I.M. Pei building defended

[Scott]

The Delawareonline.com article has pics of the current structure and a diagram of the proposed renovation.

----------------------------

I.M. Pei building defended

Architects deplore plan to alter Wilmington structure slated for $6 million renovation

By MAUREEN MILFORD

Staff reporter

01/22/2004

www.delawareonline.com

Plans to renovate one of Wilmington's landmark buildings have caused an uproar in the usually quiet community of architects.

Critics of the plan say the slender concrete structure at 12th and Market streets, designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei, is one of the city's treasures, and a proposal in November to paint white its rough, gray concrete walls is a desecration.

"It's like doing something to Frank Lloyd Wright's 'Falling-water,' " said Harold Judefind, an architect with Moeckel Carbonell Associates Inc. in Wilmington.

Delaware's design community was upset when the new owner of the 22-story building put drawings for the $6 million renovation on display in the building's lobby showing major exterior changes to what is considered an architectural icon....

www.delawareonline.com

[Cotuit]

Everyone grab your dictionary. Now look up 'overrated.' do you see a picture? That's I.M. Pei. I swear to Maude, everytime I look at a building and proclaim. 'what a piece of crap!' Someone will nudge me and say, 'yeah, I know. It's an I.M. Pei.' There should be a law against this man.

[Scott]

LOL!! He's had his moments!

SSguy forum always has that debate over brutalist architecture. This is a good example.

[Cotuit]

I have no problem with Brutalism as a genre. I have a problem specifically with Pei. Even the buildings of his I like (such as the Hancock) have problems. Like windows popping out, and inhuman wind velocities at the ground.

[Allan]

That is a rather ugly building. I have seen worse buildings, but I've also seen much better ones.

[Matthew]

I'm not a fan of Pei.

In Asheville, NC we have the Biltmore Building. The textile firm that built the HQ building in 1980 brought in I.M. Pei, thinking he could design a signature building that could help revitalize downtown. If you could only see what was demolished to built this.

I've seen this building called the "Pei Building" like this building is greater than any other on the square, because Pei designed it. They demolished a whole block of historic buildings that would do much more for downtown than this building ever could. This building is second only after our 1964 BB&T Building for most ugly on the square. If you don't know our square, it's a beautiful, historic, open space in the heart of downtown Asheville dating back to the 1890's. It's surrounded by beautiful historic buildings. You can see some of it in the photo above.

[Cotuit]

This is the Portland Museum of Art on Congress Square in Portland, ME designed by Pei. It's an OK looking building but the interior is kind of wierd. There are lots of complaints about the stairs of all things. The steps and risers are set at an odd spacing and it makes it awkward to walk on. People actually trip on them quite often, because they aren't comfortable to walk on. I mean how do you screw up something as simple as steps?

[turlough]

OK that last building is so ugly it's no funny

[Allan]

So you're telling me that the interior is even worse than the exterior?! The exterior looks bad enough. I don't even want to guess what the interior is like! And how could a well known architect mess up stairs? They've only been building stairs since ancient times. You'd think they could've figured it out by now.

[Matthew]

Pei is best remembered for his 1,000 footer in Houston.

...known to locals as the Texas Tombstone.

I think Pei may have tried to design everything in a signature style he could call his own, like what Frank Lloyd Wright did. I guess Pei learned some things, like stairs, should be left alone.

[Cotuit]

Well there is art on the walls of the stairways, so the steps are designed to allow you to stop and look at the art. Which is all well and good, but if you simply want to get from one floor to another, they are completely impractical to walk on. Think how you use steps, you don't think about it, they are all pretty much built the same and you just move your feet. On the stairs here, the steps are placed to far apart so you can't unconciously walk them like you do all other stairs, you have to think about where you are placing you feet.

The building isn't quite as ugly as that pictures makes it out to be (though I believe that picture was meant to be flattering, it's from the museum's website). The building is on a a corner of a 5 way intersection in the heart of Portland (Congress Square). The angle of this photo makes it look very thin, this is actually because the building makes room for an existing structure. In the context of the other buildings on the square, it doesn't stand out quite as much as this photo makes it look. It's ugly, there's just nicer stuff around that distracts you from it.