oh, Quality Materials huh ? . . what materials ? . .
yeah, its got very nice glass . . and way too much of it . .
in the same ol’ shit silvery color . . Manhattan West did “all glass” best,
and got away with it, splendidly . . the 30 & 10 HY glass towers complex
contributed to the skyline with pleasing dramatic angles . . this “high line
meets the skyline” square-footage hog, has about the same aesthetic
chops as the 60s downtown line-up of towers along Water St . .
No stainless, no corten, no beautiful stone, no terra-cotta, no color,
no crown . . nothin’ to accent, it’s bulky sophomoric massing . .
Gimmicky, saw-toothy steps, traipse horizontally across the facade,
to form kinda dumb-lookin’, vertically stacked shiny boxes . . Not graceful . .
Spiral is tall, without any beautiful soaring skyscraper form (or sections) . .
Ingles seems to fight having impressively soaring vertical lines or indents
that would benefit the look of his tallest towers . . instead be goes for
clunky horizontals lines . . 2 WTC has just the one impressive vertical at
the SW corner . . from most angles, the rest of that building appears
to be backed up with the horizontal rooflines of stepped banal boxes,
massacring any upward sweep of an exciting skyscraper vibe . .
Having to be smushed against the big lump of other HY behemoths,
doesn’t help the look of Spiral either . . it hardly stands out . .
About its defining design of a “hanging gardens” concept, well there’s
barely noticeable twigs anywhere, and it is summer . . and check out
the deadening way that harsh cold glass slams into concrete sidewalk
Whoa! Quite the Inviting streetscape that this big boxy thing offers, eh ?
. . Aren’t spirals suppose to be somewhat elliptically shaped or somethin’ . .
Yeah Spiral took a ton of people, dough, labor, and consideration to get
built . . all that is impressive . . but everything about the design vibe
& presence of this big fat tower, seems half-baked . .
I do like Ingles twisted Westside buildings somewhere around W.18th St . .
After decades they’re still uncompleted . . What’s up with that ? . .
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artSpook
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