New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman is on a roll lately in his quest tohold designer accountablefor their design shortcoming . Hislatest butt ? The firm HOK , which he say has turned tech manufacturing business LG ’s new headquarters into an “ eyesore . ”
What ’s so ill-timed with the proposed LG building ? One of the biggest area of contention for antagonist is that LG was capable to insure a variance for its edifice summit , mean the Borough of Englewood Cliffs in New Jersey made an exception to the zone code just for these HQ . The zoning was afterwards changed altogether for the belongings , meaning the building can exceed the former height boundary by over 100 feet — rising 143 feet , which is high above the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree stemma .
That might not seem like a portion , but the building is located on private terra firma next to the Palisades , a long , leafy bluff that ’s designated as a National Natural Landmark .
consort to renderings create by various opposite groups , it would altogether deflower the sentiment of the Palisades , especially thescenic scene from the Cloisters , the museum of antiquities on the Manhattan side of the river . According to the groupProtect the Palisades , it is n’t just this one project that ’s the job , it ’s the fact that the changes in zoning start the door for many more mellow - advance development throughout the area . In add-on , there are genuine concerns about the impact on wildlife in what is for the most part a totally undeveloped area .
How the building will look according to campaign material by Protect the Palisades
How the edifice will look accord to the siteLG Englewood Cliffs
Kimmelman call the construction a “ lousy neighbour ” to both New Jersey residents and the folks across the river in Manhattan . Although the project touts oodles of sustainability lineament , he writes , it ’s not enough to overcome all the trouble that make it a bad construction :
Its design includes an 85,000 - square - animal foot solar array , 700 new trees and a landscaped parking muckle . Imagine your neighbor excuse aside the spike - busting stereoscopic photograph that shell 24 hours a day by feature that it ’s made from recycled parts .
Kimmelman does LG and HOK an even greater ill service by equate the campus to the ( wide praised ) NBBJ - designed headquarters that its biggest competition , Samsung , is building across the body politic in San Jose . This is probably the large zinger about the LG building in the whole piece : “ It will be a constant reminder on the visible horizon to shop Samsung . ” Ouch !
It ’s great that Kimmelman is engage a stand against bad corporate neighbors ( as he has here and also withThom Mayne ’s Cooper Union building ) , but is targeting the architects really the right way to go ? Does he blame Norman Foster for enabling Apple ’s isolationist campus ? Or Frank Gehry for helping Facebook ’s conglomerate consume Menlo Park ? Are n’t these institutions really the ace make the term for failure by opt to pick apart down historic structures , hinder upon nearby parks and wetland , or situate their buildings far forth from transportation system , requiring their employees to drive ?
Samsung — like Amazon in Seattle — is definitely make mountain of attention for place its headquarters to an urban sphere . you may praise its designer , NBBJ , for the sleek cube that will certainly be an plus to the city , but you ca n’t really remember them for choosing that dense San Jose neighborhood . That was all Samsung . [ New York Times ]
ArchitectureNew Jerseynew yorkSamsungurbanism
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