You've been demanding it and now we can respond: bad news of that wonder boy of contemporary design, that noted sloppy watercolorist of note, that sensitive, sensitive man of men, Steven Holl. We're sorry it took so long; as the Times reminds us this morning, we've been up and dissing now for six long weeks. But, younglings, bear in mind: we don't always make the news, sometimes we must riff on it. So here goes: After being billed as yet another backwater-saving Bilbao, after being trumpeted far and wide as a work of mag-conquering genius, after opening to ubiquitous and obnoxious acclaim—and after closing abruptly less than two years later under a dark cloud of financial and logistical duress—S. Holl's Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington is again throwing open its doors. But just as with the recently hyped $15 million renovation of Peter Eisenman's Wexner Center, Holl's building, after a mere $800k reno, is now somewhat less than Holl. Indeed, as the King County Journal reports:

"[Museum] architecture is there to support the art, although some architects don't agree," [BAM president] Monroe said Tuesday. It was a reference to architect Steven Holl's original design with lots of natural light (some say too much), but also with narrow exhibit spaces, dead-end or unusable walls and hard, echoing floors. Now the lobby—marked by its curved, open, stair tunnel that pulls in light from above—has been softened with walls painted sage, gray and ivory. Skylights that let in excess light are masked.

That's all well and good—taking one of the architect's major works, stripping it of his tics and filips, making it, in a word, work. But this is the part we like best: "Credit for improving the museum's function and flow goes to Sclater Partners architects." Who?

Posted in Dinosaurs