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News & ArtsFriday, January 23, 2009
Architecture The Tower
Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 4:54 PM
The PI's architecture critic, Lawrence Cheek, recently wrote this:
The best decoration for a high-rise is built in, not tacked on. It grows out of a bold, intriguing and thoughtfully detailed sculptural form. The Columbia Center still may be Seattle's best skyscraper simply because it's so strong: No other building expresses attitude, ambition and power so nakedly.Let's remove The Columbia Tower out of the mud of Cheek's doubt by saying this with no hesitation: It is the best skyscraper in Seattle. And this is so not only because of what it expresses ("attitude, ambition and power") but also because it facilitates cognitive mapping over the widest area. The tower can be seen from my mother's grave in the hills above Renton, and from the east side of Vashon Island, and from the Ave in the University District, and from a considerable length of Aurora Avenue. Its orienting power helps make the city readable and your place in it understandable. It connects you to the center of things—a center that radiates from this one and sure point. When you see it from Magnolia Park or Rainier Avenue or on I-5 not long after passing the exit to the airport, you feel as if you are one of many beings and buildings orbiting this core. And that feeling of being a person in an urban system is the same great feeling of being a planet in a solar system.
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The view isn't bad from the upper floors either. On an exceptionally clear day you can see the top of Mt. Hood poking out of Mt. St. Helens.
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I actually really agree with this. Whenever I am in other parts of the city I often find myself quickly thinking "oh, I can see Columbia Tower from here", and getting a quick mental image of how close/far I am from downtown, and how many people are in between me and there. Same for the space needle too, or any tall building.
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Um, excuse me, but the Columbia Center is one of the worst skyscrapers ever built. It's the architect's perspective that sees only the tower from the distance, which just reinforces his lofty self-regard; but in the real world, skyscrapers live on the GROUND, and the Columbia Center is from most angles a several-story blank marble wall. It intimidates and belittles the citizens of the city it defaces. Of course, if you work there, you never see it; you drive into the maw and park underground.
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Fnarf, visual perspective from a distance is the sizzle that sells the steak.
When I used to work there, I took the bus. Two of my friends work in there, and they take the bus probably 95 percent of the time.
When I used to work there, I took the bus. Two of my friends work in there, and they take the bus probably 95 percent of the time.
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if you work there, you give no regard to the building. just the window you look out of (if you're lucky enough to have one) and how fast/safe the elevator is.
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But, isn't the Columbia Tower's height only iconic because it's the ONLY ONE that tall? If I'm not mistaken, height limits were put in place after it was built, precisely because it was so tall. It is "orienting" and "connecting" only in context with the shorter buildings around it. I personally don't find the building all that interesting, architecturally speaking.
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wrong wrong wrong. Columbia Tower is one of the very worst buildings in Seattle, if viewed from the perspective of its occupants and neighbors, which doesn't seem an unreasonable perspective. For the latter, as FNARF correctly notes, it is obnoxious, dehumanizing, ugly and cheap-looking. For the former it is confusing and stressful. The elevator blocks make no intuitive sense, with their eccentric "W" layout. Upstairs, each floor plan is a nightmare--you never know which way is north. This is not a minor issue--an office building is a place for humans to work, and should not be disorienting or confusing. It's really an ethical failure on the part of Marty Selig and Curtis Beattie to do a building whose every design aspect serves Selig's vain desire to achieve record height and make a statement on the skyline from a distance.
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Speaking from personal experience, I can also say it sways nicely during a major earthquake, which I experienced once on the 61st floor while working there.
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"if viewed from the perspective of its occupants and neighbors, which doesn't seem an unreasonable perspective."
It doesn't seem an unreasonable perspective to me either, but unfortunately architects and designers rarely seem to consider the people who actually have to use and live with their ideas.
It doesn't seem an unreasonable perspective to me either, but unfortunately architects and designers rarely seem to consider the people who actually have to use and live with their ideas.
