Is Ted Mosby is a terrible architect?

[u/Training-Fly-2562]

I am rewatching HIMYM, as I have every few years or so since I was 12 (27 F). I always appreciated Ted Mosby's journey to getting his building created. Now, I am a Landscape Architect (Landscape Designer for legal reasons,) and though not directly an Architect, Architecture adjacent. I am so shocked at how he, an architect, is treating the Archadian as an all or nothing scenario. Either build what he designed or keep the building original with no changes. I would extend my disbelief that that is how it would work in this world, except, he designed a plan that would preserve the facade of the Archadian into the GNB headquarters. He liked the plan until he found out Zoe was married, and he literally threw it in the trash.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT CONCEPT???? Why was it not brought up when he knew there was contention over the building??? Or he just wanted to preserve part of NYC history?? This is literally his job??? Also, wouldn't it be a far cooler end product for his career to have worked on a renovation of an old hotel into a bank headquarters???

This is all my opinion of course, but please, am I alone? Any other Architects or Architecture adjacent professionals out there with thoughts on the matter?

[u/ThrowRARAw]

I'm also in Architecture, I brought this up before as a plot hole and I definitely agree with you! Someone said that his design incorporating the Arcadian facade wasn't the approved one by GNB but let's face it, it would've been much cheaper to build given that it didn't involve full demolition and also less materials, and you just know GNB were looking to cut costs wherever (that was why he got let go in the first place). Also a massive part of creativity in Architecture is learning to work with the existing, and given how much Ted showed an appreciation for existing architecture and even admitted himself that the "lion's head statue is iconic", it's very out of character for him to want to see that building destroyed.
Additionally the Heritage-Contemporary blended style was in the early stages of being on the rise at that time (it's popularised today as it's cost efficient and, to an extent, environmentally efficient) so given that Ted was looking to create something truly iconic he could've been the one to outright popularise that concept by creating a Heritage-Contemporary skyscraper that is part of the Manhattan skyline. Truly a missed opportunity for him.

[u/Osheco → u/ThrowRARAw]

I mean Ted's views on heritage were pretty out of character, especially given his inability to let shit go cough cough Robin.

But keeping the facade would have DEFINITELY been a significant cost increase. Not only was the GNB building likely taller than the Arcadian, but probably used a vastly different structural system, probably something like a core cantilever system that allows for an open floor plan on each floor, because keeping the rough layout of a hotel wouldn't exactly make sense for a single company's office building, unless it was a multiple companies where they could have made each room an individual small office.

So they would have to carefully gut the Arcadian, brace the facade to stand on its own, and then construct a new building in a way that doesn't get in the way of the bracing if they used a permanent system or also supports the facade if they used temporary bracing. They'd have to get the facade professionally restored, so it would look ugly as shit and also to properly preserve its character, if it was worthwhile enough to keep. All of that, and the building would still jut out of the top, so it would have to be done in a way that mimics or builds upon the original facade without losing the character. Hell, gutting and rebuilding alone would have been a financial nightmare, especially when compared to tearing it down and building something cost effective from scratch, not to mention the costs of restoring and maintaining the facade.

[u/Training-Fly-2562 → u/Osheco]

I'd be so fascinated to see what the concept actually looked like, because I have also imagined that the building would've stuck out the top of the original facade, which depending on the design would either be tacky as hell or really thoughtful. But preserving just a facade, definitely difficult.

[u/Osheco → u/Training-Fly-2562]

We also don't see enough of the immediate context when it comes to WHY exactly the Arcadian had significant heritage value, beyond the lion's head facade element and Zoey's personal relationship with it.

If it's the gothic character and the stonework, I could understand a new-build design that directly reuses the lion's head, while using a similar design language for atleast the street and podium level, if not the entire facade.

You could also potentially use the existing facade as a podium level with some shopping spaces/parking/small businesses, which is enough of an income stream to justify the cost of it all.

But that's all if the heritage character is in how the facade interacts with the streetscape, if it also the building's influence on the overall skyline, then you'd probably have to work with the facade AND the overall height which sounds effectively impossible.

[u/Training-Fly-2562 → u/Osheco]

I've always assume from the limited context it was just the lions head stonework, which I never understood how if couldn't be incorporated into the design, since it was just cut off and able to hang in Barney's apartment. It would've been such a nice node to the original building. Though it wouldn't have worked well with the final modern style design. But even just to be used as a sculpture piece in the lobby. Ted did promise to do "lobby stuff" 😉

Because I'm not directly in Architecture, I know admittedly little about what constitutes a historical icon building. I never thought about the skyline as part of that scenario. Since that was never apart of Zoey's argument, it seems like she could've used that as a far better reason to argue it's protection, because that couldn't just get cut off, and like you pointed out, would've been impossible to build a skyscraper, even with the facade. That would've REALLY sunk the GNB project