The District of Columbia opened its newest library this week, the Washington Highlands branch William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Library at 115 Atlantic Avenue, SW (that little slice of southwest you didn't know existed on the north edge of Bellevue). The original library, built on the site in 1959, was demolished in 2009 in favor of a modernist design created by Adjaye Associates. Jair Lynch was the development manager of the project. The library was designed to earn a LEED Silver certification.
Washington D.C. real estate development news
14 comments:
Ugliest thing I have ever seen.
LOL. Wow.
Hideous.
Coyote ugly. I see few books, and a bunch of cold rooms that look like awful places to relax and read, just like the Tenley library. Shame.
Holy Christmas, wait til the sheen is off, then it will really look horrible. Its terrifying.
All you neanderthals will be condemned for being anti-modern classicists that don't understand that change is always better, no matter how brutally ugly it looks to those of you that can't appreciate the architectural "vision" of the building.
Man, the emperor has no cloths. These shots show how so much of modernism is about the money shot and users be dammed. My quess is there are so many because as graphic design, they are quite compelling. As a place of human habitation, they are cold and sterile. From the endless staircase to the underground car park as entry. From the reading room with exposed concrete floor to the useless glass corner, this design is all about the wow. DC got ripped off, but hey, at least we're cool, right?
WTF!!! This is literally the ugliest building I've ever seen.
Truly Nasty. When can we knock it down?
You know,I LIKE modern architecture, but this strikes me as strikes me as being everything that is bad about modern architecture and nothing that is good. The spaces under the building will be dangerous and dirty in not time. Then who will want to go their? Why are we hiring British architects and putting up with work from their junior staff when there are so many decent architects in DC?
I have been a big fan of DCPL's recent building booom. The one in my neighborhood, Watha T. Daniel/Shaw, is a pleasure to use and a great landmark for the positive changes in Shaw. Its cool modernity seems to work for its diverse user groups.
Based on the photos, it looks like the new Bellevue library is trying to be as flashy architecturally as hip-hop culture is sartorially. Library or hip recording studio, you be the judge... Who knows, maybe it'll work. But I don't think you have to be one of DCmud's Tea party readers (of whom there are many represented in above comments) to worry that this is simply over the top.
Actually, I think this is kind of cool. Not truly beautiful, but interesting. I agree with the previous post regarding the Watha Daniel Library, which I DO think is beautiful and works well. I also like the new library at Tenleytown. This one looks like it's trying too hard. . .
Yikes. I hope it looks better in person. Tenley is a beautiful library inside and out.
This criticism of folks who don't care for modernist buildings as Tea Partiers is kind of ironic, considering the modernists are the conservatives. Our schools have been cranking out modernists for more than half a century, yet if you criticise modernism's dismal record of failures, you are a "Tea Partier".
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