The Ugliest Building In New York

The new New York Westin designed by Miami-based firm Arquitectonica goes beyond the bounds of taste.

1 minute read

October 3, 2002, 5:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"It is not easy, these days, to go beyond the bounds of taste. If the architects, the Miami-based firm Arquitectonica, had been trying to allude to bad taste, one could perhaps respect what they came up with. But they simply wanted, like most architects today, to entertain us. This is less a building than a concept, and you can imagine its being pitched to the developer, Tishman Realty & Construction, the way producers pitch a television show to network executives: Audiences now don't want plain towers that go straight up, and they're not going to be satisfied with just a fancy top, so we've come up with a way to make the whole building into a vibrant, dynamic object."

Thanks to ArchNewsNow.com

Monday, October 7, 2002 in The New Yorker

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