"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
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
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.
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've been driving CATIA V5 for over 20 years, and my first instinct when I saw that hole in the building's cladding was this: it looks like a place where somebody was trying to blend complex surfaces in CATIA or some other high-powered CAD program and the blend failed, leaving a big hole. So somebody decided to drive on without it, trying to sell it as a stylistic quirk or somesuch.
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.
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
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
Looks like a Ikea kit gone wrong.
Funny and appropriate!
I need an eyeball bleach.
Just screams “WTF am I doing here? I don’t belong”. 🤣
This is a form of aggression.
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.
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 resembles nothing so much as a failed attempt at Japanese Origami which someone accidently stepped upon.
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.
This architect has a future with Barack Hussein Obama as a client. Or maybe the architect was George Costanza?
Frank Gehry is smiling down from above.
I've been driving CATIA V5 for over 20 years, and my first instinct when I saw that hole in the building's cladding was this: it looks like a place where somebody was trying to blend complex surfaces in CATIA or some other high-powered CAD program and the blend failed, leaving a big hole. So somebody decided to drive on without it, trying to sell it as a stylistic quirk or somesuch.
Strictly a hunch - I may be totally off.