JHK’s Three-Act Play
Proposed Film and Media Study Facility by Lafayette College for downtown Easton, PA. This off-campus melange of incoherently orchestrated buildings is anchored at the corner by a blank-wall “Borg” cube. Note to planning board officials: the blank walls do not amount to an “artistic statement.” They amount only to a pretension of artistry. In fact, they express zero generosity to the public life of the downtown intersection (the “people” depicted are mere airbrush hallucinations). The “change of materials” trick, which attempts to make the project appear to be separate buildings, only makes the ensemble — and hence the block — appear un-unified. Remember, “diversity” only succeeds within larger orders of unity, absent in this design. The “green” roof of the borg is just an environmental fashion statement, also known as “greenwash.” Water issues associated with it are liable to shorten the life of the building. The “billboard” displaying the college’s name is excessive and is there to make true architectural detail or real ornament unnecessary. The proposal should be regarded as a failure and rejected.
WTF? This is a tangle of amorphous forms, without rhythm, order, or aesthetic appeal. If this is the ‘new’ architecture, then it is too far removed from the heart of the human soul. It serves no purpose socially except to alienate the creator from society. Maybe that is the intention and part of the great divide that encroaches on us …
As if in the near future the college or Easton Pa. will need, or have use for a Film and Media Study building. These people are delusional.
Martin,
Truly; it’s DOUBLE fail! lol
(If only we could read people’s minds — the scary rationales we’d see. Yikes!)
Good buildings are often used for different purposes over their lifespan so the fact its creation is being justified by our expanding obsession with recording everything for posterity or creating alternate realities with computers isn’t really important to the design.
At first glance, from an impossible view since we will not be seeing the building from this perspective EVER, it looks like a billiard table next to a magazine rack. It does not look inviting mainly because it’s top heavy. What is supposed to be ample sidewalk and entry canopy from the elements turns into an act of offering oneself to the mountain gods – MUNCH! Same thing for the Irving center…
Dallas and its surrounding suburbs of ‘development’ is so, so ,so dehumanizing and disappointing I avoid it at all costs. Visitors have one of two choices, blank slates of land like the park or just empty lots of grass, endless motoring, or industrial prisonlike complexes devoid of any character or reference.
Here is a new monstrosity in Texas for you to consider.
http://www.irvingconventioncenter.com/