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I found some interior courtyard looking photos but having never been its hard for me to even know if its the right building or what. Looks really nice though to me.
Now having never been to Boston the plaza surrounding it seems to be the weak point, I don't know if its cause of the neighborhood its in, lack of shading, or what but seems like a huge empty area unless an event is going on. But the building itself looks really nice.
Boston's city hall is an insult and an abomination. The urban planners destroyed an entire old neighborhood (Scollay Square) to build it. The architecture of city hall has absolutely no relationship or reference to the architecture or history of the city. There is no sense of place. It could best be described as neo-Babylonian brutalist. How does that fit in with a historic city like Boston? The desolate and wind swept plaza they placed it on is not pedestrian friendly and further distances the building from the rest of the city. Lastly, concrete does not age well. A building like that will never acquire a patina as it ages. It is not a building for the ages. It already is obsolete and non-functional. There have been many proposals to tear it down and build a new city hall. That is the best answer to its many problems.
^^^^I looked at several photographs of the building and portions of the design seem askew. Specifically, it has the repetition on the top three floors and then becomes asymmetrical in other sections. It's visually distracting and off
balance (don't like it).
Did you feel crowded in such close but tall buildings? That's what always strikes me about tall apartment buildings - like being squeezed into a narrow space. I also wondered: Were there all types of units in each building or were they separated, subsidized and non-subsidized?
This is the line that caught my attention, as a "dyed-in-the-wool" pedestrian: "but the corridors also act as barriers to pedestrians. " The corridors being the two highways cutting the complex off from a larger neighborhood.
It is only my reaction and I could be wrong but such complexes always seem to me to be squeezing people to death. Maybe a bad way to put it but we need room to spread our wings. I've often thought that was what ruined the Pruitt Igoe Homes in St Louis. The people were isolated from the rest of the city and crowded in on each other. And, the buildings being so tall, it was a time-consuming effort just to get outdoors.
Just my thoughts, which aren't usually worth much.
Always be careful of your hates, as hate can turn to love in split second. and love can turn to hate in a split second. And so easy to become what we hate! I used to say: You would never catch me dead living in a high rise apartment building! And? I did it and got hooked on high rise living!
There's the psychological element of space which most people overlook, living in one of these buildings. Psychologically, they can be more spacious than living in a mansion!
Way up there on the 38th floor, I could watch the storms head in for Minneapolis, some 30-40 miles away, and you can see some of the greatest "television shows" from your apartment buildings. I had my bed pushed right up against my bedroom window, and I'd look at those twinkling lights for miles and miles, and see the police cars/ambulances, and you never heard them! And there were those mornings, I'd look out the windows and the clouds would be below the windows, like being in an airplane! All so surreal and beautiful!
Now! If my windows had faced another apartment building, like in NYC, now that would have been much more confining. Now we're talking claustrophobia!
And the way these buildings were built, with concrete walls separating the units, I never worried about a fire, as I knew the damage would be confined to one unit and one unit only. And there were windows to open. God forbid, these high rises I see they're building in NYC, and you can't even open up a window! OMG! Claustrophobia, thru and thru!
Always be careful of your hates, as hate can turn to love in split second. and love can turn to hate in a split second. And so easy to become what we hate! I used to say: You would never catch me dead living in a high rise apartment building! And? I did it and got hooked on high rise living!
There's the psychological element of space which most people overlook, living in one of these buildings. Psychologically, they can be more spacious than living in a mansion!
Way up there on the 38th floor, I could watch the storms head in for Minneapolis, some 30-40 miles away, and you can see some of the greatest "television shows" from your apartment buildings. I had my bed pushed right up against my bedroom window, and I'd look at those twinkling lights for miles and miles, and see the police cars/ambulances, and you never heard them! And there were those mornings, I'd look out the windows and the clouds would be below the windows, like being in an airplane! All so surreal and beautiful!
Now! If my windows had faced another apartment building, like in NYC, now that would have been much more confining. Now we're talking claustrophobia!
And the way these buildings were built, with concrete walls separating the units, I never worried about a fire, as I knew the damage would be confined to one unit and one unit only. And there were windows to open. God forbid, these high rises I see they're building in NYC, and you can't even open up a window! OMG! Claustrophobia, thru and thru!
