Irishmonk
Senior Member
This banal stuff is a result of low interest rates and lots of buyers, foreign and local. Why would a major constructor put more into a building than they have to when it will sell anyway.
Pride? Long term vision? Conscience? (I know, *crickets*...)
Cityzen took a huge gamble with the Absolute design competition but it payed off multiple dividends down the road. I wish other developers would embrace a more expansive POV than the immediate bottom line of their most current project. The media and TPTB don't seem to help either with this issue as design is rarely mentioned as a priority. This city just doesn't seem to have much regard for architecture, civic grandeur or even the aesthetic niceties that can put a smile on passer-by's face.
There are, of course, exceptions--but they remain, unfortunately, exceptions. Not sure if the Gerhy and Oxford proposals are what we should be looking at to alter this trend. WT projects like the QQWest refurbishment might prove to be a more fruitful and holistic approach to heal the aesthetic tears in this city's fabric.