Quote:
Originally Posted by PacificNW
I think this is a huge improvement. I hated the look of the "old" federal building but I agree that the roof looks unfinished.....
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I think the N/S/E
sides of the building are a huge improvement. I like the tilted roof, but as designed, it looks unfinished and that's a shame.
I also think the
street level of the west side might be an improvement. Maybe the south side street level too. Maybe.
The north and east sides of the block where the building connects to the street are far worse than before. Those two sides of the building are basically walled off now and that's terrible. I know, I know, it's a federal building, so that's there for security... but regardless of the reason, the street level along the north and east sides of the block are downright terrible now. That part of the new design is absolutely not an improvement and I am not convinced there couldn't have been a better way to achieve security without walling the darn thing off. Sheesh. I'm sorry, but the east and especially the north sides of the street level of the block are a joke.
And that's the thing: It's easy to look at the building now and think "Ooh, neat. It looks cool, especially compered to before." But the block, as a part of our downtown, is not an improvement. Half of it at the pedestrian level is nasty now. Nasty. It's walled off and they made no attempt to at least give the wall some sort of artistic value. The sidewalk along the north side of the building isn't nice to walk along. The wall feels imposing. I don't care if it's a federal building. This is Portland. We deserve better.
Yes, the north, east and south sides of the building
from two stories up look so much nicer now, but I think that's a ridiculous way to judge the value of a piece of architecture in a city. Half of the block is basically walled off now. I don't think that's an improvement. True, the old design was ugly bland and generic as it rose into the sky, but at the street level, it was better than what we have now because it wasn't walled off.
God, I hate this project. I find parts of it to be beautiful, but the roof looks unfinished, the erector-set western facade looks evil, and the way the block now connects to the city at the sidewalk is frigging terrible.