Ok, I admit that I am not an architect. Shocker I know, but I’ve always been a huge fan of the design work and concept of putting something down on paper and bringing it to life.

Today when I went to the Inhabitat (great website by the way) I was taken aback by the beautiful new Mixed Residential Use project that Bjarke Ingels (+ Group or ‘BIG’, naturally) has designed for New York City. Specifically the block of West 57th Street in Manhattan.

It’s a sliced up Pyramid.

Lady GaGa style.

The term 'Lady' is suppose to be 'Ironic'

And you know what, it works!

Whenever I see these fanciful, geometric shapes as buildings I always think of them as trying to hard to be in different that it feels off putting. It’s like the kids that show up on their first day of Jr. High with green spiked hair. We get it! You want to be seen as a non-conformist, a rebel. You want to stand out but only for the sake of Standing Out.

I think a lot of architects tend to fall into this trap quite often, and why some of them get the write-ups in all the design magazines continuously really does frighten me.

Check out Inhabitat’s write up on the W57 Project as well as Mr. Ingels website for more thoughtful designs.

Source: W57 Project via Inhabitat