Comments

1
Are you sure that building is complete? From the photo it looks like it still needs siding or something.
2
I don't know what it's called, but that flat-sheet siding stuff usually gets painted. Albeit they'll likely go with one of the overused cool-deep-metro color palettes that every other house in the city shaped like this is using, so it'll look like a boring sneaker rather than a cheap 90's era mid-tower PC case.
3
Yes- that is the yellow primer applied to Hardi-board siding at the factory. I too assume it'll be painted maroon, medium blue, etc.
4
I think Dan's dislike is focused more on the exposed exterior stairwells, which should be partially obscured by the railings of the rooftop decks they lead to. Yeah, ugh.
5
I regularly walk by a half dozen or so developments in the CD that make me think: if there was an architect involved here, this person should be beaten with a stick. Of course those willing to pay a half million dollars plus for one of these atrocities against design should also no doubt be beaten with a stick.
6
It's so weird to me. Density doesn't HAVE to be ugly. I get that Hardie board is cheap and supposedly long-lasting, but it should be vaguely possible to put up new buildings that don't look like cobbled-together-crap, right?
7
A lot of the stuff that goes up in Seattle is designed to meet the letter of the law and no more. The four pack townhouse with garages that can't fit a car are a prime example. I imagine this one meets height limits with a certain percentage of coverage or some such requirement with no regard to aesthetics whatsoever.
8

I feel bad for that lovely small brick house in the foreground.
9
The ski slope roof access is the ugliest thing going BY FAR. And the entire ski slope thing is over the height restriction. Have one blocking my view now from a 4-plex.

Best part is that the neighbor will get the public hearing letter soon now that it's almost completed.
9
unless Olympic freestyle skiers launch off those roof-ramps every 30 minutes I vote no.
10
Beaten to the ski reference by seconds! But I wore it better so it's a tie Bneasty.
11
I dunno Velvetbabe @8. This is what the lovely brick house had been looking at before...
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6208332,…
12
I disagree with the YIMBY concept. Ugly buildings are blight, whether they are new or old, and they bring down a neighborhood. Even if they are made of quality materials, they are more likely to be torn down before their time because no one wants to look at them anymore.
13
That building is on it's 3rd or 4th stop work order too.
15
#11: That house actually was actually a clean old huge house (even occupied by actual residents!) before the developers bought it and let it go derelict. Wayback machine it for evidence.

16
@9: if it was over the height limit it wouldn't have been permitted. what is the zone? Low-Rise _?

paint isn't on, railings aren't on. it won't help much.

17
Max.....apparently the ski slopes don't count in overall height somehow as it's considered access or something. Never mind how hideous they are. Just another of the 100 loopholes to max out buildings in Seattle.
18
An informed minority suggests "build anything, baby" is a poor course in the present crisis: http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/h…
19
Paint is an amazing thing. Pick a better color and walah!
20
I probably shouldn't talk shit about a building that isn't quite finished yet, but that's probably the ugliest detailing I've ever seen.

I'm imagining a scenario where the architect was explaining to the developer over a napkin sketch, "So then we're going to have these triangular-shaped rooftop access stairway things, but it's important to get the—" and the developer cut him off and said, "I'll get my boys to work on it right away, oh by the way sorry I won't be able to pay you for those drawings but you'll get great exposure!" And then a handful of underpaid undocumented carpenters, with a general contractor threatening to deport them if they don't work faster and cut more corners, got to work on it.

Meanwhile, a real estate marketer is desperately trying to apply lipstick to this pig with ad copy like "Vibrant Urban Living in the Heart of Cap Hill!"
21
I don't know, it's kind of cute and leggy! Like a house centipede!
22
The portapotty is better looking.
23
Don't forget, there are lots of practicing architects who got C grades in their design classes.
24
I wonder if people in 1916 Seattle thought all the new construction was as ugly as many of us in 2016 Seattle do?
25
I wonder if people in 1916 Seattle thought all the new construction was as ugly as many of us in 2016 Seattle do?

When the classic New York brownstones were becoming a common new form of construction, they were widely loathed; treated as an incredibly ugly built form ruining the aesthetic of the city. It's pretty much always the case that our taste in architecture is an attachment thing--we like the city to look the way it looks when we learned to like it. That's why I really don't put much stock in aesthetics as a critique of new development. We don't have any special insights on what future generations will find appealing.
26
@24 Like those cheap houses bought out of a Sears catalog. Now $1M Craftsmans.

Dan - it's a little unfair to judge a project before it's complete. Though I'm sure you were a lovely fetus, some things aren't ready until they're ready.

What I see in this project:

Ok, the roof teeth are strange, but it's something imposed by the city. The architect wanted a green roof or roof deck, which requires access. They probably would love a whole wall-to-wall rectangle the width of the stair, both for privacy between units and a way to bring more light down below, but our codes told him nothing is allowed above 30' - I'm sure he had to battle to just provide these little stair wedges.

I also see some nice outdoor back porches. This gives a way to be outdoors even in Seattle's 10 month rainy season.

There's underground parking - required by our codes and effectively by the neighbors.

I see that they placed the driveway between the living room and the property line - giving them a bit of space between their largest windows and their neighbors.

I see the bedroom windows set back, both to shade from the sun and to give even more distance from future neighbors. I don't know if they're going to go for a bit of green on that low roof, or maybe make it white to reflect sun to the bedroom's ceiling.

And finally, I see in the permit info that it's a green building equivalent to at least LEED Silver.

In it's raw unfinished state it's a lot of function over form. It looks like a fairly affordable version of an efficient green home. But I'll wait until they're finished before I criticize the look of the place.
27
@26: mirror the plans on the party wall, and voila! half as many ski slopes.
28
@27 I like it, but not really half since there's 5. Then you end up with 2 fat ones and one skinny one. Would that look better or (more) weird?

Please wait...

and remember to be decent to everyone
all of the time.

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