Saturday, December 26, 2015

From CityLab: "A Building That Looks Like a Turd"

You'll have to decide if this building looks like a turd or not. Either way, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is being brought in to solve this dilemma in Edinburgh. Here is an excerpt from the article in CityLab:
     Edinburgh is so obviously Great Britain’s most beautiful major city that it’s not really worth holding a contest. Spread over a terrain of rocky volcanic bulges, cliffs and ravine-like dips, the Scottish capital’s old grey, yellow, and red sandstone buildings have a sober elegance that makes them look like some natural extension of the landscape. Now this beauty is in serious jeopardy—or, at least some claim it is. [emphasis added]
     The new menace comes in the form of an approved building that, despite being marketed as an architectural icon in the making, apparently poses such a visual threat to the city that UNESCO is sending inspectors to reappraise Edinburgh’s World Heritage Site listing. The problem with the new building? It looks like a turd.
[and. . .this interesting line]
The problem with a World Heritage Site listing is that the threat of its removal is sometimes dangled over cities the moment someone moves to repaint their porch.
An inside joke in Lake Worth is a city official's reference to a "turd" being constructed here in the City. However, UNESCO won't be visiting our City to check out that claim. If you're interested in learning more about UNESCO use this link for the Wikipedia site.