You Mean That Building Doesn’t Suck?

A new pamphlet purporting to lay out the four greatest skyscrapers in the world has included San Francisco’s TransAmerica Pyramid on its list. Bay Area architecture critics are stunned. “There’s nothing brilliant about concrete and steel piled high in ever-narrower amounts. Nor is ‘exquisite’ the word that best describes an ungainly triangle with ear-like elevator shafts sticking out on two sides. And hey, I’m just picking at architectural nits. When the Pyramid was proposed in 1969, critics recoiled at the whole idea — viewing it as a threat to the very integrity of the city they loved.”