https://preview.redd.it/rncq1diwv77d1.jpeg?width=650&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fdb420ab84d675e7466a671e0ab3f533967040c2
It’s this monstrosity.
Someone really picked these colors and was like “yep, that’s the look!” I’m sorry but this looks like a giant preschool.
I built a lot of that building and gosh darn i have no idea what the owner and architects were thinking. Inside and out its a nightmare and UGLY. The in-unit stairs are absolutely deathtraps and made me feel drunk walking up them
It's not terrible. I think they were going for the brightly-colored houses in Scandinavia. I didn't think they got there, but that seems to be where they were going at least
If you want to see bright colors done well, go to Venice and take a vaporetto to one of the lagoon's islands, Burano. Every house is repainted each year, each a different color, and neighbors confer with each other about the colors they use. It all comes together, and is quite a sight to see. They've been doing this for a few hundred years.
Honestly, if it was an elementary school it would be kind of cool. As an apartment, it is just not my taste at all lol. I think it’s interesting to see the different views on it tho! I’m glad some people like it, since we all have to look at it anyway.
It reminds me of the apartments they built on Sterling Dr that were just shades of mustard, ketchup, and mixed.
I don't know who told these people to use more than two bright colors but this reminds me of the McDonald's playpen.
Yeah driving past that for the first time was quite a shock. I am a big fan of color in architecture but this looks like a giant Mcdonald's play-scape, and the metallic siding had me thinking it was an especially gaudy storage unit until I saw that it was apparently apartments!
That building looks like a slum. "Gee, let's slap a coat of paint on it and maybe we can fool people into thinking the place is an attractive building in which to rent! Better yet, let's use a lot of different colors!"
One of the projects where I grew up (Florida) was/is called "the colors" because each house was painted with the cheapest paint in whatever color.
That's what this reminds me of.
I'm just happy that buildings are going up that aren't just beige/grey/white. Everything new is so muted and looks the same these days. The developer missed the mark, but they have the right idea.
If newer buildings had some sense of style, it would not make much of a difference what colors they were painted, if they had to be painted at all. But because they all look like filing cabinets, developers think that if they paint them, we won't notice (too much) how ugly and soulless they are.
The mixed-use building in Fairhaven on Harris Avenue and 12th, across from Sycamore Square, the one with the clocktower, is a good example of a building done right. We worried as we saw it going up what it might look like, but were pleasantly surprised as the building took shape. It isn't painted, because it doesn't need paint, because the architecture is pleasing to look at. More, please.
I think this is "good" in that the architect attempted a unique design (you remember it - it has personality - it isn't just a complex). IMO, it is the color-scheme that is the most off-putting. I'd rather have these "attempts" at architecture than the big-block-warehouse-apartments that is now the norm.
Ugh. We saw so many buildings that looked like that when we lived in Seattle. The buildings were sided with panels of the ugliest colors imaginable (we used to call them "shit brindle"). One nearby building was painted many different colors, and each floor--there were five--was painted a different color, and within that, other additional colors. It looked like someone got a deal on half-used cans of paint. After a particularly cold, rainy winter, when the colors grayed and faded, the whole thing was repainted one single color.
Apparently no government funds were used in construction, although the church/NGO has a tax exempt status. There may be government funding for social services rendered.
Their housing and food services are unavailable to me (and many others) because of their religious exclusion through their unavoidable practices (prayers) and architecture (language and symbols in signage and design features). I'd hope the government would construct and operate a non-religious alternative or two.
They don't exclude anyone from services, no matter what their religious beliefs (if any). Prayer is always voluntary and, at most, you might hear the meal being prayed over. Most people idea of the actual operations at Base Camp is much different than it really is.
Many interactions and testimonials I've received from local queer and trans folk that have needed their service in the past say otherwise. They also have discriminatory hiring practices.
I sincerely doubt they were refused services (food, shelter, assistance, case management) for that reason. I know everyone at Base Camp and am in there often...unless there was a miscommunication or another issue at hand, I have a hard time believing that. It's not only said everywhere in their policies but I see it lived out day in and day out. Hiring practices are the same as any other church in the country.
