Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanRevival
Well put. A project can definitely be great in form/function, like this one, but still poorly designed aesthetically in terms of materials/articulation/visual interest, also like this one. Details like this are critical.
I know people tire of NYC comparisons, myself included, but there are so many great examples there as to how infill projects like this can be very well-designed in form and aesthetically. Here's are a couple random example:
I, for one, would love to see a moratorium on metal cladding. It's incredibly overused and is responsible for so much lazy architecture with no soul.
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1. I would have to see the ROI for each project in NYC when compared with the one in Philly. Are they getting a higher ROI for those projects and can therefore afford higher cost facade cladding?
2. What's the architectural vetting process like in NYC? Is it more strict than Philly? Also, Orens Brothers haven't been through CDR yet. Maybe CDR will rake it over the coals for the exterior cladding.
3. Let's not act like EVERY project in NYC is this attractive. There are a lot of clunkers there too. Just like not every project in Philly is going to be extremely attractive. Some are clunkers. But in a CDR docket for July filled with 8 projects, at least 5 or 6 are attractive, ones a storage unit building, one is in Tacony, and this one on Callowhill by Oren Bros checks some necessary boxes, even if it's not perfect. I would say that's pretty good to have the majority of the projects get high marks for design.
I don't see the point of making a stink about it, since it's also only taking up one parcel on a huge empty lot, will eventually have another 5 to 7 story building to the west of it, and will maybe, at some point, have one or two highrises to the East and North of it in the future if someone can build something to make the contaminated lot remediation numbers work out for those parcels. The building Orens Bros are building will eventually blend in and be forgotten about. It's not offensive to me at all.