"It looks like a prison to be honest with you," said Lynda Johnson, an assistant professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology and editor and founder of KidStyleSource.com who has owned a townhouse on St. Nicholas Place for 20 years and is a member of the Hamilton Heights Homeowners Association.
Some feel the design does not fit into the context of the nearby Hamilton Heights-Sugar Hill Historic District, which is filled with Beaux Arts and Queen Anne-style 19th-century row houses.
— dnainfo.com
25 Comments
Professor at FIT? Guess she knows what prisons look like.
Thayer, good material for you :-) Personally not interested in adjaye's work so far. But this is painful. And I don't doubt his honesty about working 'contextually' but exactly what kind of context and what order of contextualization priorities had he in mind? Theres a problem here.
The context is low income housing, it looks like he got it dead on.
Once the growies land on the roof it should look better.
that's not finished, right?
right?
judge for yourself. design intended
Hmm, Adjaye has a very poor sense of proportion, obviously.
I'm not sure proportion is even in his vocabulary. It's more like shock and awe! I'm very familiar with this area and it's beauty, but it should surprise no one that this is what to expect from most contemporary architects.
I like it.
'Would this have passed had it not been for his star status?' is a relevant question I think. Is is a case of liking the emperor's new clothes?
its horrible.
This falls into the category of "fuck you pay me."
Good grief... that is one ugly building.
I like modrn architectrue but this makes me want to go all kunstler eyesore on it.
architectrue?
yeah, i'm missing something in this one...
its fine. ugly building or not, its a matter of taste. how about tour d'Eiffel? Same reaction, now its an icon - beyond tacky. if you have money, hire an architect and build something. otherwise shfu.
sasha has a fierce unicorn?
Tony says the important thing. As for the design, it's Adjaye what do you expect? Wait til its finished, but so far looks fine.
its fine. ugly building or not, its a matter of taste. how about tour d'Eiffel? Same reaction, now its an icon - beyond tacky. if you have money, hire an architect and build something. otherwise shfu.
You hear that boy? stfu. You have no right to comment on aesthetics, and if you did, it's irrelevant becasue it's subjective. Meanwhile, in the real world... http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/print-edition/2013/12/06/washingtons-ugliest-buildings.html
Some one recently asked why architects don't design what people want. Becasue people like this who discourage the debate by telling you to stfu. How are you going to design what people like if you can't even call a spade a spade? Maybe it's a large spoon!
what is this idiotic culture of wanting to silence people here?what is it with these people and their obese egos?their brains must have turned into slurpy starch and corn syrup.
does look a lot better in those photos...
A lot? I just saw it has a bit more texture on the side elevation, thats all. These last batch of pictures can easily be surpassed and be made to project much more intrigue. However, for the purpose, the first batch we saw did a good enough job. In fact, the architect's sketch had already done the same.
The photos looking better does not imply the subject looks better- photography misrepresents as much as it represents. A while ago, I was doing quite a lot of photography and i came to the conclusion that it is the easiest art and the most difficult ofthe arts to be an Art.
I'm skeptical that tha finished result will look much better regardless of how flattering the photographer is.
The building basically reads as a monolith with small punched windows that leave it feeling prison-like. And given it's large size & heavy feel, the modest efforts to embellish it (the offsets in massing, the textural detail, etc) feel too weak to make a differencd.
Terrible design, I'd love to see cost of façade vs fit out for residents. It is dark, has terrible internal light and generally not good for the residents, almost the opposite of what an architect should do with a social housing brief. (I've only seen an AR video not in real life).
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.