Sunday, November 6, 2011

Hello Karl Fischer!: Meet 'NY's most loathed architect'

[532 E. Fifth St.]

In the Post today, Maureen Callahan takes a look at Curbed favorite Karl Fischer in a piece titled "NY’s most loathed architect."

Let's jump right in:

Since 2003, Montreal-based architect Karl Fischer has designed more than 200 residential structures in Manhattan and Brooklyn, each one looking very much like the last: glass-curtained boxes flecked with grim brick or concrete, characterless high-rises in bohemian areas that, like uninvited party guests, seem to neither know nor care that they are profoundly out of place.

"Like doctors, there is a certain ethic of the architect: You're not supposed to make anything worse," says Aleksandr Mergold, architect and professor at Cornell University. "I'm not saying Karl Fischer is making things worse. But he’s not making things any better. That Cold War look seems to come from a lack of imagination. Great business model, though."

Fischer currently has three projects working in the East Village ... 427 E. 12th Street ... 316-318 E. Third St. ... and 532 E. Fifth St. ...
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 6, 2011 at 4:39 PM

    The man is cheap and fast, just what developers love. Don't hate the architect, hate the game. Dissing Co-op Village was uncalled for, though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crazy EddieNovember 7, 2011 at 12:30 AM

    Tear down this wall! Hey, didn't we win that one? Pseudo Bauhaus rip-offs without any redeeming value.

    ReplyDelete
  3. glammaNovember 7, 2011 at 10:41 AM

    karl fischer, please go back to canada immediately and stop destryoing new york. #really hate what you are doing #not alone

    ReplyDelete

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