Hotlanta: tons of towers, most of them ugly and with little prospect for a makeover
Share
Honestly, if you were to tour the top 10 American cities worth visiting because of their architecture (post coming soon!), would Atlanta even be in the top 20? Top 30? Exaggeration (is it really?) aside, I think it is fair to say that even the most pro-Atlanta tourism director would be hard-pressed to compete with the architectural beauty (let alone history) of many other major American cities. Clusters of 1970-1980s towers do not an architecture destination make.
In the Southeast alone, Atlanta has to contend with the antebellum charms of Savannah and Charleston, which, unlike Atlanta, were spared from the ferocity of Sherman’s March to the Sea.
All of this makes the news that Santiago Calatrava’s predictably iconic design for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will likely never dazzle audiences, especially disappointing. Instead, the beleaguered citizens of Atlanta must wait until another “visionary” developer (pretty much an oxymoron?) comes along to give the respectable Symphony Tower (1190 Peachtree) some company amidst the rambling canyons of downtown.
There is one point in James S. Russell’s column of lament with which I must disagree, however. Foremost is his apparent assumption that construction of a new venue for the ASO is an all-or-nothing proposition. It isn’t. As much as I admire Calatrava, there are numerous other firms capable of producing the desired effect of elevating Atlanta to the rarefied pantheon of cities whose skylines make for decent postcards.
More importantly, many of those firms (even Atlanta-based architecture firms) are also assuredly more skilled at using budget limitations to fuel creativity. As desperate as Atlanta is for some architectural eye-candy, it is simply unnecessary to go to the most extravagant lengths to build some. Then again, my point is made harder to make in light of the ridiculous situation of the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn. There, Forest City Ratner also assumed that architectural beauty is an all-or-nothing game. No Frank Gehry? Okay, lets put up a beastly warehouse “arena” that will suck away the potential for neighborhood redevelopment faster than you can say Metrodome.
Admittedly, Atlanta is aiming for that “world-class” destination status - something that is frankly easier to achieve with projects by the most noted architects out there. But if you were homeless and I offered you $10, would you refuse, saying only $20 would suffice?
Related Post: So true: spot-on critique of Forest City Ratner dumping of Frank Gehry
Image courtesy of hipperspective
