I Love Comments From Seattle

On the 6th day of the new year of 2009 I blogged about Fort Worth Bad Design vs. Good Design Elsewhere. I'd previously verbalized how appalled I am by downtown Fort Worth's new Omni Convention Center Hotel. When I wrote the "Fort Worth Bad Design" blog, I'd just read a real good article in the Seattle P-I about new buildings in the Seattle zone and it crossed my mind that maybe one of the reasons Fort Worth seems to fall victim to so many architectural oddities is because there is no erudite, cogent critic in the local media, that being media like the Star-Telegram.

So, this morning I got a comment from the writer of the above referenced architecture review, in the Seattle P-I, Lawrence "Larry" Cheek. He's been a Texan before, so he knows whereof he speaks regarding Fort Worth, the Star-Telegram and Texas.

Below is Mr. Cheek's comment....

Durango, I'm the author of the architecture review in the Seattle P-I that you recently cited. Thanks for your comments. It would take just two ingredients for an "article of this quality," as you called it, to appear in the Startlegram. One is a Fort Worth resident with a bit of insight, understanding of architecture and urban design issues, and a passion for the subject. Okay, plus some ability to write clearly. Second, one editor--just one--with some ambition and ability to imagine that the paper could be something other than what it always has been.

All that's needed is to bring these two together. Someone needs to start the process. That's how I began writing architecture criticism almost 30 years ago, at the Tucson Citizen.

BTW, I started my career at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. We didn't write much about Nietszche there, either. But there were plenty of people there, then and I'm sure now, who could carry on an intelligent discourse about psychology and civilization. It's a mistake for newspapers (and bloggers) to misunderestimate their readers and pander to the lowest common denominator.

Anyway, thanks for the compliments. You have an interesting blog; keep it up. This may be the future of journalism.

Yikes! If I'm the future of journalism, God helps us all!

Fort Worth Bad Design vs. Good Design Elsewhere

That's Fort Worth's Omni Convention Center Hotel on the left. I blogged about that building recently and how, in my opinion, it is one bad looking building, mostly due to all those huge, scaffold-looking balconies, cantilevered from the sides. Those balconies look dangerous. And ridiculous.

So, I was reading the Seattle P-I this morning. There was an article, the likes of which I have never seen in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, that being a detailed architectural critique of some new buildings. I think it may be the absence of this type of critical analyses and watchful eyes that leads to such ridiculous looking buildings as the new Omni Hotel. And others that sort of blight what little there is of Fort Worth's skyline.

Just the opening paragraphs of the P-I article are telling in their contrast to what could appear in the Star-Telegram. For instance, the reference to "Nietzsche." The vast majority of the Star-Telegram's readers would not have the slightest clue as to who or what "Nietzsche" might be. And hence the dumbing down of that newspaper.

I'll copy the first two paragraphs of the P-I article, and follow that with another 2 paragraphs that talk about 2 new high-rises in Bellevue and their well done balconies that don't stick out like "diving boards." And following that 2 more paragraphs, including one referencing Dallas.

"Watching the dizzying phalanx of new high-rises sprouting in downtown Seattle and Bellevue, you'd assume they're all about economics -- betting on maximum return from minimum footprint on ground -- and you'd be mostly right. Nietzsche explained the rest: Architecture is the expression of human pride, our triumph over gravity, and the "oratory of power."

For too many of the towers prickling the Puget Sound sky, that oratory amounts to crude, stentorian bellowing. But developers and architects are learning from these city-killing disasters, and the early 21st century is shaping up as a happier time for skylines. The current crop of towers sports more interesting sculptural shapes, more color, better detailing, and sometimes a friendlier relationship to the person on the street. Favorable developments all."

I see at least 3 words in the above 2 paragraphs that could not be used in the Star-Telegram, due to that dumbing down problem.

And now 2 more paragraphs, with the second one referencing the building's balconies.

