Pet Peeves: Rust Belt Architecture
No, this is not a maximum security prison. It’s Palo Alto’s newest parking structure, located near the intersection of University Avenue and Alma. And next door, architect Joseph Bellomo is putting the finishing touches on its companion structure, the new Blockbuster building. And that off-kilter screening hanging off the cinderblock façade is not scaffolding – it’s a “design element.”
While I appreciate contemporary architecture, I find it irritating when the look-and-feel of surrounding structures are ignored.
These two structures literally create a bridge between the entrance to Stanford University — a gorgeous example of Italianate architecture with its carved stone, tile roofs, and arches – and a row of a pedestrian-friendly retail shops. Yet the architect ignored these architectural cues. No other buildings in downtown Palo Alto use such an abundance of unfinished concrete, rusted steel, and bomb-blast protection screening, which according to the manufacturer is guaranteed to give your building “a fortified urban edge.”
And why would any landscape architect plant prickly pear cacti at toddler eye-level near the entrance of a Blockbuster video store?
I do like the Haiku placards mounted on the side of the parking structure. This placard, which is hard to read behind the bomb-blast screening reads, “This pain that I feel,” and it says it all.
