Comments on: We Like! (Opal condominiums)

By: BoyAboutOakTown

BoyAboutOakTown — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:25:21 +0000

I’ve agree with you, Rev. Smith. This is the least that could be done, but it’s passable. It’s a sad day that sees praise for the mediocre.

The Bay Area has been overrun with a slew of wretched condos too. They’re cast in the same mold as the Seattle junk, but 3 to 4 times more expensive. There’s also something about the light up in Seattle that makes those architectural crimes look even worse. At least we can take comfort in the fact that they weren’t built to last.

By: Rev.Smith

Rev.Smith — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:18:05 +0000

Wait, where’s the requisite mustard/olive paint combo on the styrofoam cornice? The 4 inch deep faux smoker’s balcony? The uniform grid of square windows with one foot of wall on each side?? The guano-textured panels substituting as outer wall?

*confused*

This must not be a new building.

Snark aside, the uniform color and texture/materials are a relief, and the wraparound window, the separatio nfrom the road, and large/useful balcony are nice upgrades,
but the shape of volume and footprint are still first cousins with the Walgreens on Broadway/Pine / The Joule / The Brix / Belltown c.2003 / etc. All the creative force of a box of cereal with a new paintjob and a resealable bag. The height might be appropriate considering the immediate downhill (and historic) neighbor, but for that close to downtown, a, what, 3 story building? Really?
This is the least they could do, in my opinion. Glad they did! but it’s still the least…

By: chrispy

chrispy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:38:07 +0000

Unfortunately, it’s not the architects that are ultimately responsible for this shit: it’s the developers. They look at every building as a quick sack of cash, so they neuter the architect and force them to use crappy materials and design gimmicks (no windows=big savings!) designed only to increase their bottom line.

That’s it, sadly. The soulless, asshole developers have fucking destroyed this city. So unfortunate.

Meanwhile, over at Hugeasscity, they want to bulldoze all single family homes in the Seattle area to put up HIGH density, GREEN buildings. Nice. Can’t we find a happy medium.

I’m going to go cry on my beige carpet and look at the beige vinyl windowless wall I see from my 6 inch wide triangular shaped deck.

By: david

david — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:54:40 +0000

True, but most of them seem to be. One truly must wonder what awful schools produced such horrid architects in the first place. They should have their licenses taken away for visually corrupting the general landscape and turning an interesting town into something not much better than an extended suburban strip mall where good taste and cutting edge technology are no where to be found. Though at least this building has style and is architecturally inspiring. A pity that the others fail so miserably at it. Ughh

By: craig threlkeld

craig threlkeld — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:20:28 +0000

Okay, sure, this IS a nice building. That’s not why I visit though; I want to make fun of ugly and uglier!
It is nice to know, however, that not all of Seattle’s architects and developers are soulless dirt-bags with no sense of aesthetics.