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Architecture review: Cutting corners

Pei Cobb Freed’s Seven Bryant Park probably won't achieve design renown, but could be worse

Architect Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, a rendering of the lobby and a rendering of Seven Bryant Park
Architect Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, a rendering of the lobby and a rendering of Seven Bryant Park

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From the January issue: Some years back, when the formidable One Bryant Park was just a mock-up in the offices of the architectural firm of Cook + Fox, I wrote a somewhat dismissive assessment of it that I have subsequently come to regret. Indeed, once built, the Bank of America Tower, as it’s also called, turned out to be far better than I had expected. For that reason I understand the perils of judging a building when it exists only in renderings. There’s an impulse for renderings to promise too much; 49 out of 50 buildings look better as renderings than they do in reality.[more]