Butt-Fugly Building of the Week-- July 26th

728 South Broad

716 South Rosewood Street

                 What a pile of fuck. Set way too far back on Broad Street to be noticed.. but then if you do actually notice it, it looks like shit!! Ugly. This is supposed to be Broad Street, the Avenue of the Arts? What the fuck were they thinking in placing a building that far back? 
                This building is such an asshole that it lies about its address. The shitbox says "728 South Broad" on it, yet its true location is 716 South Rosewood Street, an old segment on an interstitial street formerly known as Lloyd Street. There are old streets surrounding the motherfucker on other side too... its other REAL addresses are 1401 Pemberton Street (formerly Bangor Street) and 1401 Senate Street (formerly Nelson's Alley). The fucker is 100 feet away from Broad Street. Liars.
                This boring ugly 28,000 square foot piece of shit was built in 1997 by the Brandywine Workshop, an arts education non-profit, who, in their own words, "enhance the role of visual and related media artists and their impact in contemporary society". So you want to enhance the role of visual artists but then create a visually awful building? The setback was a parking lot until about 2008 when it was landscaped in order to create a connection between their two buildings. I say "landscaped" with a pretty wide definition. The "public plaza" is just a bunch of weeds and dirt with a sidewalk running through the middle. There are empty lots that are better landscaped than that!

"Public Plaza"

                 I don't know who the fuck the architect was, nor do I care... a five year old with legos could have come up with something more interesting. If you're supposed to be this arts advocacy group, why the fuck don't you advocate for your own building's design? How about a sign that says "Brandywine Workshop" on it? Their buildings look like their part of the Philadelphia Clef Club nearby. Why? Because the Clef Club decided to put on a fucking sign on their building!!!
               Is that a loading dock right on the front of the building? What the hell were they thinking? Besides having a big empty area towards the back, there's also small streets running around the sides! ANY other side would have been fine for a garbage area... but where did they put it? On the front, behind a chain link fence! 
               There's really not much else to say about this piece of dirt. Exposed cinder blocks? Get real. Hopefully Brandywine will one day need that space out front and build a proper building along Broad Street that we can all be proud of. Don't get your fucking hopes up. 

Hard to see in this picture, but there's a bunch of red bike racks mounted along the side of the building.. oooh aren't you trendy!

UPDATE!!!

Apparently I was wrong about the "Don't get your fucking hopes up" part of this article. Check it out:

From the Comments section below:

 

Thanks for noticing! For what it's worth, Brandywine Workshop has in fact been exploring ways to improve the appearance and thermal performance of the existing print shop and office building, as well as proposed a multi-purpose arts pavilion and rain gardens on the empty lot, which is currently seeking funding. An exhibition of prints produced at Brandywine over the past 40 years will open at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Septemnber. Here's a link to preliminary design studies by Brandywine Board member Ted Agoos' firm, Studio Agoos Lovera.....