Berkeley Dorm - yeah - adaptive reuse and urban infill!
Podium Castle - yuck - looks like a prison designed by Breuer when he had mono
Feb 13, 20 1:52 pm ·
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atelier nobody
Not adaptive reuse.
Feb 13, 20 4:59 pm ·
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OddArchitect
Then fuck it. I hate frosting on buildings.
Feb 13, 20 5:56 pm ·
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atelier nobody
I'm OK with the (Neo)Mediterranean top part, but the not-quite-Gaudi Art Nouveauish base makes me ill. Here is a local (Neo)Spanish Colonial that isn't half bad, IMHO.
Feb 13, 20 6:16 pm ·
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SneakyPete
The Architect who did this one generally does buildings more in line with that. http://www.kpaarch.com/
Feb 13, 20 6:21 pm ·
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OddArchitect
I'm cool with the top part but the base is just fake junk.
If you wedge something between a classic Terra Cotta apartment building and a Bodega within a dense urban environment you can use almost any style and it will still be good.
Feb 13, 20 4:09 pm ·
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atelier nobody
Maybe, but that's not what's happening here.
Feb 13, 20 5:00 pm ·
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SneakyPete
The neighborhood can accept that building, there's lots of varied styles to be found, and it's no worse than the dozens of garbage stucco housing with "picture frames" and one-note design elements that are being thrown up all over the Bay Area. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.
Feb 13, 20 5:31 pm ·
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atelier nobody
I don't think any neighborhood that doesn't charge admission can accept that building. And the ride inside it better be damn good, too.
I have to put up with it, I live in Berkeley - the gunnite walls and stucco on the type 3 floors looks like crapiola next to the Euro modern Martinez hall next door - it just really degrades Berkeley - then the graffiti artists will make good work out of it
Feb 13, 20 5:50 pm ·
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SneakyPete
Most of the recent construction has been trash. The housing beside Macarthur Bart is decent.
Yeah, I'm not deeply analyzing it but for some reasons the Berkeley project strikes me as cheeky and whimsical and fun while the Grand Rapids Castle is just depressing beyond words.
Yeah, there's a sense of humor with the Berkeley project - there was an attempt to play with material juxtapositions even though the upper portion looks pretty janky. An almost funhouse vibe. The Grand Rapids one seemed to take itself seriously and actually wanted to look like a proper castle - which it fails.
Feb 14, 20 11:50 am ·
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tduds
I think what bothers me more than anything about the Grand Rapids project is that the 'castle' motif is literally skin-deep. If you're going to build on a ridiculous concept at least have the courage to see it through the interiors. This is just some bland-as-hell Avalon Bay crap with a funny wrapper.
Feb 14, 20 12:02 pm ·
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monosierra
Aye, my problem with cheap "classical" buildings and more serious new classical ones is that oftentimes the style boils down to a veneer - a skin that tries to resemble construction of old but which relies entirely on modern rainscreen systems to create the effect.
berkley: silliness is underused as an architectural effect. cave-style is tacky but i appreciate the effort to be playful in a more subtle way than just using clashing colors.
grand rapids: this castle-compound is baffling - this kind of ugly suggests profound incompetence. is west-central michigan experiencing the kind of population boom to justify a single project that accomodates 10% of the entire town's housing stock (this is literally true... google a bit!). I can't imagine this isn't a massive failure as both an investment and a design.
OTOH the grandcastle is a good rebuttal against everyone who says traditional style architecture is necessarily the way to relate to the scale of existing communities...
Which is better? or worse?
I am sincerely excited about one of these projects and actively despise the other. Which, and why?
Berkeley Dorm - yeah - adaptive reuse and urban infill!
Podium Castle - yuck - looks like a prison designed by Breuer when he had mono
Not adaptive reuse.
Then fuck it. I hate frosting on buildings.
I'm OK with the (Neo)Mediterranean top part, but the not-quite-Gaudi Art Nouveauish base makes me ill. Here is a local (Neo)Spanish Colonial that isn't half bad, IMHO.