"The near-twin Bellevue Towers are the best pieces in the suburb's entire skyline, and the most sculpturally ambitious high-rise shapes in either city. The asymmetrical five-sided forms, skewed 22 degrees on axis from each other, guarantee they'll never look the same from any two viewpoints on the ground, and there is a wealth of intriguing pleats and tucks in their skins.

Those tucks don't just relieve visual monotony. They form partially enclosed residential balconies, a deft solution to one of the persistent problems in high-rise residential living. A balcony cantilevered off the side of a skyscraper can feel very much like a 400-foot-high diving board, which is why so many of them are deserted. These Bellevue balconies feel embraced and protected by the building."

And then in a paragraph about growth-drunk city councils we get a reference to Dallas.

"And there we arrive at the question of whether the expression of power has any relationship to quality of life. Developers don't bother themselves with such questions, and rarely do growth-drunk city councils. The Manhattanization of Seattle and the Dallasizing of Bellevue are good for the civic ego, and for the few who can buy these pieces of the sky to live in, but what else?"

With the article ending with a self-deprecating remark about Seattle, the type of self-aware type remark you'd never see in the Star-Telegram. In Fort Worth, instead, we tell ourselves, ours, is a uniquely wonderful city, that is the envy of other cities, nationwide. This is what is known as "Civic Delusion."

"That might have nipped this boom in the bud. Then again, it might have transformed Seattle into the uniquely wonderful city we keep telling ourselves it is."

Go here to read the entire article, "On Architecture: Four new high-rises stroke civic egos, with style," to read critiques of several new buildings in the Puget Sound zone. And if any of you reading this are Star-Telegram readers, have you ever read an article, in that paper, remotely approaching the quality of this one? And can you not see how having such critical eyes looking at what is built in a city can help a city avoid making mistakes, like what Fort Worth has had happen with that hideous Omni Hotel? No amount of Star-Telegram lipstick on a pig type propaganda is going to change the fact that the Omni Hotel is one very bad design.

Fort Worth Convention Center Omni Hotel's Bad Design

On the left, that's an artist's rendering of the new Fort Worth Convention Center Hotel. The new hotel is almost ready to open. The reality only bears a resemblance to the drawing.

I first saw the new Omni Hotel, up close, this past Thanksgiving. The building had puzzled me from a distance, due to what looked like a lot of scaffolding on the sides of the building.

Up close, I saw that the scaffolding was actually huge open air balconies, protruding from the sides of the building. I think there is a good reason I've never seen such a thing on a tall building.

Because it's a bad idea, both aesthetically and practically.

I predict it is only a matter of time before something bad happens on one of those balconies. Something blows off and kills someone at ground level. Or a person falls to their death.

Ironically, the new Omni Hotel overlooks the Fort Worth Water Gardens, where a few years ago the bad design of one of the pools caused 4 people to drown. My own pool is currently closed due to Fort Worth's over reaction to that easily avoided tragedy.

The balconies, that look like scaffolding, add a very odd-looking element to this building. I've not read or heard anyone else having an opinion about it. I don't think I can be the only one who thinks it looks real goofy.

The hotel came about after a lot of wrangling. No hotel builder felt the economics of Fort Worth's Convention Center warranted investing in a hotel. But, eventually, after a variety of tax breaks were offered, to the tune of about $50 million, and after it was agreed that Omni could sell condos in the upper part of the hotel, the deal was struck.

So, in addition to about 600 hotel rooms, there are 97 condos in the new Omni Hotel.

And now this very odd looking hotel is due to open. It will be interesting to see how people are going to react to seeing this hotel up close.

Below is some verbiage I found on a website touting the new Fort Worth Convention Center Omni Hotel. It's this type propaganda, rather than facts, that causes things to go a bit awry here at times.

"The 34-story, 604-room luxury hotel will boast a unique structural design and style that draw upon Fort Worth's strong cultural roots and bold Texas pride to create an unforgettable atmosphere. With artwork adorning the hotel walls, the unique life-as-gallery display will be part of the finishing touch to this new piece of Fort Worth magnificence. "

Oy.

Above on the right is an up close look at the "balconies." Maybe they are what will create the "unforgettable atmosphere" referenced above...