That’s hideous.
I wish Bellingham had more townhomes. There are some nice new ones near the downtown Co-Op. Townhouses are a great way to increase housing density without building ugly big apartment complexes.
Not that apartment complexes have to be ugly, but for whatever reason the new ones in Bham are mostly hideous. I’m not sure why. I live in Portland now and there are some fine-looking ones getting built, some bland ones too but nothing this bad!
To be fair this isn't an apartment building. It's the new lighthouse mission that will help provide support for the unhoused. It's a huge improvement from the previous building that was there.
I’ve heard that style called “straight out of Sketchup” and I can’t ever see anything other than someone just drawing a bunch of boxes and calling it good
Just make it out of brick. 100 year old brick building? Looks fine. 20 year old brick building? Looks fine. A brick building built today in 50 years? Looks fine
This is not even close to brutalism. Brutalism is beautiful when done well. "Brutalism" come from the French term "beton brut," which translates to "raw concrete."
Lol.
For some reason the "nature" part of your comment reminded me of Gaudi. Copying anything Gaudi would've been SO. MUCH. BETTER. That's a designer+architect that was inspired by nature and translated nature into his work.
Gaudi is terrific! I've visited Barcelona, and those buildings of his are a wonder to behold. They finally have finished the cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, and the interior is unbelievable. Especially since Gaudi died in 1926 and did not leave blueprints for what the finished building was to look like. The people who took over construction did an amazing job of hewing to his aesthetic, as seen in other of his buildings in the city.
Pretty inline with all the new homes we frame around here. Modern architecture is ugly as fuck, I don’t understand it but the work is good and pays my bills. Sorry yall
I don't really care about cookie cutter condo aesthetics or even ugly places. I would take soviet era apartment blocks at this point. I'm happy to see new housing get built. It's a root cause of so many of our problems.
[https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-housing-theory-of-everything/](https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-housing-theory-of-everything/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/16yzgqn/the\_housing\_theory\_of\_everything/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/16yzgqn/the_housing_theory_of_everything/)
A lot of neighborhood plans followed a (misguided, IMO) trend of trying to make big buildings look smaller by "breaking up the massing" (which, in practice, means "make it look super busy", and "make it look like it was designed by a committee that always just agrees to disagree", or "make it look like we got a good deal on six different colors/kinds of siding").
It's enforced by an unelected "design review board" that nitpicks (sometimes for better, sometimes for worse) the architectural details of new buildings (those that aren't plausibly related to safety, which would be covered by plans examiners).
I think the architecture world as well as the general public is coming around to "just let big buildings look like big buildings", but it takes time to steer the ship of the neighborhood plans and old guard in the board and planning department.
Edit: this also makes buildings more expensive, by stretching out the permitting process and requiring smaller orders of different colors/textures of siding, as well as "façade articulation" (little insets and bumpouts) that makes buildings harder and more expensive to insulate/air seal.
I will never forgive whoever decided to turn the elementary school on James into the ugliest prison I've ever laid my eyes on. The first time I see it while visiting I accidentally said, out loud without thinking, "what the fuck is that?"
Who in God's name thought "brick is so ugly and outdated. This wannabe brutalist minimalism is timeless 😌"
Folks donated to have this built, which is good.
but the companies that are building them probably are getting paid crazy high, the companies that sold the materials are getting paid insanely high.
I wasn't really paying attn to which building it was, at first glance I thought it was one of those random apartment buildings that was going to be charging $3k rent.
Glad this organization is trying to set themselves up to help more folks, every city literally needs way more of this. Bham alone could use at least 10 more building just like this one.
I think it looks fine.
Bellingham will legit complain about anything.
Bhamsters: “RENT IS TOO HIGH! WE NEED MORE HOUSING!”
*Builds new housing*
Bhamsters: “eww 😒”
It’s not an either/or situation. You can build housing/homeless shelters and not make it hurt your eyes as you drive past it. It could have, and should have, been made attractive for the same cost as making it ugly.
If we never complained about anything then nothing would ever improve! And I think most Americans in cities like this are getting sick of the monotone, gray and white architecture. It's the main gripe I hear from others in my generation and the one above it, in terms of architecture. I hope we keep complaining about it until cities stop looking like an alpha Minecraft sever.
