November 2009 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

Presenting the new Arthur Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, designed by EwingCole architects (yes they spell it that way, with no space between "Ewing" and "Cole" -- hip, huh?). This amazing "landscraper" is about the size of an aircraft carrier. Notice the (approximately) fifty-foot-long span of heat and AC ventilation grid placed attractively to the left of the main entrance. Why? Because the left side of the elevation apparently doesn't matter enough to warrent real embellishment. It's just "leftover" frontage. To try to mitigate the excessive horizontality of the building, the architects employ the old trick called "change of materials" on the second floor -- where you get a bay of Darth Vader glass and then a giant span of copper paneling (above the HVAC grid) so the building wouldn't appear to be a gigantic brick Yule log. The "change of materials" ploy is foiled anyway by the long masonry string courses (the lines in the brick), which only emphasize the "landscraper" effect. Notice the main doors look like the entrance to any hospital emergency room in America. Have a happy tracheotomy!

Here's a look at the north end of the building. Notice how the windows get longer (more horizontal) going left in the upper story. Cute.

The south elevation (right). Notice how two blank-walled buildings greet each other! Nice! The blind meeting the blind.

As a bonus here's another project underway on the same Skidmore College campus. They're painting the old field house (now dance department) green! Notice how it fades from dark green on the left to light green on the right. "We're Green!" the building declares -- meaning, I suppose, that it is a morally upright building on a morally correct campus run by right-thinking people. We do stupid things like this because we have no faith in our ability to produce truly beautiful buildings -- so we engage in semiotic stunts instead.

America, you are blowing green smoke up your own ass!

Tragically, we're only fooling ourselves.