This is great reading for everyone who grew up watching Terminator 2 and was fascinated by the chase scene where the T-1000 terminator bursts through a bridge down into in the LA river. This seems to be the bridge: https://goo.gl/maps/3v3LK6h75LqrzexSA
Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
11–20 of 71 posts
Re: Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
#12Boston City Hall routinely ranks as one of the ugliest buildings on earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_City_Hall Brutalist concrete building straight out of 1984. Really gets you mentally prepared for the labyrinth, dispassionate and uncaring bureaucracy that awaits you inside. > The building has been subject to nearly universal public condemnation, and is often called one of the world's ugliest buildings. Ca…
It seems particularly bad in its surroundings, the barren concrete plaza that it looms over. The whole effect as you cross in front is of a projection of Stalinist state power.
Re: Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
#13This is great reading for everyone who grew up watching Terminator 2 and was fascinated by the chase scene where the T-1000 terminator bursts through a bridge down into in the LA river. This seems to be the bridge: https://goo.gl/maps/3v3LK6h75LqrzexSA
This was my first reaction seeing the picture: "Isn't that the bridge from T2??".
Re: Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
#14Boston City Hall routinely ranks as one of the ugliest buildings on earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_City_Hall Brutalist concrete building straight out of 1984. Really gets you mentally prepared for the labyrinth, dispassionate and uncaring bureaucracy that awaits you inside. > The building has been subject to nearly universal public condemnation, and is often called one of the world's ugliest buildings. Ca…
James H Kunstler had a great talk mentioning the Boston City Hall among many things that's wrong with modern design: https://www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_sub...
Re: Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
#15Nothing in the article explains why it is Kafkaesque.
I think "brutalist architecture" would be a better description.
Re: Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
#16One of the world's best examples of industrial architecture creating an inadvertent skateboarding Mecca.
Re: Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
#17It frustrates me that so many people hate brutalist architecture. I definitely wouldn't want every building to be brutalist but I'm glad that some are.
I also much prefer brutalism to soulless glass and concrete skyscrapers or nondescript office buildings. At least brutalist buildings look like something.
Re: Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
#18It frustrates me that so many people hate brutalist architecture. I definitely wouldn't want every building to be brutalist but I'm glad that some are. I also much prefer brutalism to soulless glass and concrete skyscrapers or nondescript office buildings. At least brutalist buildings look like something.
I would agree with you: there are interesting and appropriate uses of brutalist design. The issue I have is that many brutalist structures are "soulless glass and concrete," with inverse proportions!
Re: Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
#19It frustrates me that so many people hate brutalist architecture. I definitely wouldn't want every building to be brutalist but I'm glad that some are. I also much prefer brutalism to soulless glass and concrete skyscrapers or nondescript office buildings. At least brutalist buildings look like something.
Why are you glad some are?
Signed,
A Brutalist Hater
Re: Friends of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures
#20Reminds me of an anecdate from South America: "This is not like Europe, if you see a river in a city on the map, it is not a river, it is a sewage storm drain."