PHILADELPHIA | W Hotel & Element by Westin | 617 FT | 51 FLOORS - Page 174

Inquizative · #**3461** Posted **Jul 16, 2019, 2:43 AM**

That's a great observation. The only thing that concerns me is whether or not they will continue painting the concrete side. I think it would look better if they painted it a darker gray. Or maybe paint it a darker shade of blue would be nice. it would blend in better with the glass. There's too much of a contrast with the bare light gray concrete color.

By the way, I still stand in awe of the beautiful daring design of the PSFS (Lowes) building. It is hard to believe that building was built in the early 30's. The 'international style,' fits perfect with modern design, and of course, the quality of construction superb. 'They don't make 'em like they used to.'

Philly-Drew · #**3462** Posted **Jul 17, 2019, 3:41 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inquizative

By the way, I still stand in awe of the beautiful daring design of the PSFS (Lowes) building. It is hard to believe that building was built in the early 30's. The 'international style,' fits perfect with modern design, and of course, the quality of construction superb. 'They don't make 'em like they used to.'

The south side of the PSFS building is a blank, black wall. Not super attractive either, but in a much less prominent spot than the W. The other three sides are very cool though.

Rittenhouse1 · #**3463** Posted **Jul 25, 2019, 3:47 PM**

I saw the blank wall of the W hotel project this morning.

They have put on another coat of paint and it looks ... actually really pretty good.

The color and texture makes the concrete look like the stone that envelops the podium of the tower.

I am surprised how well it turned out.

Capsule F · #**3464** Posted **Jul 25, 2019, 4:54 PM**

Do we know if there is going to be some sort of inlay or contrast in the big "W" on the back side of the building?

Jawnadelphia · #**3465** Posted **Jul 26, 2019, 11:58 AM**

No offense to the earlier commenter - but that wall is awful, even with it fully painted. The building looks entirely incomplete. Awful.

Skintreesnail · #**3466** Posted **Jul 26, 2019, 5:43 PM**

kind of a weird blank wall. Would look good with some sort of mural or ivy, or maybe something like this but with a big W:

https://www.jetsongreen.com/2009/09/...h-america.html

allovertown · #**3467** Posted **Jul 27, 2019, 2:51 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

No offense to the earlier commenter - but that wall is awful, even with it fully painted. The building looks entirely incomplete. Awful.

I also just saw this today for the first time since the painting has been completed and I have to say I'm more on the side of the first commenter. I don't think I could say it looks "pretty good" but it's fine. As the commenter mentioned they tried to match it to the stone and I think they did a reasonably good job. I certainly wouldn't say it looks "incomplete" or it is "awful." For a wall that has very little visibility, they did enough to help it blend in to the background.

A mural would probably look better, but you're really limited by what you can even paint here because so little of the wall is visible from most angles. 95% of the time someone views this wall they'll likely be seeing 25% or less of it. So you ideally want a mural that looks good even when viewed from a limited angle. Rather than an attention grabbing mural, blending the wall into the background as they have chosen may have been the better path. The best path obviously would have been a design that didn't feature a giant blank wall facing a very busy park and the city's greatest architectural icon, but it is what it is.

I'm certainly not trying to give them a ton of credit for doing basically the bare minimum with that wall, but I do think they did at least the bare minimum. It's fine.

Marcos · #**3468** Posted **Jul 27, 2019, 9:54 AM**

the blank wall turned out a lot better than I had anticipated, it's subtle, and fine. I also don't think a mural would work but primarily due to the size, would just be too freaky big & disturbing

Jawnadelphia · #**3469** Posted **Jul 28, 2019, 1:42 AM**

https://www.reddit.com/r/philadelphi...rom_our_hotel/

For a few weeks ago - the Wall was two different shades here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzLA9hLhQHP/

All the same shade:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Wx_wPDSiD/

--I don't know, it still is not doing it for me -- it's not subtle, it's a 500 foot black wall.

Marcos · #**3470** Posted **Jul 28, 2019, 1:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

--I don't know, it still is not doing it for me -- it's not subtle, it's a 500 foot black wall.

think of it as an island in an ocean of blue glass

SEFTA · #**3471** Posted **Jul 28, 2019, 2:51 PM**

disappointing

iheartphilly · #**3472** Posted **Jul 28, 2019, 2:59 PM**

^
Throw up solar panels on the entire blank wall or at least a combo of solar panels and a mural...seriously...