No, I wasn't saying I 'hate' it. I was saying that those are some of the feelings I think of and wonder if tenants feel them. Pruitt Igoe ended up as a pitiful place, run down, not taken care of, full of crime, etc., and I wonder if that crowded, shut-in feeling had something to do with it. Just wonder about it. Did that happen at Riverside Plaza? One thing I don't like, though, is those colored panels at the top. They are not artistic to me.
They tell me those walls (are they always concrete?) are now required by law. We have them here. Rows of attached town houses and apartment buildings (only two at a time on the latter) and always separated by that extra wall. I can't see them but our maintenance people tell me they are there. There are also fire walls between apartments but, I'm thinking, not always between floors. A condo building down the street burned about a year ago. The fire spread from the third floor to the first and destroyed all the apartments on that half of the building. The other half only got smoke damage.
As for the space feeling, I understand that perfectly. I once lived on the seventh floor of a building and got the same thing. Funny, too, as I'm afraid of heights. Yet, I can stand near a high window and enjoy the view. Don't think I'd want to be much higher, though.
The mayor of Tirana Albania decided that some of the dilapidated and grey buildings could use
some color. Link below shows several examples of sprucing up the old communist structures.
Does anyone think there are some Brutalist buildings that would be more interesting with some
variations of color?
Boston's city hall is an insult and an abomination. The urban planners destroyed an entire old neighborhood (Scollay Square) to build it. The architecture of city hall has absolutely no relationship or reference to the architecture or history of the city. There is no sense of place. It could best be described as neo-Babylonian brutalist. How does that fit in with a historic city like Boston? The desolate and wind swept plaza they placed it on is not pedestrian friendly and further distances the building from the rest of the city. Lastly, concrete does not age well. A building like that will never acquire a patina as it ages. It is not a building for the ages. It already is obsolete and non-functional. There have been many proposals to tear it down and build a new city hall. That is the best answer to its many problems.
I can't speak and don't believe this is the right thread to argue about the city planning that did or didn't go into the project. If they tore down a neighborhood that is another discussion entirely that has nothing to do with brutalist architecture. They could have torn it down and put up a shopping mall and you would have the same complaints. Wrong thread.
As far as the other comments... concrete doesn't age well?
Feel free to post some old steel or wood buildings if you truly believe concrete doesn't age well
To this day, I still remember seeing the Pantheon and I am still overwhelmed. When I was there one
of the historians made it a point that the dome was once lined with brass. Just imagine when the
sun was hitting that brass covered dome. The columns are made of granite. How does the concrete
which the Romans invented compare to modern day cement? Just wondering.
Correct me if I am wrong. My memory isn't the best. But, hasn't the Pantheon been reconstructed in modern times? One of those ancient Greek buildings has been rebuilt. I do remember reading about it. It was an attempt to preserve the area as it was in ancient days. Good for tourism, perhaps?
And, concrete does crumble, I believe. Many things cause this but we do see evidence of concrete crumbling. How about brick? Is brick as sturdy as concrete? Just some thoughts crossing my mind before I shut down for the evening.
Correct me if I am wrong. My memory isn't the best. But, hasn't the Pantheon been reconstructed in modern times? One of those ancient Greek buildings has been rebuilt. I do remember reading about it. It was an attempt to preserve the area as it was in ancient days. Good for tourism, perhaps?
And, concrete does crumble, I believe. Many things cause this but we do see evidence of concrete crumbling. How about brick? Is brick as sturdy as concrete? Just some thoughts crossing my mind before I shut down for the evening.
Renovation happens, renovation happens with all buildings.
And in my opinion Crown Hall as most steel buildings looks dated already. The way light reflects off concrete is just something else that you don't get in a steel and glass building. Look how ugly that thing is on the inside, just a giant open space
To this day, I still remember seeing the Pantheon and I am still overwhelmed. When I was there one
of the historians made it a point that the dome was once lined with brass. Just imagine when the
sun was hitting that brass covered dome. The columns are made of granite. How does the concrete
which the Romans invented compare to modern day cement? Just wondering.
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