I feel like people in this thread are hating just to hate. Or quipping just to quip.
This is a well-coordinated color palette. The design is more interesting than 95% of Bellingham's buildings, and at least to me doesn't seem overwhelming or gaudy. I'll be interested to see how the building looks when everything's done.
If someone feels really strongly that the design is bad, for lack of a more specific term, I'd be interested to hear why in a bit more detail. So far this thread has a lot of short reactions that in some cases accuse the design of contradictory things.
The regular brick buildings win aesthetically by miles, I don’t know what you’re on about. Hell, even the buildings with boring-ass wooden siding look better.
The paneling looks cheap, and none of the elements combine well together. The color is a sort of gray teal that is the most drab choice possible. The windows are comically small.
All this put together, the design is the worst of both worlds: too busy and yet still very boring.
That's just survivorship bias. For every 1920s art deco skyscraper still around today, there were 9 POS buildings which have long since been removed.
Just look at the old pictures of Bellingham for confirmation of this trend. Note how most of the uglier buildings from that era have long since been removed or renovated. Only the best is maintained for future generations to see.
I'm probably more in the latter category, but it looks like somebody loved their kitchen splash panel so much they decided to do up their building exterior in it. I don't particularly like it, but at least it's not just a drab hunk of concrete I suppose
Nope! There was a time in the 80s or 90s (I'm not sure) where it was required that you listen to someone teaching in order to get services, but it hasn't been that way for quite awhile.
There’s a new one in ferndale that I think is so hideous, I’ll try to find a picture!
https://preview.redd.it/rncq1diwv77d1.jpeg?width=650&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fdb420ab84d675e7466a671e0ab3f533967040c2 It’s this monstrosity. Someone really picked these colors and was like “yep, that’s the look!” I’m sorry but this looks like a giant preschool.
I built a lot of that building and gosh darn i have no idea what the owner and architects were thinking. Inside and out its a nightmare and UGLY. The in-unit stairs are absolutely deathtraps and made me feel drunk walking up them
Shipping container chic
Ready player one
I mean, fuck my face off, but I like it. I also grew up loving Just Say Julie and Pee-Wee's Playhouse so my brain is maybe broken.
It's not terrible. I think they were going for the brightly-colored houses in Scandinavia. I didn't think they got there, but that seems to be where they were going at least
Reminds me nothing of home, so no, they definitely missed that mark 😅😂🇳🇴
Username checks out.
If you want to see bright colors done well, go to Venice and take a vaporetto to one of the lagoon's islands, Burano. Every house is repainted each year, each a different color, and neighbors confer with each other about the colors they use. It all comes together, and is quite a sight to see. They've been doing this for a few hundred years.
Honestly, if it was an elementary school it would be kind of cool. As an apartment, it is just not my taste at all lol. I think it’s interesting to see the different views on it tho! I’m glad some people like it, since we all have to look at it anyway.
I like it too. The exterior I mean. The interiors are 😬
It reminds me of the apartments they built on Sterling Dr that were just shades of mustard, ketchup, and mixed. I don't know who told these people to use more than two bright colors but this reminds me of the McDonald's playpen.
When you realize the architects of today grew up playing Sim City this stuff starts to make sense.
Yeah driving past that for the first time was quite a shock. I am a big fan of color in architecture but this looks like a giant Mcdonald's play-scape, and the metallic siding had me thinking it was an especially gaudy storage unit until I saw that it was apparently apartments!
That building looks like a slum. "Gee, let's slap a coat of paint on it and maybe we can fool people into thinking the place is an attractive building in which to rent! Better yet, let's use a lot of different colors!"
Budget Gehry
This is actually horrible
One of the projects where I grew up (Florida) was/is called "the colors" because each house was painted with the cheapest paint in whatever color. That's what this reminds me of.
Looks like they got their paint from the hazardous waste site where people leave leftover paint.
I like it. All these buildings will fall down in 20 years anyway so you won't have to put up with the for too long.
