Yesterday we presented Mr. Curbed's opus, our Best New Buildings of the Decade list, counting down from #10, the Hearst Tower, to the almighty #1, The Standard. Good times! But some fun stuff got left out. Our panelists recommended a wide range of nominees, and of course not everything could make the list. Still, there were tasty little added morsels in their feedback, whether recommending something that didn't quite fit the parameters of the countdown, or offering a passionate opinion on a building that didn't muster enough votes to be included. Rather than let it all rot in the dusty Curbed file cabinet forever, we thought we'd compile some bonus material. Deleted scenes, if you will.
Best Non-Building: High Line
This was, after all, a list of buildings, and some fresh landscaping and seating (and cool lights!) on top of old train tracks didn't quite fit the bill. That didn't stop many, many people from voting for the hyped/backlashed/backlashed to the backlash aerial promenade-in-the-sky. Best New Adaptive Reuse? Best New Urban Jungle? Best New Nudie-Ogling Lookout Spot? The High Line would easily top those lists.
Best Building That's Not Quite Finished: 100 Eleventh Avenue
Like we've said, critical reaction to Jean Nouvel's Vision Machine has been mixed, but given the feedback we received, this actually would have placed in the top five?if we didn't disqualify it for not being finished yet. Sorry, this one won't wrap until 2010, so save it for the next Best of the Decade list. If we're still alive.
Best Building That's Really Not Finished: HL23
Another leading contender for Best of the '10s. Finally, one of those futuristic-looking buildings that movie directors have been telling us would be around in 2010 actually shows up. Are flying cars finally next? (Yes!)
Robert Scarano Buildings Voted for by Robert Scarano: 4
Robert Scarano Buildings Voted for by People Who Aren't Robert Scarano: 1
The Bowery Hotel is looking nice, isn't it?
Best Ornament: The Apple Cube
Can Fifth Avenue's Apple Cube be considered a building, or is it just an idol to the Dark Lord Jobs? The actual store is the below-ground Apple Bunker, leaving the cube as nothing more than an eye-catching hollow tourist attraction. Still, it's awesome, right? And already part of the fabric of the city in one of its most trafficked areas. Said the New York Observer's Max Abelson: "This is the Kid A of New York stores. Or maybe it's the OK Computer? Either way it’s very cool, and Steve Jobs is a very evil genius."
Best Backhanded Compliment: One Madison Park
Said one unnamed architect of the new, glassed-up 23rd Street tower: "Good from afar?"
Best Other Museum: MoMA
Bowery's New Museum made the list, and the thorough renovation of the Museum of Modern Art nearly did as well, despite Bloomberg architecture critic James Russell's thinking that, "I'm maybe the only one who likes it." He added: "It is the only large institution of any kind in the whole city that managed to build anything new with real design integrity, with genuinely lovely moments (like the skylighted space outside the 6th floor galleries). Yoshio Taniguchi is also not given enough credit for taking a train wreck and making it quite navigable, and organized, unlike the scary dead ends a the Met museum."
Best Not Quite Best Enough: Three runner-ups that came closest to cracking the Top 10.
40 Mercer: Poor Jean Nouvel. His 100 Eleventh gets disqualified and his castle of colored glass in Soho doesn't quite cut it. Still a more-than-worthy symbol of the glassitechture/starchitect era in NYC luxury condo building.
IAC Building: Frank Gehry's New York City debut nearly became the sole member of the West Chelsea Starchitecture District to make the list. Oh well, many believe his rising 76-story Beekman Tower in FiDi will be his real mark on the city (an early '10s favorite?).
Times Tower: Renzo Piano's jungle gym was the last building left off the list. Besides, with Cooper Union already making it, that filled our quota on oversize playground equipment.
· The Best New Buildings of the Decade! [Curbed]
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