On Monday night, you can hear about the demolition plans for 51 Astor Place — the former Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art building.
I haven't heard anyone upset by the demolition of what looks like some auxiliary college campus building circa 1973.
Meanwhile, you know what's coming next...
[Top image by Bobby Williams]
8 comments:
here comes another monstrosity, another shiny box to match all the other shiny boxes.
really? that soviet-era brown box is just as much an eyesore. that maki design is garbage but it's more of a rock and a hard place situation on aesthetic.
while it is ugly there is some architectural history to the existing building which now sits on city-owned land, and is not paid for by cooper union.
the new building will be an experiment in ugliness commercial money generating facility not for educational purposes.
and then we will have the re-arranged traffic pattern.
pretty soon all that remain here, aside from the new glass ugly-architecture-winner hotels and condos, will be nyu, cooper union, duane reade, pizza shops, and japanese noodle stores.
this is a horrible and unjust tradeoff. i am running out of words. there are decades upon decades of the energy of genius and dreams in that building. i will hate to see it come down. i will hate when one of my favrite blocks in the city becomes a construction site for who knows how many years. but mostly, i will hate THAT UGLY GLASS BOX, ALL IT REPRESENTS, AND ALL IN WILL ENTOMB.
i went to school in that building. yes, it's outdated and ugly. but i really don't like the replacement at all. Cooper Union has ruined the EV and I am very ashamed of my alma mater
While I'm no fan of the current building, the new plan totally misses a terrific opportunity to build something that would play off of the landmarked Cooper Union and the former Wanamaker building. The new building here could lift up the buildings around it and in turn be lifted up by them. But alas, No. Do architects today just lack any creativity and contextual design chops?
The new building is pretty much the definition of solipsism - look at me! me! me! It's got no relation to its surroundings, would fit just as nicely into the middle of a 10-acre parking lot.
Why are so many architects egomaniacal socoiopaths? And what kind of dim-witted jerks approve and fund these things?
class of '08 checking in.
honestly, the engineering building shown here should absolutely be replaced. we were put at a steep disadvantage because of our faciltiies. the hewitt building which was replaced by the glass monolith that you all hate was also in dire need of an upgrade. while i don't love the styling of either of the new buildings, often you'd be surprised how many people didn't even know these buildings were part of cooper or what cooper is. at least now people question what they're walking past. yes, it's unfortunate they don't fit in with the rest of the neighborhood but for the talent and intellect of its students, it's about time the structures that house them stand out as much as the kids inside.
cheers,
BB
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