Fort Worth Forum member monee9696 has taken more photos of the TCC buildings on the Trinity Bluff being built, and they’re putting more facade on them. Unfortunately, it appears to be getting worse as they progress. As you can see, pretty much the entire Belknap frontage is a blank concrete slab wall.
This is one of the things I loathe about contemporary architecture. This thing turns its back on the street like some horrible ’70s bunker, yet there are still those hailing it as great. It’s proof that the architecture community has learned nothing of proper urbanism when you get to its upper echelons.
Remember, this is right across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse. This is “progress?”
(Incidentally, even more sad is the contrast between TCC’s buildings and David Schwarz’s Tarrant County Family Law Center a block away. While modernists loathe Schwarz’s work, he was able to create a monumental building that retains civic importance and power while still being a beautiful and warm addition to the streetscape, and did so without competing with the courthouse. Makes me wish that the TCC project had been a traditional urban campus designed by Schwarz or another modern-day traditionalist like Robert A. M. Stern, Andres Duany, or others - it almost certainly would have turned out better, less expensive, and more integrated into the urban fabric. And I’m willing to bet it would have actually gotten finished.)
(I also find the contrast between these monstrosities and TCU’s new Student Union one post below to be quite telling of the different mindsets of traditional and modernist architects, as well.)
Hmm . . . this kinda makes me glad TCC bought the Radio Shack campus and cancelled the other new buildings. It least well have fewer concrete boxes than originally planned.
That’s a really terrible building. Apparently college students don’t need natural light . . .
This is one of the worst facades I’ve ever seen. The designer of these buildings needs to have their license revoked.
Josh,
The architect is Bing Thom of Vancouver. Not sure if you’d call him a “starchitect” like a Frank Gehry or a Rem Koolhaas, but he’s sort of in that ballpark.
http://www.bingthomarchitects.com/
Thanks for the link, Kevin. It seems weird that his other projects aren’t anything similar to the TCC project. I guess he wanted to experiment with brutalism.
Wow, that looks like a prison… like a maximum security prison.
Remember that architects (with the exception of people like Gehry, etc.) have to work within the guidelines given by the client. TCC has just as much input (theoretically more) in the process as Bing Thom.
I’m just saying… Just because a building is ugly or unlike an architect’s previous work, you can’t always blame the architect…
A perfect example is the addition to the Museum of Science and History — designed by Legorreta y Legorreta, but dumbed down by the moneyed interests behind the expansion. Who the hell hires an architect known for his bold use of color (see the Solana development in Southlake for an example), then tells him he has to do it all in beige brick?
Pete,
To be fair, it’s not all beige brick. The FWMSH is still going to be pretty colorful. I don’t blame anybody in power at all for not wanting a purple & yellow windowless box (like so much of Legorreta’s work) plunked down in the midst of the WRMC and the Kimbell, Carter, and Modern. The great thing about our museums is that they’re amazing but *restrained,* not overwrought Dallas Arts District-style ego trips (the Nasher exempted).
As for the TCC or Thom issue - I don’t really care who it was at this point. This thing’s a crushing disappointment. A windowless concrete bunker plopped down next to the courthouse and a decimation of the bluff. There’s still a chance things could turn for the better - they haven’t clad the whole thing, after all. I’m just not superbly confident. None of the renderings or models publicly shown indicated that it was going to be clad in arbitrarily-sized concrete slabs and turn its back on the street with blank walls. That’s just a shame, regardless of whose idea it was.
I really wanted to like Thom. He’s a nice guy. I still love the TRV plans and bridges. This thing, though…egads. All that destruction of the bluff for some concrete bunkers. It’s a shame Frank Lloyd Wright wasn’t immortal - he could have pulled off something that integrated with the bluff without destroying it. This could have been Fort Worth’s “Fallingwater” instead of a pillbox.
They are shelling out the building and they are probably not going to finish the building. I understand your distaste for modern architecture but you can’t possibly believe that this was the original design.
Debacle? Quite possibly, but not the original intent of the building.
Anonymous,
Yes, I do believe this was the intent from the start. TCC says they intend to finish these buildings and move their administration offices into them.
If they were just slapping something together, I doubt they’d be taking the time to make the jaggedy patterns in the slabs. There’s too much thought going into it. It’s not *good* thought, but it’s thought nonetheless.
The District could always paint some windows and architectural details on the concrete facades. I think we have a candidate for the relocation of those angels from the Court House annex that’s slated to be demolished!
To keep it consistent, why demolish the courthouse annex. Just take that beautiful facade and put it on the TCC buildings.
To all fairness to the architect - the building isn’t done.
Everyone is very quick to jump his butt and accuse him of “bad” design when the cladding for the FIRST floor is still being installed.
Yes, the site has/had great potential and maybe the building will be a dissapointment, but let’s wait and see what the building looks like when it is done.
If all buildings looked like a Norman Rockwell painting or copy of a Schwartz “proto-type”, then we wouldn’t have The Modern or countless other great buildings/designs.
I back Pete up on his point. We all know that TCC hasn’t had the greatest mindset when it comes to design, and the architect can only sign what the client wants to pay for.
All I am saying is, give the dude a chance and get off of your high-horses and just enjoy architecture for what it is. The world will not end if the design does not fit to YOUR liking.
Above all else, this is NOT about style. This thing is terrible from an urban design perspective. You can be modern without turning a blank, featureless wall to the street - which will drive pedestrians away and does nothing to enhance the public realm.
It’s not about “the world ending.” It’s about degrading the urban environment. That transcends style and taste.
Nobody is freaking saying that everything should look the same. I’ve never said that, so everybody please stop putting words in my mouth. There is room for nearly INFINITE variations of style inside the framework of GOOD URBAN DESIGN.
It looks like TCC has given all of its members (tax payers) the slip. Radio Shack purchase stole its thunder on the building that was to span the Trinty. TCC would like for everyone to just forget about the whole thing, but I doubt it will.
I agree with Kevin. This isn’t about the world coming to an end because of one bad building, but it’s very disappointing to have such a brutalistic piece of architecture arise next to the great
Neo-Renaissance style courthouse. The facade doesn’t encourage interaction with pedestrians on the street, since it has NO WINDOWS. It would be nice to have sunlight.