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Now that Tayside House has been removed, has Dundee created a new "most hated" building in the car park at East Whale Lane?
The brutal, industrial design dominates the view driving westward along Dock Street. The Ned Kahn inspired metal sheets may work at softening its form when you're standing directly in front of it - and the rippling wind effect is pleasant.
BUT, from any other direction it's nothing more than a bare, concrete and steel skeleton. The form follows function of new wave of architecture is more often just used as an excuse to down-size specifications to the cheapest possible box.
Dundee City Developers, I thought we had learnt the lesson of the 60s and 70s? It does not bode well for the new look waterfront if you can't hold out against the cheap 'something is better than nothing' viewpoint ... sometimes, and more often, it absolutely isn't. If you want us to love and respect our city, give us the environment and buildings to love.
I actually kind of like this building, but really only for the bits of metal on it. That part looks interesting at least. I'm just wondering how much of this parking structure actually gets used, because the ones in city centre seem to always have hundreds of spaces available (as a Chicagoan, this shocked me!) I understand that they want to have parking available for tourists, and it's probably not easy to design a nice looking parking garage, but I understand your point. It's not a pretty structure. Besides the metal, it just a box, and possibly another near empty one.
ReplyDeleteIf the Kahn sheets had covered the whole face of the construction, it may have softened the brutality ... but a tiny strip in the middle? According to the Tele, the place is a ghost car park with the hope of "build and they will come" philosophy. Time will tell.
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