Richmond Residences, Another Downtown Insult: Architecture Critic Morgan
Saturday, October 02, 2021
Richmond and Friendship Streets: Proposed apartment house. Courtesy Downtown Design Review Committee
"Mysterious, soft, and ethereal," the architect described her six-story apartment building proposed for 71-73 Richmond Street. It is hard to imagine a building that has less of those qualities. It is more than just an inappropriate building in an historic district. This is the wrong building in the wrong place. Richmond Residences is a dud.
Given the economics, many city watchers declare that it is impossible to build an architecturally distinguished, aesthetically pleasing building in downtown Providence. Sad to say, most downtown developers are afraid that spending on good or innovative design will cut into their profits. Yet, a well-designed apartment block does not need to cost more than a poorly conceived one.
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Architect Bjarke Ingels has created many apartment blocks that are both functional and intriguing, as here in Stockholm, Bjarke Ingels Group
Before even discussing compatibility or aesthetics, many projects are trying to squeeze too much into their building envelope. 71-73 Richmond is a perfect example of this. One strongly senses that the project would be economically unfeasible if the new apartments did not use all the space zoning allows.
Eli N. Schwartz, the developer, owns the two historic, handsome brick commercial structures on Richmond Street. But Schwartz's architect, Monika P. Kraemer seems to be struggling with how to add the six-story apartment tower block at the back of these well-proportioned blocks. Kraemer was trained at Illinois Institute of Technology, a bastion of modernism; she rehabilitated the Almy Street School and added an additional story to Schwartz's 204 Westminster Street.
Schwartz described the forthright older blocks as having a "cool ghostly, mystical" vibe, declaring he did not want to interfere with that, which hints that he and his architect do not want to tackle the entire plot as a single design problem. The lack of cohesiveness and overall unity is perhaps because the developer needs to maintain the rental from the two nightclubs here, which would be lost if they were closed for construction.
One might also question why anyone would chose to live here, especially as there are other less awkward apartment buildings in the Jewelry District. Richmond Residences will be attached to rather than replace the two clubs. Ego, Kulture, and other nearby bars will continue to disgorge loud and unruly revelers into the street at two in the morning. (Club Karma, across Friendship, is going to be refashioned as a 19-unit apartment complex, with what its developer calls a "boho-vibe.")
What about the actual design of the block itself? Compared to the dramatic and handsome garage that faces it, Richmond Residences looks drab and unadventurous; it even makes Chestnut Commons look appealing. Will the indubitably high rents of apartments here be worth it?
Monika Kraemer defended her design to the Downtown Design Review Committee, noting, "We don't want to add more visual clutter … we want our building to be very streamlined and minimize the amount of materials, that way our building looks very much different than the existing ones." (Translation: We really do not have the imagination to solve this awkward design problem.) 71-73 Richmond will, presumably have metal sheathing. While there should be no objection to minimalism done well, what we curiously have here is an entire side wall that is blank, yet the opposite side features a glass curtain wall. A wall of glass could be quite stunning, but the renderings suggests that there will be different colored panes; the architect said that is just an affectation of the renderer, as the glass will be a single tint.
Friendship Street side of 71-73 Richmond. Note small alleyway between the white cube (a former club also owned by Schwartz) and the main block, the second story of which will jut over the alley. Monika Kraemer
At the "appropriateness" hearing recently, DDRC member Rachel Hampton affirmed, "There is a way to do modern beautifully." But this design hardly begins to deserve conceptual approval. The scheme appears so half-baked, one wonders if the members of the Design Review felt that their time had been wasted. The 71-73 Richmond team has not done their homework, selling something that no one should want to purchase.
Finnish architects Heikkinen + Komonen are masters of affordable yet elegant Modern, as illustrated by their Schönbühl Park in, Lucerne, Switzerland. PHOTO: Milan Rohrer
This column has argued that architects should be brought in earlier in the design process. There are both good architects and smart developers in Providence who have the ability–if not the will–to give the city something really worthwhile. But this early Thanksgiving turkey needs to be radically re-designed or totally scrapped.
GoLocal Architecture Morgan critic is the author of a book on the Helsinki architects, Heikkinen + Komonen. Finland's leading newspaper published his article on the origins of the McDonalds' Golden Arches.
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