Hated by many but loved by many more (or so our initial straw polling concludes), the new Morphosis-designed Cooper Union building is not yet open to those pursuing a gratis education, and yet—and yet!—there is already controversy on the upper Bowery. A Curbed tipster is mightily concerned about the building's upkeep:
Every morning on my walk into work I pass by the new Cooper Union building and I've noticed that it gets extremely dirty every few months. Attached are a few photos taken over this time period. In the first they had just finished putting a new section in, and compared to the older one you could see a huge contrast in how clean it was. Then I walked by a few weeks later and took another picture and I thought, oh look, I guess it's not a big deal at all, they cleaned it. But this morning I witnessed how they cleaned it.
And how, pray tell, do they clean it?
A giant crane and a single man with a small washcloth wiping it down by hand. Do they honestly believe they can keep this up forever or will they just let the building naturally get dirty as part of a "look", because I serious doubt they can....
Unknown, but with the immaculately gleaming Cooper Square Hotel almost right next door, it's no wonder the Cooper Union's hot mesh has clean-us envy!
