This week's comments update is led by the debate surrounding Snøhetta's plan to overhaul Philip Johnson's postmodern AT&T Building, and the backlash that ensued as a result.

Throwing stones: Snøhetta unveiled plans to add a glass base to the iconic New York tower, now known as 550 Madison, but were met with online petitions and a protest organised by filmmaker Nathan Eddy. The debate split readers down the middle.
"Just what we need, culture arbiters telling us that NYC has too much glass. A filmmaker no less. Hilarious," sneered HeywoodFloyd, who perhaps felt only architects should have an opinion on such issues.
Ponchoes had the completely opposite response: "Just what we need yet another pretentious architect whose answer to every design problem is glass." Michael Ramirez suggested that the views of some architects were, in fact, the real issue: "Makes no sense being conservative for the sake of it if the building cannot attract any tenants who need to satisfy the needs of today. Don't let architectural ego detract from its evolution."
"Makes no sense to intervene just for the sake of intervention," countered Arc*. "The glass curtain wall skirt has nothing to do with the rest of the building. Don?t let architectural ego detract from an already fine structure."
"This is glass-washing to appeal to real-estate clients and not the people who work in or walk by this building," pointed out Lloyd B...