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Originally Posted by iheartphilly
Ok, fair points. I think designs move along with the times. Like when he built the salmon color symphony house around 2005-7 and in today's time that draws a lot of criticism. I don't think his latest projects like One Riverside are home runs either. As a matter of fact, a lot of the newer construction is meh. If that is the Inga effect, then I'm hugely disappointed. Sidewalk cafe, yes...maybe she did or didn't have an effect on that, but seems like all big cities have it...kind of copycatting of other cities...than a singular act of change.
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Carl's Symphony House drew negative criticism for it's design right from the start and Inga did, rightfully, tear into it. To Carl's credit eventhou the building was a business success he engaged with Inga in an attempt to better understand her specific points and to see what he could learn from her. Did it do any good? Who knows; but One Riverside could have been much worse, it's certainly gets a passing grade. How does Inga fit into this city's design standards? Who knows, but apparently her columns are very successful and well read. I'd much rather have her, and others similar to her, around then to not have her point of view in the public view.
Yes design does shift, sometimes very quickly but most of the time the changes are slow, and are often changed by economic interests, such as cheaper glass curtain wall paneling, and technology, like being able to cut and ship thin stone slabs, and sometimes certain needs change, like open plan offices, but there's always a range of great to poor design in any era.
Unfortunately in Philly the design standard at the top end seems to be "it's good enough". In housing maybe from a developers point of view that makes some sense since in housing ass ugly seems to rent/sell just as readily as something where the design has been carefully thought through, so why go to the bother and energy of trying to build something special. Would 1911 Walnut rent/sell better if it was a world class design?