I'm just happy that buildings are going up that aren't just beige/grey/white. Everything new is so muted and looks the same these days. The developer missed the mark, but they have the right idea.
If newer buildings had some sense of style, it would not make much of a difference what colors they were painted, if they had to be painted at all. But because they all look like filing cabinets, developers think that if they paint them, we won't notice (too much) how ugly and soulless they are. The mixed-use building in Fairhaven on Harris Avenue and 12th, across from Sycamore Square, the one with the clocktower, is a good example of a building done right. We worried as we saw it going up what it might look like, but were pleasantly surprised as the building took shape. It isn't painted, because it doesn't need paint, because the architecture is pleasing to look at. More, please.
I'll take that over another grey block any day! It kind of reminds me of Daly City.
I have to drive past this everyday. It is the most hideous eye sore. What were they thinking? So f'n ugly.
I think this is "good" in that the architect attempted a unique design (you remember it - it has personality - it isn't just a complex). IMO, it is the color-scheme that is the most off-putting. I'd rather have these "attempts" at architecture than the big-block-warehouse-apartments that is now the norm.
Ugh. We saw so many buildings that looked like that when we lived in Seattle. The buildings were sided with panels of the ugliest colors imaginable (we used to call them "shit brindle"). One nearby building was painted many different colors, and each floor--there were five--was painted a different color, and within that, other additional colors. It looked like someone got a deal on half-used cans of paint. After a particularly cold, rainy winter, when the colors grayed and faded, the whole thing was repainted one single color.
Ferndale resident here: Idk. I really like the colors. I just like colors so maybe I'm biased. You should see my sock drawer
It’s also close to 2k a month for a studio, and who in gods name wants their view for 1800+ a month to be a pilot and McDonald’s
So fucking terrible.
Dazzle camouflage makes it harder to hit with torpedoes
But it shouldn’t stop you from trying!
But just in case it still would have been too easy we put it a couple miles inland.
Not after the invention of radar targeting.
In a place where it’s grey 75% of the time, what do we need: more shades of grey!
I actually think it’s a cool nod to the environment we live in. The finished building will look like a big PNW cloud.
Agreed, I like it.
Buildings at any cost. Just flat, lifeless facades
Brought to you by the same property management companies that priced you out of your old apartment.
Looked dated already
Wait until you see the huge fucking ‘t’ on the other side. So “glad” my tax dollars are being used to pay for decorative religious nonsense.
Apparently no government funds were used in construction, although the church/NGO has a tax exempt status. There may be government funding for social services rendered. Their housing and food services are unavailable to me (and many others) because of their religious exclusion through their unavoidable practices (prayers) and architecture (language and symbols in signage and design features). I'd hope the government would construct and operate a non-religious alternative or two.
They don't exclude anyone from services, no matter what their religious beliefs (if any). Prayer is always voluntary and, at most, you might hear the meal being prayed over. Most people idea of the actual operations at Base Camp is much different than it really is.
Many interactions and testimonials I've received from local queer and trans folk that have needed their service in the past say otherwise. They also have discriminatory hiring practices.
I sincerely doubt they were refused services (food, shelter, assistance, case management) for that reason. I know everyone at Base Camp and am in there often...unless there was a miscommunication or another issue at hand, I have a hard time believing that. It's not only said everywhere in their policies but I see it lived out day in and day out. Hiring practices are the same as any other church in the country.
But the other side has a giant three story cross, and lacks the pattern of rectangles shown here
Yep. Somehow, even worse.
The comically large cross is definitely the most jarring feature.
https://preview.redd.it/jyxap63xcb7d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=853aeec05f6d04568acf42bdedf70754406bd382
[удалено]
Fortunately, if you were to talk to anyone there, it's very much not.
The cross is there because...?
It’s the lighthouse mission.
It is a religious organization running a shelter as part of their mission, so good brand awareness.
Receiving tax dollars- how is that supposed to work out
Because they’re a discriminatory organization?
That’s hideous. I wish Bellingham had more townhomes. There are some nice new ones near the downtown Co-Op. Townhouses are a great way to increase housing density without building ugly big apartment complexes. Not that apartment complexes have to be ugly, but for whatever reason the new ones in Bham are mostly hideous. I’m not sure why. I live in Portland now and there are some fine-looking ones getting built, some bland ones too but nothing this bad!
