It's a fair point to make. That Kaufman has an extreme talent for designing cheap and efficient structures does not vindicate the fact that he is filling the city with garbage from an aesthetic perspective. I don't personally think that Adrian Smith is deserving of the comparison, but I agree with the concept that architects shouldn't get a pass just because they are working under the specifications of the developer.
Crains recently did a piece on Kaufman (link copied below) that celebrates his designs as intelligent solutions to problems posed by developers that are looking to squeeze large numbers of hotel rooms into small spaces while simultaneously complying with certain dimensional requirements imposed by the national hotel brands. The problem is, we already know (or hope) that Kaufman would design less horrible buildings if given an unlimited budget and an ideal zoning envelope. Telling us that his monstrosities are a product of his constraints only makes it clear that he's a sleezebag rather than an incompetent hack.
In this sense he is no different than the bankers that created mortgage-backed securities that they knew were predatory to borrowers and unsound for lenders--in both cases a ton of creativity and intelligence was applied in designing technically impressive structures that harm the public while making a lot of money for a few scumbags. Kaufman helped Sam Chang cram a ton of extra hotel rooms into empty lots by shitting on our streetscapes, both of them happy to profit from the beautiful architecture of our city (which creates much of that tourist demand) by detracting from it.
It's architectural pollution and the price to an architect of taking the money to help developers get away with it is and should be the reputation of that architect.
I get why they do it, but they deserve any criticism that comes with the territory.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...n-a-shoestring
Also, to reiterate, while I think this building may be a missed opportunity, it's probably a net positive addition for the city and definitely far from Kaufman-esque.