The Architect who did this one generally does buildings more in line with that. http://www.kpaarch.com/
I'm cool with the top part but the base is just fake junk.
Mad King Ludwig called. He wants his jail back.
Nice I've always wanted to live in a Medieval Times Arena.
I thought it was Legoland HQ.
tduds - I know a guy...
I should point out that both are apartment buildings.
What? All the second one needs is some concertina wire and you could put people away for LIFE.
It could also be a zombie proof apartment building . . . .
I prefer the sunset in the 2nd pic
Dang polite Canadian. Always finding the good in most things. 8-)
I'm getting a lot of Rebel Alliance vs. Empire vibes here.
Nope and nope.
this is backwards in more than one way
https://www.grandcastle.com/
it has a torture chamber as well
Marketing Pitch: Live in a castle! Like a King!
Reality:
If you wedge something between a classic Terra Cotta apartment building and a Bodega within a dense urban environment you can use almost any style and it will still be good.
Maybe, but that's not what's happening here.
The neighborhood can accept that building, there's lots of varied styles to be found, and it's no worse than the dozens of garbage stucco housing with "picture frames" and one-note design elements that are being thrown up all over the Bay Area. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.
I don't think any neighborhood that doesn't charge admission can accept that building. And the ride inside it better be damn good, too.
I have to put up with it, I live in Berkeley - the gunnite walls and stucco on the type 3 floors looks like crapiola next to the Euro modern Martinez hall next door - it just really degrades Berkeley - then the graffiti artists will make good work out of it
Most of the recent construction has been trash. The housing beside Macarthur Bart is decent.
agreed
Yeah, I'm not deeply analyzing it but for some reasons the Berkeley project strikes me as cheeky and whimsical and fun while the Grand Rapids Castle is just depressing beyond words.
BUt also this castle, on Camelback Mountain is Phoenix, I adore: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=camelback+mountain+castle&id=54700686CBACC04C508BDDAB8E06C2B155AA6441&FORM=IQFRBA
Yeah, there's a sense of humor with the Berkeley project - there was an attempt to play with material juxtapositions even though the upper portion looks pretty janky. An almost funhouse vibe. The Grand Rapids one seemed to take itself seriously and actually wanted to look like a proper castle - which it fails.
I think what bothers me more than anything about the Grand Rapids project is that the 'castle' motif is literally skin-deep. If you're going to build on a ridiculous concept at least have the courage to see it through the interiors. This is just some bland-as-hell Avalon Bay crap with a funny wrapper.
Aye, my problem with cheap "classical" buildings and more serious new classical ones is that oftentimes the style boils down to a veneer - a skin that tries to resemble construction of old but which relies entirely on modern rainscreen systems to create the effect.
Here it is 0216_2020
Even worse than the renderings.
As an architect, meh. As a rock climber, ooooo!
Chad, if you want to put your whole bodyweight on some EIFS foam, you go right ahead.
Looks like a Disney version of a Gaudi design. Still better than the castle.
Meh, I've climbed rock more chossey than EFIS.
Are you calling Chad fat?
I am fat!
Pinnacles or this building: you choose!
Both are garbage and we all know it. Let's not try to justify one over the other, but rather call them what they are.
However as neither of these are in my city, nor pay my mortgage, I have zero fucks to give either way.
Any time I feel bad about my design work, I will look at this thread. Thank you.
Architecturally, hate both. The Berkeley project is partly redeemed by its location along a vibrant urban corridor.
berkley: silliness is underused as an architectural effect. cave-style is tacky but i appreciate the effort to be playful in a more subtle way than just using clashing colors.
grand rapids: this castle-compound is baffling - this kind of ugly suggests profound incompetence. is west-central michigan experiencing the kind of population boom to justify a single project that accomodates 10% of the entire town's housing stock (this is literally true... google a bit!). I can't imagine this isn't a massive failure as both an investment and a design.
OTOH the grandcastle is a good rebuttal against everyone who says traditional style architecture is necessarily the way to relate to the scale of existing communities...
BTW Fugly is literally the name of the design architect!
That's hilarious!
the grand castle just so gallingly awful in every respect that might relate to human experience...
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