The Ironic Loss of the Postmodern Best Store Facades ⇥ failedarchitecture.com

Really fascinating article from a couple of years ago, but which was surfaced this week by Vanessa Grall. Margaret McCormick writing at Failed Architecture:

In the mid 1970s, the Lewis Family (the owners and operators of catalogue company Best Products) hired Sculpture In The Environment (SITE) to create a series of facades for nine showrooms across the US. Regardless of the project’s relative financial benefits, the clients gave SITE the one thing all designers crave and fear: full creative reign. […]

What made the Best Showrooms so successful as architectural statements was the balance of spite and sincerity. SITE at the time had all the swagger and irony, but without contempt for the users or client. Going by the old Mel Brooks dogma of really loving the object of your mockery.

You just have to see the photos in the post, and more over on SITE’s website. It’s rather disappointing that such outstanding examples of architectural ingenuity and carte blanche brilliance have vanished.