The NYRA Guide to New York City highlights so much of what is ignored about the city’s architecture, as does issue #50. But I can’t give you praise without some criticism—in particular, regarding your coverage of JPMorgan’s new headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. The editors pair the reviews by Paul Goldberger and Mark Krotov in different terms, the former being favorable and the latter unfavorable. Each references Olly Wainwright’s pan in The Guardian—I approve—so I think that Goldberger and Krotov share at least some anxiety about the building.
Although both pieces comment on prior antecedents and precedents (Goldberger gives a great history of the site and the buildings that previously stood on it), I noticed two glaring omissions. The first is that there is no mention of Foster + Partners’ Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia (completed in 2017), which is the best precedent for the JPMorgan project and is arguably a successful building in ways that JPMorgan is not. Not only does Comcast have better public art, it also has a publicly accessible lobby and a …
