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The Rube read recently that the reason people don't like certain colors
together is that it forces their eyes to focus unpleasantly at varying
wavelengths.
The new Westin New York Hotel (still under construction) seems at risk
of offending in this way, with its panels of copper, gold, bronze, orange,
white, silver, violet, green, blue and aqua.
These are set in frames of copper and silver, as shown in Fig. 1, and
arranged in contrasting horizontal and vertical stripes, another offbeat
fashion choice. Here also they look unpleasantly flat and even already
grimy.
In Fig. 2, however, the panels are displayed to better advantage, and
give the building's surface a rippling sparkle. Also, the building is
not yet "lit" (the day when the interior lighting is turned
for the first time, often marked with the same delight by the builders
as is the "topping out" ceremony), which may help it achieve
the desired effect shown in Fig. 3, of two glowing prisms "split
top to bottom by a curving beam of light that appears to burst into the
sky." (John Holusa, NY Times article).
This building has proved controversial among architectural critics; see
this
topic on the Wired New York forum. NYCJPG's resident architectural
critic, Paul Cohen, has these thoughts:
"Have they lit that awful Times Square hotel yet? It is too, Rube!
Just plain awful.
I remember back in high school, I became the set designer for a show
the drama club was presenting. The show was celebrating Broadway shows
– but maybe not, because this is the skyline story ... But I thought
it celebrated Broadway because one girl performed a section from "For
Colored Girls...", which was running, and what I did for her was
a half rainbow out of colored paper pasted on the screen that they usually
showed films on! So she performed in front of the screen very close
to the edge of the stage. Not death-defyingly close ... but it added
something to the crummy high school play, I thought, to be able to cut
off that huge stage and make it more intimate. I heard that it went
very well.
But ... you know what? Now that I think of it I became ... oh Rube,
I was a monster. I started directing the damn show! And I was only asked
my opinion on some minor thing ... and that's why there was such a time
crunch! When I saw the show I thought, Oh this can be so much better
and I started doing the backdrops that's what happened and they only
had like a week and I took over!!!! ... Sorry, just remembered all of
those awful details.
But I wanted to tell about the skyline. So the last number was a dance
to Sinatra's "New York, New York". Top hats and kicking and
stuff. Now I thought it must not be seen without a skyline in the back.
So I went to Mr. Brown (my illustration teacher), and got from him roll
after roll of black seamless paper and yes, I cut out a city skyline
that was to span the stage. 'Bout 30, 40 feet. And I don't remember
that being awful, because you know, its just straight lines and 4 or
so pediment tops. Oh and the Citicorp Tower. So there I am stringing
my skyline to those whatever you call those bars that lift the sets
... stringing; and then came time to lift it up, and of course it didn't
work! It was only paper for crying out loud; no framing, no ... anything.
I even had a thin thin spire on top of one of the pointed shapes like
the ESB. As if that would have stood up! It all just flopped over or
bunched up or threatened to tear. All that work! And of course I was
also re-staging as much as I could. I was Michael Bennet. Helen Hayes.
I was Bob Fosse, and all for the five or ten (at most) people who ever
came to see any of the drama club's productions.
And that's what I want to tell Arquitectonica about their hotel. To
warn them that light will go where it wants to. That instead of the
"whoosh" effect, they might simply get a tall tower with a
light afro. A dandelion."
*Updated 1/3/03
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