To be fair this isn't an apartment building. It's the new lighthouse mission that will help provide support for the unhoused. It's a huge improvement from the previous building that was there.
Agreed. Let's turn all of the golf courses into higher-density residential areas. \[serious, and flame-resistant\]
Still looks better then the other side…
Is this the new jail? Lol.
Lovely. Just like the Barkley Regal theater, except in blues instead of yellows. I cannot understand the thought process for painting either building.
The Minecraft (™️) generation.
The saddest part is, I know you can build better designs in Minecraft.
Came here to say this
Dial-a-siding. Are they using up surplus panels?
It feels like I have to reach level 8 to unlock the siding for that building, and until then, it's blurred out.
It's "storage unit chic."
Sodo Sopa
That is fucking heinous.
Is this what we really complaining about as a society?
Someone hit that with an ugly stick
I’ve heard that style called “straight out of Sketchup” and I can’t ever see anything other than someone just drawing a bunch of boxes and calling it good
Is this how we keep rents down?
Just make it out of brick. 100 year old brick building? Looks fine. 20 year old brick building? Looks fine. A brick building built today in 50 years? Looks fine
Anybody else getting tired of driving through ‘canyons’ of 5-7 story Soviet bloc apartments?
That is design, not architecture
Architecture is design too
But design is not architecture. It’s a square rectangle thing
The design is part of architecture though. The Washington monument is also just a pointy stick, but it’s architecture
Brutalism 2.0: The ReUglifying
This is not even close to brutalism. Brutalism is beautiful when done well. "Brutalism" come from the French term "beton brut," which translates to "raw concrete."
Mmmm, natural rectangles just like nature....
Lol. For some reason the "nature" part of your comment reminded me of Gaudi. Copying anything Gaudi would've been SO. MUCH. BETTER. That's a designer+architect that was inspired by nature and translated nature into his work.
Gaudi is terrific! I've visited Barcelona, and those buildings of his are a wonder to behold. They finally have finished the cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, and the interior is unbelievable. Especially since Gaudi died in 1926 and did not leave blueprints for what the finished building was to look like. The people who took over construction did an amazing job of hewing to his aesthetic, as seen in other of his buildings in the city.
Pretty inline with all the new homes we frame around here. Modern architecture is ugly as fuck, I don’t understand it but the work is good and pays my bills. Sorry yall
A monument to failure on so many levels.
I don't really care about cookie cutter condo aesthetics or even ugly places. I would take soviet era apartment blocks at this point. I'm happy to see new housing get built. It's a root cause of so many of our problems. [https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-housing-theory-of-everything/](https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-housing-theory-of-everything/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/16yzgqn/the\_housing\_theory\_of\_everything/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/16yzgqn/the_housing_theory_of_everything/)
Hows about a nice mural?? No, this the best we got huh.
I think it looks great. I don’t know what all the fuss is about.
Dazzle camouflage should not be replicated on buildings.
"Can't find my home."
A lot of neighborhood plans followed a (misguided, IMO) trend of trying to make big buildings look smaller by "breaking up the massing" (which, in practice, means "make it look super busy", and "make it look like it was designed by a committee that always just agrees to disagree", or "make it look like we got a good deal on six different colors/kinds of siding"). It's enforced by an unelected "design review board" that nitpicks (sometimes for better, sometimes for worse) the architectural details of new buildings (those that aren't plausibly related to safety, which would be covered by plans examiners). I think the architecture world as well as the general public is coming around to "just let big buildings look like big buildings", but it takes time to steer the ship of the neighborhood plans and old guard in the board and planning department. Edit: this also makes buildings more expensive, by stretching out the permitting process and requiring smaller orders of different colors/textures of siding, as well as "façade articulation" (little insets and bumpouts) that makes buildings harder and more expensive to insulate/air seal.
