need not, should not, be retained.
This kind of building is about as interesting as modern art-----which in my mind is not really art.
Art was Rembrandt paintings that were exact down to the eyelashes or the paintings of early Indian painters in the 1700's where all of the clothes and weapons carried by the Indians were 100% accurate and you could tell who the painting was about. With modern art it has to come with directions as to which way to hang it or it may get hung upside down.
Modern art and the CIA:
https://daily.jstor.org/was-modern-art-really-a-cia-psy-op/
Much of it is also a money laundering operation, an area where the CIA would equally find itself at home.
This week I read Oliver Wainwright's column likening the Obama Presidential Library to an imaginary "Klingon prison," which I immediately appreciated (despite Klingons not taking prisoners), being a Star Trek fan since 1969. It also reminded me a bit of the Borg Collective's cube ship from the "Next Generation" series, that now also reflects this Cooper Union construction. I'm especially struck by the utter cruelty of displaying a single living tree in the upper left-hand corner of the roof deck. It has been assimilated into the collective.
So now I'm wondering... How much you wanna bet that Thom Mayne of Morphosis is an old Star Trek fan?
"Morphosis" suggests to me a disease of the body's form, just as "arthrosis" means a disease of the joint.
Something has gone horribly wrong. A grotesque pile, an amalgam of scrap metal piled up and claimed to be a place of learning. Perhaps it’s an expression of 21st century education. At least get some of the money back by recycling it into something useful.
If schizophrenia were a building, it would likely look like this.
It resembles nothing so much as a failed attempt at Japanese Origami which someone accidently stepped upon.