As expected from Concord: dark, cheap, bulky and boring. On the sunniest day that building just looks SAD
I walked by a few days ago - I was struck by how cheerless and cheap it looked. Clumsy overhangs, the monotony of dark brick, the lack of finesse. The mammoth bulk of the podium feels ponderous, huge to each side, visually heavy without relief or intrigue.
The architects seem to have obliquely inserted the green-fritted bulk of the amenity level with deliberate obtuseness. It bears no resemblance to the rest of the structure except in its clumsiness. It's neither deconstructivist play nor form following function. As a contemptuous sop to some obligatory sense of variety, it sits perched and ill-suited, like the building's septic appendix.
I didn't realize until scrolling past some of the photos provided recently, that the irregular white markings flecking the sides were actually supposed to be seen as a maple leaf pattern. Maybe that will resolve a bit as more is done, or as a 'once you see it' kind of situation. As is, it looks like a cladding mishap.
Concord has absolutely dropped the ball on this one, on a scale too big to forgive or forget. I remember when this was their 'Signature' project. Would it have killed them to hire a really good architectural firm? If it would have, at least we'd be spared the prospect of them doing more of these mammoth mediocrities.
