I have my first construction site supervision visit this week. I am the project manager of a restaurant in a new development in Darien. Connecticut. Despite I already knew the building because we have a project in one of the spaces on the first floor, seeing the building in person is something completely different.
As I have said, it is a new building, built where there wasn’t any other building before. But even in this situation, the building will look like an old block. Because this building is made of different small pieces, and each of them look like a complete independent building made decades ago. This is very surprising for me.
Obviously, the building has a steel and concrete structure and has the latest innovations in facilities with the best qualities. And it will have modern restaurants and bars and comfortable apartments. But it will look like an old block.
This makes me thing that Disneylands only could be conceived and created in the first place in United States. Because most of the United States architecture is Disney architecture: modern buildings and urbanism with the latest technologies and comfort but that want to look like buildings from the beginning of the twentieth century or, if possible, like even older European buildings.
We have in Europe a lot of projects that are being built right now that want to look like older architecture too, specially houses, but I think United States is stronger in this field.
I want to be clear and say that this is neither a bad nor a positive criticism of this practice. I just find it very curious. I have never worked on buildings like that before and I am not used to see them in Europe, therefore they really catch my eye and take all my attention.
What do you think?
