Comments on: Macy’s garage makes silk purse into sow’s ear

By: Grant

Grant — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:18:08 +0000

I always thought the garage was an elegant building, with its rounded corners, exposed waffle slabs, and double spiral ramp, and preferred to park there to some dark, underground garage. It seemed to be well taken-care of (painted nicely, and railings in good condition), and it wasn’t pretending to be something it wasn’t. In my opinion, this facelift looks very cheap and the materials will probably look worn out within a few years.

It’s either optimistic, daring, or insane to put wood siding down at street level where people are standing waiting for a bus!

By: SeattleScape » Blog Archive » World’s ugliest buildings

SeattleScape » Blog Archive » World’s ugliest buildings — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:24:04 +0000

[...] know what Mark thinks. Does anyone else dare chime in on Seattle’s [...]

By: dave

dave — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:52:58 +0000

Mark, I couldn’t disagree more. I can’t believe you’re actually defending that nasty old Bon garage! It was one of the worst eyesores in downtown! I would much rather they’d just demolished it, and yes, it would have been better if they’d added awnings for the bus stop (and they can always add those, as they’ve been doing elsewhere around town), but the remodel is a big success in my opinion. Yes, it looks like something you’d find at a mall. I’d still rather look at that than that crappy old rusty peeling-paint pile of concrete.

By: Ron Burgundy

Ron Burgundy — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:14:08 +0000

Have you waited for a bus at 3rd & Pine recently? Last time I was there an unmarked mini-van screeched to a halt as undercover police officers jumped out and arrested drug dealers in front of the McDonald’s across the street from the Columbia Sportswear. I am sure that is exactly what Columbia Sportswear and Mountain Hardwear are looking for in front of their stores. Drug dealing, loitering and (hopefully) police activity. One cannot reasonably argue with you about the architectural lipstick that was put on the pig of a parking structure. However, you clearly have never tried to operate a street front retail business in an urban setting. 3rd & Pine is can be frightening. Very frightening. Having a Metro hangout on that corner in front of your business is a sure fire route to a failed business.

By: Jim S.

Jim S. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:32:11 +0000

“It would be difficult to find an example of recent development in the commercial core that has been so socially rude and visually clumsy as this architectural remake.”

Not that difficult, Mark. Have you seen the remake of the downtown Seattle post office, 3rd & Union? Talk about strip mall design, the poor building has been dragged from bad to worse with its new corrugated metal siding, the flimsy, backlit (stick-on?) signbox. Oh, the humanity! How did that get by the duck test? And then there’s the new high-rise condo on 4th, Escala, from the home despot catalog school of design. And we had to endure 18 months of sidewalk closure for that. Then there’s the new Four Seasons Hotel on Union: cold, dark, defensive from the street. Not a nice thing to walk by on First Avenue, not a nice thing to look at from across the city. Shame to end up with that edifice when they started with a clean slate (and a generous budget?). It shares its jumbled, design-by-committe attributes with a camel and the high-rise Cristalla Condo over on Second Avenue.

By: John F.

John F. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:27:41 +0000

I concur, Mark. We need more “call ‘em like you see ‘em” articles. I am not in the development biz and I have no insight into the city’s permitting requirements for a project like this, but it strikes me as odd that we seem to have such a heavy-handed “design review process” around here for new projects — and then something like this shows it face. What is the threshold (scope/price) for renovation work before it, too, comes under some sort of functional and aesthetic scrutinity?

By: Roger P.

Roger P. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:41:18 +0000

Couldn’t agree more, Mark. The new facade reminds me of the aluminum panels that the industry sold to owners of old brick buildings back in the 1960’s to cover up much of the brickwork and make the building look “modern.” What goes around comes around, I guess. Sigh….