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This post reminds me of a theory I've always had: Architecture criticism is a misnomer. It is like joke criticism, if such a thing existed. A building is either good or it isn't, just as a joke is either funny or it isn't. Both qualities are impossible to deconstruct. Really what the architecture "critic" does is describe and contextualize the building.
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@13: You know, I wonder if the haphazard glomming together of random floor plans has something to do with the era in which the tower was conceived. The early eighties were all about Shiny! New! Shit! Nevermind its usefulness! We have computers now, and the way we work is changing! We have to change everything!
I don't think there was a serious conversation about spatial utility until maybe the mid-nineties.
I don't think there was a serious conversation about spatial utility until maybe the mid-nineties.
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I find Charles' argument utterly simplistic in that it does nothing more than assert, "tall = good." I get the cognitive mapping bit but what happens to the Columbia Center's importance when some other financier builds one taller?
There are so many other ways to argue that this building is "good" or "bad" or whatever:
Cheek's argument at least addresses the form of the building; structural technical innovations abound in the building with the dampers to prevent sway; in true interlinked global economic fashion, all the steel was fabricated in Korea (whether or not this is a "good" thing is, of course, subjective). If this phallus could harness energy from the sun or if the workers could breathe fresh air, it would be impressive but, man, using mere height as a distinction is as shallow as the Burj Dubai is tall.
Furthermore, since when were "attitude, ambition and power" inherently worth celebrating?
There are so many other ways to argue that this building is "good" or "bad" or whatever:
Cheek's argument at least addresses the form of the building; structural technical innovations abound in the building with the dampers to prevent sway; in true interlinked global economic fashion, all the steel was fabricated in Korea (whether or not this is a "good" thing is, of course, subjective). If this phallus could harness energy from the sun or if the workers could breathe fresh air, it would be impressive but, man, using mere height as a distinction is as shallow as the Burj Dubai is tall.
Furthermore, since when were "attitude, ambition and power" inherently worth celebrating?
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To all the anti Columbia center folks:
what very tall buildings in Seattle do you actually like? Any?
For that matter, what office buildings in Seattle do you like? Group Health?
Any?
what very tall buildings in Seattle do you actually like? Any?
For that matter, what office buildings in Seattle do you like? Group Health?
Any?
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I'm a big fan of the Smith Tower, PC. And the Seattle Tower, with the nice brick that fades from dark to light. There's a better one of those in Boston, but it's still nice. In Seattle, the WaMu-SAM thing is workable. But if you want great skyscrapers, you have to go to the source: The fucking Empire State is a great, great building, ridiculously tall and yet a fantastic addition to the neighborhood.
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I mostly like the Columbia Tower, but for the unfortunate angles that make it look too wide. The are vantages from which it is absolutely hideous. The best view of the building is from the south-southwest (about the Costco parking lot) where it appears elevated and absolutely dominates the sky... It looks so tall and skinny that I like to think it's a wizard tower from Lord of the Rings(!)
Anyway, although I wouldn't want another building quite like it, I'm glad we have it. Variety is wonderful.
Anyway, although I wouldn't want another building quite like it, I'm glad we have it. Variety is wonderful.
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@24: Two Union Square is a much better building than the Columbia Tower. The courtyard with its water feature is one of the nicest outdoor spots to have lunch in the whole city.
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PC @24, there are lots of good buildings in Seattle. Two Union Square. Market Place Tower. 2d and Seneca. The Washington Building (Puget Sound Plaza?). The Skinner Building. I like the Seafirst Building (1411 4th?) and the Norton Building, even though they're near copies of the Seagram Building and Lever House, respectively. Not sure I agree with Fnarf about Smith Tower, but I do like the Seattle Tower.
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You can see it, by some magical illusion, from certain hills all the way in Silverdale. It was a constant reminder to get the fuck out of Silverdale.
Thank you gigantic black monolith.
Thank you
Thank you gigantic black monolith.
