Yeah, I liked the rendering showing the accented wood-look wall panels far better than THIS dismal design! Even though THIS design looks modern as well, it is just too plain with very little attractiveness!
Supposedly, THIS design was chosen to help save on design costs!!
I don't think those slats would have saved them much. In any case, it's a more a design issue than a materials one - you really can't recreate the verve like Foster did when you are stuck with what's essentially a concrete core inside a concrete box.