What doesn't work as a design statement in that town is the new construction going up along Rangeline Road. Ouch! My eyes hurt when I see all the cribbed fake historic building styles jammed into this one hulking behemoth of a building.
Why? With the funds that Carmel has available and that Mayor Brainard is willing to spend, why put money into a cobbled together copy of old architectural styles? Wouldn't it be great if Carmel would spend its municipal funds on great new, Modern architecture? Instead of copying a Palladian design for your Performing Arts Center, why not a Calatrava or even a Gehry?
With the funding muscle that Carmel can muster, even with a mayor embattled over his budgets, why shouldn't that town be the next midwestern mecca of modern design? Show us something new. Spend your money on fabulous, even controversial designs, not on hackneyed copies of buildings with designs that look more or less like styles from more than 100 years ago. Carmel seems to be the main player in the public architectural game around here these days. It's sad that they are playing it so safe and uninterestingly.
Looks like something Las Vegas would put up. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge starchitect fan, but I'd like to think we can do better than this mish-mash. I'll have to see this for myself next time I ride my bike up there.
Yes, it has a bit of a Las Vegas essence. All that money and some poor architect[s] are having to redraw old designs (and, in this case, smush them together into one building). Palladian designs (ala the Carmel Performing Arts Center) should be revered in their period and place, not redrawn to fit into a space in Central Indiana.
ReplyDeleteThe fondest desire of Carmel-ites seems to be to re-create things done better elsewhere. The performing arts center is in this regard a Carmel capstone: Disney does a city block. Need more? Go to Villages at West Clay to see Disney does a residential neighborhood. It's called new urbanism, which means city-like, but without "those people."
ReplyDeleteYes, Richard I agree w/ you 100%.
ReplyDeleteugh, if it only WERE Palladian. At least you would have order and proportion instead of the Historist Hot Mess Temple of Fypon.
ReplyDeleteDear themenacedassassin, the performing arts center under construction in Carmel is the sham Palladio. This commercial building, or whatever it will be is just metamorphosed Victorian.
ReplyDeleteI wish downtown Indy was immune, but on a much smaller scale I felt much the same about the "new" fountain installed in Fountain Square.
ReplyDeleteI have kept my opinion of the fountain mostly to myself until now. But I completely agree with you. It's wrong in lots of ways. Not good.
ReplyDeleteI'm all ready to bust out some Alexander and "The Timeless Way of Building" on you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Carmel's architectural choices are uncreative, but their space-planning choices are completely contrary and fantastic!
At least we'll get some density and some walkability. It would be great if the aesthetic was more modern, but I think changing the way of life is more progressive than changing the appearance of the buildings.
Good comment, Robby. Of course, it would be possible to do both. If the buildings are going up anyway, why not have good ones?
ReplyDeleteKevin wrote "I'd like to think we can do better than this mish-mash"
ReplyDeleteI agree. As an aside, I enjoyed your use of the term mish-mash. Over the past few months some of us here in Carmel have taken to referring to this apparition as "The Mish-Mash Building."
Agreed. It's like "The Truman Show." Surely there are cameras somewhere.....
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by to photo our house. Wish you would've knocked to see if we were home. Would have showed you around and shared some great Avriel info.
ReplyDeleteJosh
317-979-9998
Josh, Took this photo a couple years ago. I think we may have emailed about a visit and then you had some things come up and we never got back to figuring it out. Next time I'm up your way I'll have to give a call.
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