John Conti doesn't like how the Wyndham addition looks from the outside:
http://triblive.com/aande/architectu...#axzz39zu27Uje
Quote:
But that copper-colored swoop of an addition on the outside, unfortunately, might as well be a building all by itself, given how poorly it works on the front of the hotel. It is way too big a gesture for the building behind it. If you are on the street directly in front of it, or under the canopy it creates, the sleek sweep of the addition's facade can be quite impressive. But as a graft onto an existing building, it is, well, a grafting that is never going to take. Its proportions diminish and overwhelm the rigorous repetitions of windows and mullions that characterize the mid-century-modern original. Moreover, its copper-colored skin simply doesn't fit well with the gold-color aluminum skin of the main block of the hotel behind it.
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I disagree, and in fact Conti is basically identifying what I like about it.
At the outset, it is important to note the addition is supposed to tie directly into the base portion, not the tower portion. Renderings:
This picture is from approximately the right angle, but because of its size and cropping, it is a little difficult to see the base down in the lower right:
So this during-construction photo helps define the look of the base, as does the following close up:
As seen from the other side, with the tower prominently extending out over the base:
To me, the overall effect is to make it look like the tower portion is the sail for a boat, with the base serving as the hull, and the addition becoming the prow. Something like these are the images I have in mind:
Night comparison:
I don't know if that effect was intentional, but seen as such, it is a neat acknowledgement of Pittsburgh's early history in ship building, and thus a more fitting backdrop for the Point:
https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/viewFile/3352/3183
And as a reminder, this is the before:
I suppose a true purist fan of Modernist architecture might still prefer that, but I for one welcome the change.