Though we aspire to exclusive previews and hot items like any good proto-media source, for now we have to rely on chance for leading edge news. And so it was, walkng by the local office of Allied Works, the folks working on the renovation of 2 Columbus Circle (the putative new home to the Museum for Arts and Design [MAD]). When the blinds aren’t drawn, you can espy a pretty developed model, and, less easily, see some renderings of what were probably schematic stage concepts. Given the polish of the model, it’s likely the latest and greatest. And from what we saw, there’s good chance that great is an adjective we will want to use over and over.
The final form will be determined by the fact that the bulk of the original floorsplates and structure will be retained, so the overall effect, from the exterior, will be a reskinning. But how that will be manifest can produce a number of different effects. The renderings are more immediately striking, a series that show a progression of opacity, the most drastic revealing an iridescent skin that retains the overall form very precisely, but manages to completely invert the stolid character of the existing building. Though it is a simple concept, the result is commanding (and contextual, give the sequence of buildings initiates, which include Swanke-Hayden Connell’s Steelcase showroom, the David Childs Ego Exercise Center and the Gulf+Western building)
The model appears to be more opaque, with what are probably large stone panels interlocking in an exaggerated zipper pattern (this is a motif that recurs in Cloepfil’s work, attributable in part his experice with Mario Botta and Mitchell/Giurgola). The panels themselves are score vertically through the pattern, but this is not a jarring, but a complimentary gesture.
It remains to be seen MAD can complete the funding in time to secure the site (which is still somewhat contested, more on the money side than the distraction of the campaign to delcare the building a protected historic site), and that which we got a little preview of is still far from a resolved building, but the impression we were left with was an exciting one. Given the dearth of compelling ideas and visionary owners in this city, it does give something to look forward to. The only time we seem able to build a quality building is for a musuem or similar cultural space (see: Scandinavian House, Seaman’s Museum, American Musuem of Folk Art, etc.), and that’s unfortunate, but the perhaps the high-profile location will inspire the land barons inhabiting the distaster across the way to more a more nuanced understanding of what good design is.
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This can’t be for us, it’s far too nice.
Though we aspire to exclusive previews and hot items like any good proto-media source, for now we have to rely on chance for leading edge news. And so it was, walkng by the local office of Allied Works, the folks working on the renovation of 2 Columbus Circle (the putative new home to the Museum for Arts and Design [MAD]). When the blinds aren’t drawn, you can espy a pretty developed model, and, less easily, see some renderings of what were probably schematic stage concepts. Given the polish of the model, it’s likely the latest and greatest. And from what we saw, there’s good chance that great is an adjective we will want to use over and over.
The final form will be determined by the fact that the bulk of the original floorsplates and structure will be retained, so the overall effect, from the exterior, will be a reskinning. But how that will be manifest can produce a number of different effects. The renderings are more immediately striking, a series that show a progression of opacity, the most drastic revealing an iridescent skin that retains the overall form very precisely, but manages to completely invert the stolid character of the existing building. Though it is a simple concept, the result is commanding (and contextual, give the sequence of buildings initiates, which include Swanke-Hayden Connell’s Steelcase showroom, the David Childs Ego Exercise Center and the Gulf+Western building)
The model appears to be more opaque, with what are probably large stone panels interlocking in an exaggerated zipper pattern (this is a motif that recurs in Cloepfil’s work, attributable in part his experice with Mario Botta and Mitchell/Giurgola). The panels themselves are score vertically through the pattern, but this is not a jarring, but a complimentary gesture.
It remains to be seen MAD can complete the funding in time to secure the site (which is still somewhat contested, more on the money side than the distraction of the campaign to delcare the building a protected historic site), and that which we got a little preview of is still far from a resolved building, but the impression we were left with was an exciting one. Given the dearth of compelling ideas and visionary owners in this city, it does give something to look forward to. The only time we seem able to build a quality building is for a musuem or similar cultural space (see: Scandinavian House, Seaman’s Museum, American Musuem of Folk Art, etc.), and that’s unfortunate, but the perhaps the high-profile location will inspire the land barons inhabiting the distaster across the way to more a more nuanced understanding of what good design is.