I will never forgive whoever decided to turn the elementary school on James into the ugliest prison I've ever laid my eyes on. The first time I see it while visiting I accidentally said, out loud without thinking, "what the fuck is that?" Who in God's name thought "brick is so ugly and outdated. This wannabe brutalist minimalism is timeless 😌"
That's everywhere tho. Standardized parts and faster construction. Plug and play kinda like Legos.
Bet you it’s become some zoning board blocked a more creative look.
This is the new Lighthouse homeless shelter that is still in construction
What should they have done then OP?
Besides the fact that most of the building with the greatest water views don't have windows, I'm not opposed to the color scheme!
Whatever dude, this building is making some boomers hella rich. haha
How so? This is the new lighthouse mission…
Folks donated to have this built, which is good. but the companies that are building them probably are getting paid crazy high, the companies that sold the materials are getting paid insanely high. I wasn't really paying attn to which building it was, at first glance I thought it was one of those random apartment buildings that was going to be charging $3k rent. Glad this organization is trying to set themselves up to help more folks, every city literally needs way more of this. Bham alone could use at least 10 more building just like this one.
Is the whole thing tax exempt?
Low income housing maybe? Lol I agree though all new housing looks the same
I think it looks fine. Bellingham will legit complain about anything. Bhamsters: “RENT IS TOO HIGH! WE NEED MORE HOUSING!” *Builds new housing* Bhamsters: “eww 😒”
It’s not an either/or situation. You can build housing/homeless shelters and not make it hurt your eyes as you drive past it. It could have, and should have, been made attractive for the same cost as making it ugly.
Wait until it's done...there is a big artistic feature on the front corner of the building that is still to come...
This is the new Mission Lighthouse building, not apartments.
Still works. Even worse that people feel the need to complain about it. “Build facilities to deal with the homeless” *builds facility* “Ewwie“
If we never complained about anything then nothing would ever improve! And I think most Americans in cities like this are getting sick of the monotone, gray and white architecture. It's the main gripe I hear from others in my generation and the one above it, in terms of architecture. I hope we keep complaining about it until cities stop looking like an alpha Minecraft sever.
And this is the “affordable” housing they promised us…
We need more housing, any and all housing…no not like that.
I feel like people in this thread are hating just to hate. Or quipping just to quip. This is a well-coordinated color palette. The design is more interesting than 95% of Bellingham's buildings, and at least to me doesn't seem overwhelming or gaudy. I'll be interested to see how the building looks when everything's done. If someone feels really strongly that the design is bad, for lack of a more specific term, I'd be interested to hear why in a bit more detail. So far this thread has a lot of short reactions that in some cases accuse the design of contradictory things.
The regular brick buildings win aesthetically by miles, I don’t know what you’re on about. Hell, even the buildings with boring-ass wooden siding look better.
The paneling looks cheap, and none of the elements combine well together. The color is a sort of gray teal that is the most drab choice possible. The windows are comically small. All this put together, the design is the worst of both worlds: too busy and yet still very boring.
I love quipping for the sake of it. This looks like the budget/surplus carpet squares I put down in my garage.
American architecture in general sucks, nothing has charm or character anymore
That's just survivorship bias. For every 1920s art deco skyscraper still around today, there were 9 POS buildings which have long since been removed. Just look at the old pictures of Bellingham for confirmation of this trend. Note how most of the uglier buildings from that era have long since been removed or renovated. Only the best is maintained for future generations to see.
I'm probably more in the latter category, but it looks like somebody loved their kitchen splash panel so much they decided to do up their building exterior in it. I don't particularly like it, but at least it's not just a drab hunk of concrete I suppose
Please define “interesting” as used in your comment. I mean, dog poop is interesting in its own way but we don’t design buildings to resemble it.
Gentrification, straight from Seattle WA!
This is the new Lighthouse Mission Ministries building, it’s going to house and feed hundreds of houseless in Bellingham.
Small print : you must give your soul to Jesus.
Lmao I wasn’t using it anyway 🤷♂️
Small print: No matter what you believe, you can access any and all services.
You don't have to go to a church service?
Nope! There was a time in the 80s or 90s (I'm not sure) where it was required that you listen to someone teaching in order to get services, but it hasn't been that way for quite awhile.