33 Beekman: Gene Kaufman's Most Absurd Structure Yet!

[londonlawyer]

I was perusing Gene Kaufman's website and saw the rendering for the structure that will rise across the street from Gehry's masterpiece. It's red and yellow and reminds me of a 37 story version of the POS on 8th Ave. that houses the NY Lines Company. Indeed, it's truly absurd and demonstrates that Kaufman (and Chang) are utterly deranged and insane. Macklowe and Condylis exhibit the utmost taste compared to these lunatics. Their complete lack of pride is demonstated by these ridiculous monstrosities that Kaufman and Change design and build. NYC also deserves blame, however, because someone should have the authority to reject proposals for these ridiculous buildings.

[sfenn1117]

That is a good comparison to the NY Tours building on 8th

http://i13.tinypic.com/5z6e2kl.jpg

http://i8.tinypic.com/6gbul5d.jpg

But I dunno, those exterior elevator banks are kinda cool.

[antinimby]

It's red and yellow and reminds me of a 37 story version of the POS on 8th Ave. that houses the NY Lines Company.That's funny. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/images/smilies/haha.gif Where does Kaufman get his color inspiration from, a box of crayola?

I don't know what to make of this latest McSam. The alternating patterns has a strange but interesting look to it but the bottom floors with those vertical stripes looks just awful.

[lofter1]

A riff on one of these \/ :confused:

http://lhs.lexingtonma.org/Library/Classlinks/History/images/dragon_red.jpg

[lofter1]

Chinese Color Theory (http://www.colortheory.org/D_ColortheroryChineseColorTheory.htm)

Red: Red, a bright, auspicious color associated with warmth, life and the Fire Element, denotes good fortune and happiness / the color red not only serves to express joy, but also to ward off evil influences / the "lucky color"

Yellow: Yellow, the royal color used by the emperors, represents power and authority / associated with the Earth Element, which symbolizes growth /

[lofter1]

The value of the south facing units on the lower 30 floors of the Gehry / Ratner building across the street from this thang just dropped by about 40%

[Fabrizio]

It's Chinese cheesey in a sweet and sour kind of way.

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Sam Chang out-door elevators?

All I can say is: you go first.

[stache]

but the yellow as to go!

[lofter1]

There's no getting around the influence seen here ...

http://www.knowmoremedia.com/uploads/PEZ%20red.jpg

[lofter1]

Kaurman & Chang's latest design for a trio of hotels near Times Square ...

http://www.spectrumnet.com/pez/jack2006.jpg

[lofter1]

... the rendering for the structure that will rise across the street from Gehry's masterpiece.

My choice of outfits (http://www.unitedmaskandparty.com/Collector_&_Licensed/collector_&_licensed.htm) for the grand opening (although I think the LARGE would suffice :cool: ) ...

http://www.unitedmaskandparty.com/Halloween/images/pez_costume1.JPG

[pianoman11686]

I don't mind this one, actually. Kaufman/Chang have designed/built far worse.

Note to all: the top of the rendering shows a "Westin" sign. At first I though, hmm, maybe this one will come out looking better than the usual Chang garbage. But according to this correction in the NY Times, it will not be a Westin:

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0917F7385B0C768DDDAD0894DF4044 82

[RandySavage]

The building is clearly hideous, but at least it will be completely overshadowed by its neighbor. Do any other buildings in New York have exterior elevators?

[ZippyTheChimp]

Save the parking lot!

[londonlawyer]

Save the parking lot!

I agree.

[Fabrizio]

I've mentioned this in other threads. The parking lot...or the 2 story "crap building"... sometimes it's better to let sleeping dogs lie.

The "well-it's-better-than-what-was-there-before" argument is fine for some down and out little town. This Manhattan. With a Ghery building going up nearby... wouldn't it have been worth waiting?

[sfenn1117]

Hotels can be disposed of as easily as parking lots (Aren't we fighting over some examples of this?). Plus, seeing the cheapness of these hotels, they might not last that long anyway. Build it and let it serve its purpose.

[Fabrizio]

"Hotels can be disposed of as easily as parking lots"

"Disposed of" that easily. Oh really?

"Aren't we fighting over some examples of this?"

Yes. The Hotel Penn built in 1919 and the Drake in the 1920's.

Even if the these Chang hotels are built poorly, what are we to do? Wait for them to fall down? For Sam Chang to go bankrupt?

"Build it and let it serve its purpose."

Is Manhattan that poor.... or on such a terrible down-cycle... that even the pathetically cheap & ugly... just ANYTHING.... is good?


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[NewYorkDoc]

I like the purpose of this building. It's such a good location for a hotel IMO. Although there is a hotel going up on Maiden Lane, this one could possibly be one of the most popular downtown. Will it include a garage?

[pianoman11686]

Is Manhattan that poor.... or on such a terrible down-cycle... that even the pathetically cheap & ugly... just ANYTHING.... is good?

Down-cycle? Quite the contrary: it's precisely because Manhattan (New York City, for that matter) is doing so well that we're seeing this much construction come from just one developer.

[ZippyTheChimp]

I think that was sarcasm.

[finnman69]

http://www.euchronia.net/sotc/vol16.gif