NEW YORK | 270 Park Ave | 1,389 FT | 70 FLOORS

got some shots of the building earlier today on my Hi8 Camcorder. at 2:03 in this video

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Great picture! :heart:

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Very nice pictures capturing a lot of interesting details, thanks! :heart:

Dope video!

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Hi8 too funny.

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Pics by Mulan M.

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This is what kills me. The diamonds didn’t have to be expressed at all. They would have shown up at night through the illuminated windows.

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Emphasizing the diamonds was certainly a choice. Personally, I’m not fond of them.

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How are the diamonds being emphasized? They’re getting wrapped with dark brown facade. The shiny part we are seeing in the last couple pics will be covered.

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The east-west views of this tower would be incredibly bland without the diamonds. I think they’re the strongest feature of the entire design.

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Just noticed the elevator coming down on the eastern side in your pic. A nice milestone.

Source

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100% agree

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It’s not about the color, but the sense that they’re being artificially expressed/externalized. The dark panels are “fake” structure meant to represent the true structure underneath.

Personally, this barely registers on the fakeness scale. I find precast concrete masquerading as limestone or full on window treatment bolted onto blank walls much more egregious.

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Modern architecture often prioritizes “true” expression, but the results can be disappointing. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider this principle. Many old buildings with “fake” ornamentation have stood the test of time, while numerous modern buildings have become obsolete.

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But there’s a big difference between pure ornamentation and ornaments pretending to be structure. I love the former. The latter gives me cognitive dissonance.

Still, as with most things, there’s a spectrum. I find the “fake” beams on 270 Park pretty benign. The end result is a building with more depth and texture than it would have had otherwise.

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I see the obvious need for the ‘fake’ beams - they do add some visual interest on to what is frankly a rather dull looking building. Take a look a the artistry of the Chrysler building compared to 270 Park Ave: without those diamonds on the facade 270 Park would be a total dud in comparison. :thinking:

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Yeah I dunno, I think they look good.

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For me the diamonds take the building from good architecture to very good, if not great, architecture. The shape of the building—the curves, levels, and fascinating base to cope with underground limitations—is certainly good without the diamonds. But the diamonds add an interesting form of eye appeal. They reflect the internal support structure above the base level. For the base the slants are actually supportive and slanted, though not in diamond form. Continuing the slanting exterior motif above the base gives continuity and variation to what ether wise would be a fancy but not outstanding building.

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