September 2010 | Eyesore

Architectural Abortions from the USA and Around the World (And Sometimes Other Miscellany Infecting the Landscape)

The latest stinker from Daniel Libeskind: a 54-storey addition to the 1909 Metropolitan Life Insurance building in Manhattan. Libeskind is apparenty exploring a new Terminator style featuring the revealed skeletal infrastructure as if the curtain-wall were blown away by gunfire. He's passing this off as "gardens-in-the-sky" to greenwash the planning commission. Yeah, right. As if anybody on the street would benefit from the supposed garden effect.

Notice the striking contrast between the graceful urban decorum of the 1909 tower and the narcissistic stunt right behind it.

Oh, another thing: neither the architectural "community" or the planning officialdom have got the message yet that the skyscraper is a building typology of the past. The main reason is that these buildings will never be renovated. We're going to be too short of capital investment and complex fabricated building materials.