SEFTA · #**3473** Posted **Jul 28, 2019, 6:08 PM**

The thing about it is, if I were to stay at this hotel, the view I would want is that peering through to City Hall. I think it is an opportunity lost. Also, I would have preferred them to spend a little less on all the very expensive faceting of the main facade and extended some attention to the one that will probably be photographed most. We can pretend that it is hidden... it is not.
PAINT?!

SEFTA · #**3474** Posted **Jul 28, 2019, 6:17 PM**

I think it was mentioned here before that this architect is the one that is responsible for the proposal of 1001 S Broad. Bad neighbor architecture.

jsbrook · #**3475** Posted **Jul 28, 2019, 8:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SEFTA

I think it was mentioned here before that this architect is the one that is responsible for the proposal of 1001 S Broad. Bad neighbor architecture.

Hum. I like this building a lot even with the wall. I do wonder the price swing and how much more it would have been to built with a glass facade like the other sides.

Jayfar · #**3476** Posted **Jul 29, 2019, 12:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SEFTA

I think it was mentioned here before that this architect is the one that is responsible for the proposal of 1001 S Broad. Bad neighbor architecture.

Yes, Cope Linder Architects for both this and Blatstein's 1001 S. Broad St thing.

allovertown · #**3477** Posted **Jul 29, 2019, 4:34 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SEFTA

The thing about it is, if I were to stay at this hotel, the view I would want is that peering through to City Hall. I think it is an opportunity lost. Also, I would have preferred them to spend a little less on all the very expensive faceting of the main facade and extended some attention to the one that will probably be photographed most. We can pretend that it is hidden... it is not.
PAINT?!

This is a view from a drone hundreds of feet in the air. This is no where near the type of view you actually get just walking the streets. A lot of these photos, especially the aerial ones are taking these extremely damning looking photos from the types of angles that basically no one will ever see of the building. When you're actually walking around the area, it really is hard to catch a view of a substantial amount of the blank wall. It's basically totally un-viewable from the 15th street side. And then from Dilworth Park for much of the park you can't even see the wall. And then even when the blank wall comes into view, it is basically just the part with windows so it doesn't even look like a blank wall. To really see a large enough part of the blank wall for it to be apparent how large it is, you have to move to the southern side of city hall. From that angle it does not look great at all, but even then, you can only see it for small area before eventually if you keep going east it will become obscured by the Ritz Carlton.

So again, the wall doesn't look good, but considering you can barely see it, it blends in well enough that it's hard to get too upset by it. Will it look ugly for people who go to the top of city hall or for those taking drone shots of the skyline? Sure. But I care less about that then how it looks from the street.

Jawnadelphia · #**3478** Posted **Jul 29, 2019, 1:36 PM**

^I can not let them off the hook so easily.
Plus, the wall smacks you in the face when driving into Center City on 676 West, or coming down I-95 South from the North. It is highly visible, and it looks like crap. Just my opinion. But it totally spoils the building for me.

Here's one such example, and the closer you get, the more crappy and cheap it looks:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0dBF6cA3eo/

Insoluble · #**3479** Posted **Jul 29, 2019, 2:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

^
Throw up solar panels on the entire blank wall or at least a combo of solar panels and a mural...seriously...

It's a north facing wall. Not to mention it's right next to the RatR. Seems like solar panels would be very inefficient here. I could definitely see a nice mural working here. Though again, it's not very visible from most angles so you'd have to do something creative. Anyone remember this one (on another similar wall just around the corner)?

https://www.phillymag.com/ticket/201...-philadelphia/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

^I can not let them off the hook so easily.
Plus, the wall smacks you in the face when driving into Center City on 676 West, or coming down I-95 South from the North. It is highly visible, and it looks like crap. Just my opinion. But it totally spoils the building for me.

Here's one such example, and the closer you get, the more crappy and cheap it looks:

Really? That's the biggest eyesore you see when driving on I-95? Not the massive oceans of parking or the hideous highway itself? To be honest in the image you posted the blank wall barely registers. It basically blends in with the rest of the skyline.

Knight Hospitaller · #**3480** Posted **Jul 29, 2019, 4:01 PM**

Can’t we all just get along?. We needn’t all agree on aesthetics. However, I have to believe that those who are less/not bothered by the blank wall would agree that it is not optimal. It’s not like it’s in an unobtrusive spot. In any event, I’m with the cathedral builders: no detail too small because at least God will see it.