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I'm just so grateful to be here, and there's much to be grateful about. But there are some things I have on Santa's Wish List that I'd like to hope for in this holiday season:
1. I wish that the Superman Building finds a new purpose, one that befits the dignity of the structure.
2. I wish that Kennedy Plaza is redeveloped.
3. That RIPTA finds new leadership and new vision to better serves our needs.
4. That bars close at 4am.
5. That city hall be demolished and replaced by a Richard Meier structure, like this one:
These are my hopes for the city of Providence in this holiday season. What are yours?
May your first 3 wishes come true. I share them. As for the 4th I can't say I care.
What's with wish 5?? While City Hall is hardly good architecture, it at least strives for dignity. The Meier mess you wish for would be a bigger tragedy than the reviled Brutalist Boston City Hall. Was this wish a joke, I didn't get? Sometimes the subtleties and ironies of forum discussions escape me. If so, I apologize.
Last edited by independent man; 12-05-2013 at 06:48 PM..
May your first 3 wishes come true. I share them. As for the 3rd, I can't say I care.
What's with wish 4?? While City Hall is hardly good architecture, it at least strives for dignity. The Meier mess you wish for would be a bigger tragedy than the reviled Brutalist Boston City Hall. Was this wish a joke, I didn't get? Sometimes the subtleties and ironies of forum discussions escape me. If so, I apologize.
Wish #4? The city goes to sleep way too early.
As to the Meier structure, it's quite stunning and certainly not Brutalist. Meier's building (actually a church outside of Rome) injects light and openness -- it embraces life and inspires me. And while the current dungeon that is city hall may "strive" for dignity, it falls flat on its face in that regard; it's an eyesore, it's fodder for a wrecking ball. It's a gloomy, brooding pile of nonsense. I avert my eyes when I pass it; sadly, I can see it from my apartment.
And no, this list isn't a joke, it's my wishes for a better city.
As to the Meier structure, it's quite stunning and certainly not Brutalist. Meier's building (actually a church outside of Rome) injects light and openness -- it embraces life and inspires me. And while the current dungeon that is city hall may "strive" for dignity, it falls flat on its face in that regard; it's an eyesore, it's fodder for a wrecking ball. It's a gloomy, brooding pile of nonsense. I avert my eyes when I pass it; sadly, I can see it from my apartment.
And no, this list isn't a joke, it's my wishes for a better city.
You stay up way too late.
If you don't get your wishes,at least you are familiar with how to get the Acela to get you out of RI.
As to the Meier structure, it's quite stunning and certainly not Brutalist. Meier's building (actually a church outside of Rome) injects light and openness -- it embraces life and inspires me. And while the current dungeon that is city hall may "strive" for dignity, it falls flat on its face in that regard; it's an eyesore, it's fodder for a wrecking ball. It's a gloomy, brooding pile of nonsense. I avert my eyes when I pass it; sadly, I can see it from my apartment.
And no, this list isn't a joke, it's my wishes for a better city.
Yawn.
Delighted you love Providence as you obviously do, but may your modernest architectural wishes for city hall and any other part of the the city never come true.
Delighted you love Providence as you obviously do, but may your modernest architectural wishes for city hall and any other part of the the city never come true.
LOL! I guess you told me!
But please, Sir, just one modernist building? Just one?
Just one? If you walk around the city, you know better. They're pocked all over the city. Brown is positively obsessed with them lately. All of those cartoonish buildings so out of place in Providence's wonderful historic context. It really endangers our sense of place. Any more of them go up and we'll become Indianapolis!!
Just one? If you walk around the city, you know better. They're pocked all over the city. Brown is positively obsessed with them lately. All of those cartoonish buildings so out of place in Providence's wonderful historic context. It really endangers our sense of place. Any more of them go up and we'll become Indianapolis!!
I'm not advocating for trash modernist architecture, like the works of the evil twins, Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaus (see below)
But a city, even as historic a city as Providence, cannot be frozen in amber -- we cannot eternally resist contemporary, high quality architecture. A building of the quality and uniqueness of the Meier building, by example, would stand as a landmark for a century or more.
I stand by my wish list. I believe there is room in this city for great modernist work and indeed it would serve to complement, not distract, from the great architecture we already enjoy in great abundance.
And some of the architecture at Brown is quite good:
Then I join in your wish.........but for Cranston rather than Providence.
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