[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Troyeth

Two comments;

First, note how much time/intellectual effort has literally been wasted in effort to produce some good feeling for a failed structure that deserves nothing of the sort.

Second, a structure does not have to be an architectural masterpiece to be beautiful. Simple buildings can be stunning in their austerity. As such, as long as a building is crafted with the scale and needs of the individual in mind, already the architect will have gone a significant way toward rendering the building accessible and attractive. Consequently, the notion that any special consideration of exterior design equates to "fucking the people inside" is especially bogus. As architects are dealing with people, many of the demands on a structure will be the same for people inside and out of it, so an added focus on making the public areas of the structure handsome do not necessarily mean the interior must be a failed space. Design is not a zero-sum game.

For example, people outside feel better when they have mullioned windows through which to gaze into private, occupied spaces, connecting them to areas and individuals beyond the confines of the street. Correspondingly, people inside need windows to maintain their connection to the natural world, the sunlight and to an awareness that life is still unfolding outside of their workplace, and that they are a part of a larger network of people greater than the individual. The natural resolution to both the exterior and internal demand is then, clearly, to have spacious, mullioned windows. Neither the interior or exterior suffer and both benefit, particularly the public realm.

Note, how much hypothetical arguments come from a single photo rather than a well detailed description. This back and forth can easily go on forever without proper information to back it up, something this one photo isn't truly giving us. At first sight, I thought this building sat at a corner of an intersection, not a back alley. Now I can't say for sure what that alley looks like, if it is more like a small street or an alley with dumpsters in it.