Thank you
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Just being tall does not a great building make. The World Trade Center twin towers were the highest thing in the world at one time, but they were to put it in words "ugly as sin." What's so interesting about a couple of tall boxes. For that matter what's so great about the Columbia Tower?
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I like the Westin Building. Not to be confused with the Westin Hotel, which looks like some sort of sharable sex toy. (Although I do like the Westin Hotel from the inside looking out. )
Actually, I like the south tower of the Westin. North, I'm not so crazy about.
The Rainier Bank tower, or whatever it's called these days, is quite fun, although I fear it will someday snap off at the base and crush the poor Olympic Hotel.
I love, love, LOVE the Space Needle!
The Seattle Municipal Tower looks like a big penis. But then, you already knew that.
And the IBM Building. And the Norton Building. Those are my favorites.
Actually, I like the south tower of the Westin. North, I'm not so crazy about.
The Rainier Bank tower, or whatever it's called these days, is quite fun, although I fear it will someday snap off at the base and crush the poor Olympic Hotel.
I love, love, LOVE the Space Needle!
The Seattle Municipal Tower looks like a big penis. But then, you already knew that.
And the IBM Building. And the Norton Building. Those are my favorites.
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@19 - The new WaMu Center Building
It might not look that interesting from the outside, but it is easily one of the best buildings in downtown to work in.
The internal floors are broken into 3-floor 'neighborhoods' with large internal stair cases connecting them together. I don't know how this will work out with future tenants, but with WaMu, it was great. Large workgroups shared the same neighborhood, so while they were technically on different floors, they weren't separated strictly by elevators. For my team at least, this had a profound effect on the psychology of the space. I thought it was very well planned.
Secondly, and maybe most people don't know about this since you had to work at WaMu to access it, but half of the entire 17th floor was a giant open park with an amazing view of downtown. You could literally go out there and stroll around on breaks. there is nothing like that anywhere else in the city that I'm aware of.
You can see photos here:
http://flickr.com/photos/veo/sets/721576…
It might not look that interesting from the outside, but it is easily one of the best buildings in downtown to work in.
The internal floors are broken into 3-floor 'neighborhoods' with large internal stair cases connecting them together. I don't know how this will work out with future tenants, but with WaMu, it was great. Large workgroups shared the same neighborhood, so while they were technically on different floors, they weren't separated strictly by elevators. For my team at least, this had a profound effect on the psychology of the space. I thought it was very well planned.
Secondly, and maybe most people don't know about this since you had to work at WaMu to access it, but half of the entire 17th floor was a giant open park with an amazing view of downtown. You could literally go out there and stroll around on breaks. there is nothing like that anywhere else in the city that I'm aware of.
You can see photos here:
http://flickr.com/photos/veo/sets/721576…
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@34
I hadn't heard about the neighborhoods and the internal staircases; do you have any photos?
I've been inside city center to the callison architecture office and they have a sort of 'grand staircase' between at least two floors. I was under the impression that there are fire protection issues with this sort of layout but it really "felt" great.
I hadn't heard about the neighborhoods and the internal staircases; do you have any photos?
I've been inside city center to the callison architecture office and they have a sort of 'grand staircase' between at least two floors. I was under the impression that there are fire protection issues with this sort of layout but it really "felt" great.
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I grew up in North Tacoma, and we used to similarly orient ourselves to the Asarco smoke stack (before it went down in a pile of arsenic-laden dust). Not quite so glamorous, I must admit, but Columbia isn't much more picturesque than a smoke stack. There's also a spot near Vassault Park, where you can barely see Columbia tower off on the horizon, reminding Tacomans of the big city just to the north. I think the Smith Building is much more beautiful (if not as tall), or even the Hilton. Our nickname for Columbia was the Death Star. Iconic buildings==Chrysler, Transamerica Pyramid, Empire State, 30 St Mary Axe. I think the Space Needle is to Seattle as these buildings are to their cities.
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