Hearst Tower NY

[alan d]

quite a shock really to read this glowing article on the web ( without pictures ) then see the real thing.

Sudjic's glowing article

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1681342,00.html

Actuality

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID124.htm

does this make sense, looks like a hybrid of a number of Foster's projects and what is happening at the base.....is this really beautiful ?

[what?]

agreed, it looked interesting (half-built) from the park when i was last there but those images make it look really stocky. its really a poor version of his twin towers entry which was really beautiful.the faceting of the form in that project has been reduced to decoration in the hearst tower. foster lost his balls sometime in the mid nineties methinks

[PVC King]

It really looks like a bookend as framed by the large brick gable to the rear.

I don't think it is offensively bad nor is it without some design quality; as commercial developments go it will be one of the more interesting completions in the near future.

[Gabion]

Crinkle-cut chip, anyone?

[alan d]

I read the Observer article on the web, so there were no pictures. It's pretty gushing in it's praise so thought I'd investigate further and track down images, thinking I was going to see something quite beautiful.

What a shock, it may be innovative structurally but the proportions look to me unresolved and the building short and straight up and down, the relationship with the base weird. Anything but what was described.

It also looks like a hybrid of many Fosters projects and Jacoby drawings.

[PVC King]

Whilst not trying to praise it as being 'a purist's triumph' or even worthy of a RIBA award do you not feel that it is a fairly decent effort for a speculative office scheme?

[alan d]

well yes of course, it's a decent effort alright but according to the article it's gonna cement Foster's reputation in NY at last . Make him a real big deal, at last. On a par with Seagram in 58 .It's the best skyscraper to be built in NY since 1967.

It's that I'm questioning, It seems to say more about the quality of architecture in the Big Apple since 1967 , to me and the observer's architecture critic

[Gabion]

You can track certain structural obsessions of Foster right through his career. Triangulated structure is one of them, probably dating back to his discussions with Bucky Fuller. The Gherkin in London is a triangulated structure, but there it is done at relatively small scale to give the illusion of a smooth curvving skin.

The crinkle-cut Hearst tower design predated his Twin Towers design for Ground Zero, where he elongated and then duplicated the design. Now he has a commission for one of the several towers to be built on the site, but no drawings have yet been revealed. My money is on something triangulated.

[Paul Clerkin]

I'm with Alan, everyone is wowing over it yet it doesn't seem that exceptional. I do like the fact that they built in on a podium designed for an earlier tower, and I like the drama of the internal entrance atrium, but the tower itself doesn't do anything for me.

Look at this image, you can imagine the building being built the exact same without the older structure. Like the Gherkin the base of the tower where it hits the ground, in this case the older building, is basic and unimpressive. Imagine the ground level at the roof level of the base building, the tower could be built the exaxt same on a windswept plaza.

Sad thing is that I want to like it, but can't.