Decorated Shed

In Learning from Las Vegas, Robert Venturi contended that a "decorated shed" was an ordinary building which is functionally designed inside and embellished on the outside. It was better than a “duck”（ an ungainly building in which the whole form and its function are tied together).

(Sketch from Learning from Las Vegas)
Summarizing the distinction between duck and shed, the author wrote：“The duck is the special building that is a symbol; the decorated shed is the conventional building that applies symbols."
Foster & Partners' Hearst Tower, for example, the stainless cladding on the external structure is obviously ornamental. Both the chamfering and the structural detailing are executed on such an "heroic" scale to mask the fact that the tower is, for all intents and purposes, a box. This is a high-end decorated shed, to be sure, but a decorated shed nontheless.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hearstowernyc.JPG)