SEATTLE, Washington - One of the alleged objectives of the Design Review Boards in Seattle is to "encourage better design and site planning that enhances the character of the city and ensures that new development fits sensitively into neighborhoods", but any time a developer proposes some "character" it gets the tsk-tsk treatment from the board.
The Slog previewed some review sessions this evening, one of which is a 30-unit condo building; the developer had the temerity to propose that the building be painted in a striking yellow. Whoa there, said the board:
Developer Masto Properties has proposed replacing a squat apartment building with a six-story building, containing 30 condominiums and parking for 32 vehicles below grade. One point of friction: It’s bright yellow.
“They said it might be too bold,” Steve Gawronski of Group Architect Inc. says about the design-review board’s take on the design at a previous meeting. But the color works with the building and is spectacularly refreshing. Thousands of cans of taupe paint already threw up all over pre-fab boxes around the city—we don’t need another one.
This building would look fine there (I lived so close to this location that my old residence is almost in the rendering), but frankly my opinion of the color shouldn't matter, the opinion of the "community" about the color shouldn't matter, and the opinion of the Design Review Board shouldn't matter.
Does anyone on these Design Review Boards, once in a while, just say "you know, it's none of our fucking business what color you want to paint this building. Surprise us!"
1 comments:
Unreal! Reading stuff like this makes hate this city. The company owns it. They should be able to build whatever they want on it without question. If a yellow paint job will sell their condos, so be it. That is perhaps what people actually want.
Post a Comment