Critic Pens Love Letter to BLUE (Really!)
Tuesday, September 4, 2007, by Joey
[Photo via Betty Blade/Flickr]
How much does Nicolai Ouroussoff love big, bad BLUE? Put it this way: the Times archicritic pens a rave of a review without once mentioning the sexy outdoor shower! But seriously folks, it looks like our longtime Lower East Side obsession kissed the ring and came out a made man. Ouroussoff takes some shots at the Hotel on Rivington and the other LES high-rise newcomers, then piles on the BLUE love:
Much of the inspiration, however, comes as much from the gutter as from museum walls. The building’s milky blue colors bring to mind the cheap illuminated plastic signs still found on some old East Village storefronts. Air-conditioning units are punched through the facade. Flowered drapes hang in some of the windows.
I mean this as a compliment. Part of the problem with so many of the new luxury towers is that they look so self-consciously refined. “Look at me,” they seem to purr. “Aren’t I sooooo sophisticated?” Mr. Tschumi’s building is less self-conscious, more playful.
In other words, lowbrow-brilliant. Ouroussoff also refers to BLUE as a "sanctuary for misfits and outcasts," which we're still scratching our heads about. End result: it looks like those owners seeking
$6,000+/month rents suddenly have a much stronger case.
·
A Ragtag Neighborhood’s Big, Blue Newcomer [NYT]
·
BLUE Update: Now With Sizzling Outdoor Shower! [Curbed]
·
BLUE [Official Site]
He is pushing it when he says that it is an homage to the neighborhood, but this is a rare example of creative architecture in New York in the last 30 years.
I think that it looks so bulky and kind of looms over the other buildings. Not simply the scale of the building, but the overhang seems so inappropriate.
That said, the picture above is perhaps the most flattering I've seen. The view from the Williamsburg Bridge makes me shudder.
I think it's supposed to be "BLEW" instead of "Blue."
It's the ugliest building ever.
It does evoke the Boogie-Woogie. He got that part right. And it's good that this isn't another tower of plain or mirrored glass. But if you're inside, does the city look ridiculously blue?
As he concluded his review, this building is not a work of art.
Looks like a big-assed domino that had a bic pen explode inside it. This is a joke people, and Nicolai Ouroussoff needs to look for a different line of work. I hope he reads this.
While I do like it, it does look like A FIST or A Hand giving the middle finger to everything else around! hahahaha
Agreed, #8, I call it the middle finger to all the ugly tenements around it. And for the umpteenth poster (in the many threads on curbed) who asks if the world looks blue from inside, the answer is no -- the blue glass is mainly over structural columns and other keep-outs, with just one or two squares of blue tinted glass per unit. And these do not cause a problem, it seems they are either at the floor or ceiling and not at eye level.
Hotel on Rivington: Just looked at the website. I don't understand what they are thinking. The bed is shown right up against all the floor-to-ceiling windows. Same thing with the showers. No window treatments are shown. Are you supposed to have sex and shower in full view of the neighborhood?
http://www.hotelonrivington.com/
I work near the Bertelsmann building, which is deep blue and light green.
http://wirednewyork.com/real_estate/bertelsmann/images/bertelsmann_top.jpg
Although the colored glass panels do cover the floor slabs and columns, I can see (based on the window shades visible in the photo also) that the "clear" eye-level glass in the blue segments is actually tinted towards the blue shade, while on the green parts of the building, the "clear" glass is shaded slightly green. So when you are inside, the world will look a little bit blue or green depending on your office. I've also been in other buildings were the windows are tinted grey. I suspect that Blue's windows are tinted towards the blue spectrum to match the solid panels, although the effect isn't so prominent while you are inside because you have no frame of reference. But note that this will affect how works of art, paint and furniture will look inside the room. If you are decorating an apartment here, or in any of these tinted glass towers, make sure you test your colors *IN* the apartment, not just at the store under "neutral" light!
as someone who will admit to liking some of the other hated new buildings in nyc (such as 111 third), i have to say blue is atrocious!
As I read HM's paean to Blue, he implies he wants to live there. The building reminds me of a skyscraper I once built in Sim City.
I worked inside the Bertelsmann Building. When you look out the windows, it's clear, not tinged by colors. I don't know how they do it, but it's not like looking through sunglasses.
Pay attention to the phrasing.
Dr. NO is giving the building a backhanded compliment. The ambivalence of the last paragraph especially gives it away. This is how you give a building a mixed review when the architect is a powerful member of the establishment and you don't want to offend him.
It's kind of like when you read a theater review, and the critic simply rehases the plot, rather than come right out and say something critical.
Bing: I am staring right now at the Bertelsmann building. The difference between green panes and blue panes is very subtle, but certainly visible if you compare the colors of the partially-drawn shades on the same floor. I'm sure when you are inside the tinting is very subtle and not noticeable, but it is there. It's like wearing very light sunglasses. You adjust and don't see the tint, but it's there.
I agree with Sven (no. 15), this is a very mixed review, with the positive couched in backhanded compliments. And the penultimate line, about it being its role as a sanctuary for misfits and outcasts is answered by "if only they could afford to live there", which is hardly an endorsement.
As for the ongoing meme that the clear windows are visibly tinted, I disagree. To the extent that any tinting is visible, it is very light gray and neither green nor blue. But it sure is common for those who hate the Blue to go on and on about how the blue windows must wreck living inside. T'aint true!
Look closely at the window shades in the blue and green sections of the building in this photo. They are different:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=396167806&size=l
Towards the right you can also see how the walls inside are also being tinged blue or green.
Here is another photo. Washed out and out of focus, but the effect is still visible. Remember that the coloration of interior objects means that the light going into the building and being reflected back out is colored, NOT that there is an external tinting that reflects certain colors.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=393366528&size=l
Tom, have you been inside the building? I don't hate the building, I'm just pointing out the obvious. If you put clear colorless eye-level windows on a blue-themed building, it will look like horitzonal white/silver stripes. There has to be some *slight* coloration to match this very strong theme. What you describe as grey on the outside is probably a shade of blue. This isn't a bad thing -- for example, it will make the sky "pop" blue from the inside. Just beware when picking paints and carpets that the natural lighting spectrum will be in the blue range.
Let's see -- you've looked at the building from the outside and I've worked in it and you're the expert as to what it's like viewing out from inside.
Yes, I live in the Blue condo (do not own, rent) and have never been in the Bertelsmann building, which was never the subject of any posting I made. All modern glass buildings use glass with some UV and other filtering, which subtly changes the color of the view. As I said above, my perception is that the clear glass panes in the Blue building (and there is only 1 of 26 ~3' square panes in my 1 bedroom apartment that is not clear, but medium blue, down low in the living room) make the view read slightly gray from that seen through an open window. The harping on this building reading as pixilated blue somehow ruining and "blue"-ing the view from inside is nonsense and seems to come only from those who've never been inside. You can clearly see the blue panels that are over columns and floors and not open to the inside when you look at the elevations, and those are what make the building read as blue.
the mass of the building is is shameful but at least it does not look like a cheap piece of crap like everything else going up downtown. you people need to acknowledge and praise creativity and effort in the rare instance it surfaces in nyc. what if everything new looked like the avalon bay insult to this city at bowery and houston?
Full content feed
