Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Old, and In The Way


Actually, I like the new Cooper Union Building, just around the corner from McSorley's Ale House, New York's oldest drinking establishment, which because of this building, is overrun with college fratboys. Still, I like it. Though while I was taking this shot, a guy behind me tried to unzip my backpack and remove a lens. I like this building, though it has demolished whatever classic character was left of this East Village crossroads (Bowery, 7th Street, 3rd and 4th Avenues). But I do like this building. Call me cracked!

35 comments:

irinapictures said...

Call you cracked :-))! but very unpredictable.

Chuck Pefley said...

Dear Cracked,

I had to look carefully ... the shadowed and angular part of the building looked at first like something hanging from the tree.

I trust you and the stranger came to a quick meeting of minds!!

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Anonymous said...

Interesting-looking building.

OMG! to the guy trying to remove your lens. Glad you noticed before he could get away.

Paz

Judy said...

Now that would take some getting used to. Maybe it grows on you.

How bold to unzip you! Gotta watch out.

Eleonora Baldwin said...

Ciao Cracked (Chuck beat me to this first),
the Cooper Union Bldg is on the pickpocket's payroll. The twisted and cleft edifice captures the attention of bystanders, and he gets a whiff of their valuables. As they stop to take a shot, he gets his hands dirty. Very clever.

Did you club him over the head?

Ciao
Eleonora

Oakland Daily Photo said...

Could this be another Frank Gehry building? It has those unusual bulging lines and metallic texture he seems to favor. It's an eye grabber.

Laura Goggin Photography said...

This building was designed by Thom Mayne (Metamorphosis):
http://tinyurl.com/yca2rb7

-K- said...

Your title reminds me of a band which I haven't thought of in a while:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgH3vGeL_iY

Diederick Wijmans said...

What a contrast between the two!! I also mean between the two buildings. A great photo, Ken!!

Louis la Vache said...

As Eleonora wrote, «Louis» wonders if you smacked that jerk upside his head with a crowbar for trying to steal a lens. Good grief! We're losing any semblance of civility...

Re the building - and «Louis» thought the Centre Pompidou in Paris is horrible! This thing looks like it is collapsing on itself!

Marie said...

I hope you were not stolen anything. I tend not to like modern architecture. We have too much in Montpellier. Too much concrete. I have a indigestion of modern architecture.

Melanie said...

Beautiful shot Ken. But to many East Villagers this place is not well tolerated.

John said...

This building is horrendous. Oooh, look at me, I'm a building from the future.

Laura Goggin Photography said...

As a neighborhood resident, I have to say I mostly dislike this thing. It's ugly and sticks out like a sore (er, smashed?) thumb.

On the other hand, the building that preceded it was not a beauty either and the space was being wasted. The former engineering building across the square (where Starbucks used to be) is way uglier, in my opinion, and this building better represents an architectural school than that other monstrosity.

I've been inside and it's attractive and airy, but not very functional. I still wonder why graduates of the school were not employed to design their own building. That speaks badly of the school, doesn't it?

At least it's not another cheap generic 40-floor glass tower.

Anonymous said...

At least it's not a glass square. But what it really does is drive my attention to the beauty across the street.

(Funny image of you getting pick-packed. Wish we had a picture of that.)

bARE-eYED sUN said...

hey, CRACKED!

no, no, no there's classic character and there's this.

we love this building also, Mac.

:-)

..
.ero

Hilda said...

Call me cracked too, then. It's so ugly and strange that I like it too!

I sure hope that guy wasn't able to steal anything!

mark stagi said...

That building is great! So interesting to look at

Laurie Allee said...

I can't tell you how much I hate that building! Maybe I would like it as a kind of curiosity/leap of architectural imagination... but only if it weren't smack dab next to that gorgeous old beauty. In my opinion, it's like putting an Eames chair in the middle of a Green and Green Craftsman living room.

But WHAT a great shot, KM! It really looks like you photoshopped it, like this couldn't actually be a corner in a real city.

Rune Eide said...

I must admit that at fist I thought some Photoshop-guru had been to New York's oldest drinking establishment. But then again - with building like this - who needs beer?

Daryl said...

That building and the one Barry Diller had built and the one that looks like its all angles .. love them ..

e said...

I'll never understand how the powers that be - in any city - can approve such eyesores. i'm not against modern architecture, and i'm all for eclectic. But this is a mugging, pretty much like your lens snatcher. As for McSorley's, i was under the impression it's always been a college hangout. My folks used to stop there after their classes at Fordham. Twenty plus years later i was doing the same.

Lars Dane said...

What is happening to the building behind the Cooper Union Building. Is it just crumbling?

Laura Goggin Photography said...

Oh, Lars, if only that were true!

Here's a good place to glean some opinions of that hotel:

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2009/05/notes-from-backside.html

Jill said...

Unless they moved it, Fordham is in the Bronx. How do you stop by the East Village for a drink from the Bronx? It's like an hour away.

cara said...

I love it.
The mark of any vibrant city is to see buildings of different eras and ideologies side by side. It's proof of history, it has a story to tell, it is alive, adventure, excitement...all that. Bloody marvellous.

e said...

Fordham also has a campus at Lincoln Center, Jill. But prior to that it was located downtown. Besides, just because you attend a school in the Bronx, doesn't mean you live there.

Virginia said...

You gotta stop SMOKIN that crack KM. That's one ugly building, but what do I know! Hey, where are those fratboys?? I've hung with plenty of those back in the day! HA

Anonymous said...

There are no frat boys at Cooper Union...

Kitty said...

how hilarious, we took almost the exact same photo.
The view is irresistible though, with the older building next door. I have mixed feelings about this building. It seems like it was too easily designed. Too random for me and not elegant enough.

Jerez Sherry said...

Yes, reminds me of EMP Seattle..which is hard to get away from to appreciate.. It's sculpture, but if you can't see all around it, it's a poor choice of placement I feel.

Jerez Sherry said...

Is amazing contrast!

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