This is strange inasmuch as this has seemed, to many Islanders, to be the least of the building’s crimes. But apparently, a bit like a Ferrari being all wrong if it is yellow, which it most definitely is, the hotel would have been all right if only it had been a different colour.
This was the verdict given on the Radisson (the colour bit, not the Ferrari) by Esplanade Quarter architect Jim Greaves who was talking during Architecture Week about the financial district. Mr Greaves promises a neutral aspect to the buildings he is planning for the district.
Of course, given the current crisis in global financial markets you have to wonder whether now is really a good time to be building such a thing but hey, this is Jersey. It’ll all be fine and this is the future – finance that is, not crisis.
Anyway, that is a whole new column and I’m a girl so talking about colours is probably much safer. In which vein I took to staring at the Radisson thoughtfully while strolling along the front and, once it has been pointed out, it is difficult to disagree that the colour is wrong.
Off-white would have been better. But you wonder whether this would just be the ‘magnolia-effect’ – you know, goes with anything.
The trouble with that is that this does not mean that the architecture is good or bad. It could just be indifferent or inoffensive – hardly words that you want associated with a prominent building. Do people really go into architecture saying I want to design something that will fit in if we paint it the right colour?
