im glad the financial district has the density and height to obscure this architectural garbage.This would be a blight on most American skylines…
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Good lord… I just stumbled upon this one, thinking ‘not all new buildings on Pearl are bad, right? I’ll give this a shot’ only to be blown away by disgust and blatant anger.
Poor 116 John Street has to face this problem… I bet it’s crying.
Could we negotiate with the city and find a method to ship Gene Kaufman in a cardboard box to a very far away place?
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Hideous as always, Kaufman. 
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It’s difficult to tell from these angles, but the north side is clad in dark brick, which looks okay as a cladding, in person, IMHO. The bottom half facing east should get the same treatment. From a materials point of view, it could be worse.
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The solid part of the base looks different from the render; are they building a party wall against the street there? 
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Marriott has solid brands (eg. the Ritz-Carlton). But this building is going to be a Courtyard and Residence Inn. I therefore would assume that cost-saving measures on things like the architect are a given and that the resulting building will look pretty close to what it’s supposed to be - a couple of budget hotels lumped together.
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I second that although I can’t say I’m surprised a cheapo project hired him. When you’re building a budget hotel you hire a budget architect.
I would also add Nathan Berman to that list, unless he promises to start putting at least some effort into making his rental conversions actually look like residential buildings instead of leaving them still looking like buildings people should be walking into on their way to work in the morning.
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I’m not too surprised either, but it seems every Kaufman design seems to find a way to get worse and worse and worse.
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I feel like if they left the black shroud up permanently I’d like this building more than the intended finished project
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Even still, there are plenty of Courtyards that are tastefully done, even if they’re unremarkable.
There’s no taste or class with Kaufman, that’s the problem. He makes trash with no consideration for its surroundings.
Source: hotels.com
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I keep seeing this place in person and I can’t believe how shoddy it looks.
I understand they’re trying to make these hotels cheaply, but I’m sure they could make international style towers relatively cheap that wouldn’t scream ‘low-end hotel’ quite as much as these Kaufman designs
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I did not notice until today that a new faux-old façade — to match the neighboring historic building — was part of this project.
I still have no idea what’s going on with the façade at the top. So odd.
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street level looks good!
Thanks for the photos!
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Is the facade brick?