Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« A Critical Overview of The Stranger… | Super-Classy Republican Shoots Gun… »

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Visual Art So Much Historic Preservation Going On Out Here!

Posted by Unpaid Intern on Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 10:13 AM

Posted by visual art intern Jen Kagan

The corner of 11th and Pine

FacebookShare

Comments (21) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

I'm ok with fascadeism. Reusing entire old buildings is best, but sometimes it just doesn't make sense. Saving at least an old fascade keeps a neighborhood looking interesting.

Posted by Matt the Engineer on February 20, 2013 at 10:26 AM

I don't think there was much to save from the inside of that building anyway.

Posted by care bear on February 20, 2013 at 10:44 AM

I agree with that. It forces the architects to come up with something creative using the existing façade's style, a worthy constraint. And it's far, far better than the alternative... good lord.

Does our Unpaid Intern know what the proposed structure will look like? Can you post the architect sketches?

Posted by treacle on February 20, 2013 at 10:49 AM

It's such a shame that they didn't save the interior. I mean, look how awesome it was.

Treacle @3, you can see renderings here.

Posted by kitschnsync on February 20, 2013 at 10:54 AM

Because lead paint and asbestos are what help fat hipsters squeeze into skinny jeans apparently....

Posted by Tobias W. on February 20, 2013 at 10:55 AM

Reusing old buildings (with tastefully complementary, rather than falsely retro, additional floors) is definitely the ideal. See Trace Lofts for a pretty good nearby example.

Façadism can be interesting or awful, and is rarely anything in between. I'd definitely prefer an interesting, brand new, permeable-frontage-conscious building to a lazy exercise in façadist appeasement.

Posted by d.p. on February 20, 2013 at 10:56 AM

Thanks Slog, for doing such a great job of sniffing out all the exciting things that are happening all over Seattle!

Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

on February 20, 2013 at 11:02 AM

@3's renderings are not bad, though.

Posted by d.p. on February 20, 2013 at 11:02 AM

@5, self-righteous indignation and stuffing your nose in others' business uninformed is also great for the hips.

Posted by biffp on February 20, 2013 at 11:03 AM

There's also the matter of energy efficiency, and earthquake survivability of buildings. If only a shell facade crumbles and kills a few pedestrians that's not so bad.

But global warming is NOW, kidlings. You're already soaking in it.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 20, 2013 at 11:04 AM

@10 Keeping a fascade doesn't exempt a builder from bringing the entire building up to code, which includes structural and energy efficiency.

An argument can be made that reusing existing materials (like a fascade's bricks) can save quite a bit of embodied energy. But that's only true if you also retrofit to match the alternative's energy efficiency (which you have to, thanks to our building codes).

Posted by Matt the Engineer on February 20, 2013 at 11:12 AM

Is this building going to have a Metropolitan Market in it? I heard that but not sure if it was true.

I wonder how long before the building the Stranger is in gets redeveloped? Who owns that one?

Posted by annettefunicello on February 20, 2013 at 11:20 AM

If you've going to rebuild then do so...come up with something really new using the materials of the age. Put in a stationary fuel cell for power. Use nanotubes. Anything to kick this lethargic city into the 21st century.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe