Wrath of God?
Everyone loves what Rem Koolhaas did with Seattle’s downtown library, but everyone loves to hate on his Soho Prada store. Including a friend in New York who writes, with evident glee:
Rem Koolhaas’ landmark Prada store in SoHo was basically destroyed yesterday by smoke and water damage caused by a fire next door. Maybe Rem had an intern set the blaze to end criticism of the $40M store’s notoriously rapid deterioration.
And the bitchy architecture blog The Gutter piles on, relishing the image of those “Brazilian zebra wood floors soaking up the firefighters’ spume.”
Would that floor be the quasi-stakeboard ramp that runs (RAN?) through it? The endless hall effect caused by the mirrors in the fitting room gives me homicidal thoughts. I don't vew their design as a positive thing.
On an actually interesting note: Does anyone remember the New Yorker article that compares the SoHo Prada store with the Times Square Toys 'R Us? It basically called the two stores exactly the same, but the Toys 'R US was decidedly MUCH better by the author. The article was brilliant and inspired a personal fieldtrip. If you haven't read it, you should look it up.