11–20 of 23 posts
I love the article. For my own reasons I went right away to search for the word "brutalist" which is what the older stations evoke when the cement ages around you. Not pretty to look at it. It reminds me of the Apple TV series Silo. It makes you want to escape to the surface to clean the camera. The new stations on the Silver Line to IAD bring better feelings.
Au contraire ... Javier ... mon frere ...
I'm surprised they didn't mention the Pentagon metro, which always stood out to me since instead of having side-by-side platforms, they're stacked vertically within the same vault. I guess it falls under "Waffle" style, though.
I believe Rosslyn is similarly stacked. My 8 year old self assumed was named after The First Lady
And they have all one thing in common: they're fugly. Saying this as someone who suffers them regularly. Look at images of Moscow Metro stations to see a vastly superior alternative design.
Stations used to feel cozy and chill, and a break from sensory overload above ground. Now walking in and getting on a train just feels a lot more stressful. It's a shame that wooing transplants took precedence over maintaining an architectural wonder. (Sometimes I think they secretly only feel safe when they're stressed.)
The g-word has, unfortunately, led to some changes that have impacted the system's aesthetics over the past few years. Lighting was brightened and switched to white LEDs in many stations, ruining the ambiance. This was echoed on the newer trains, which also feature "hostile architecture" style seating and flooring that doesn't absorb as much of the operational noise as those in the older models did. Finally, WMATA ha…
I wish it were a tad warmer hued, but the brightness is great.
I'm surprised they didn't mention the Pentagon metro, which always stood out to me since instead of having side-by-side platforms, they're stacked vertically within the same vault. I guess it falls under "Waffle" style, though.
I believe Rosslyn is similarly stacked. My 8 year old self assumed was named after The First Lady
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=concrete+...
I love the article. For my own reasons I went right away to search for the word "brutalist" which is what the older stations evoke when the cement ages around you. Not pretty to look at it. It reminds me of the Apple TV series Silo. It makes you want to escape to the surface to clean the camera. The new stations on the Silver Line to IAD bring better feelings.
Brutalism is always a target for lazy critiques. Concrete heavy architecture enables far more interesting geometry due to how you can use various molds and modular construction. In addition, brutalist(and adjacent) architecture also plays a lot with lighting and sight lines, which IMO makes fore incredibly visually interesting structures. I think there's a weird cultural thing where the cold war attitudes towards the…
All of this depends, of course, on what we consider brutalist, but I think we can agree the purest brutalist constructions are not thinking of the human experience.
In a way, it is like marvelling at a torture device, like an iron maiden. It might be visually interesting but I think most people wont love it for good reasons, not out of laziness.
edit: typos
Fans of the waffle station design will also enjoy the concrete waffle office tower: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=concrete+...
The metro is fairly dark (or was designed to be fairly dark). It feels cave-like. It's brutalist through-and-through, but for that reason it also makes you feel like you're simultaneously in an expansive and ethereal, yet protected and confining space. There's no clash with adjacent architecture (except where modern renovations fsck things up). You're transported, literally and figuratively.
Unfortunately the effect has been adulterated over time. Lightning has changed--variously too dark, too light, or just wrong shading. Arrival time signs (added early 2000s) disrupt the airiness, especially when near escalators or walkways, which were carefully designed spaces that dealt with narrow constraints, but didn't/couldn't have a margin for introduced elements. (Maybe they should've been integrated into the ventilation towers?) Poor maintenance of the ceiling means grime and water damage breaks up the uniformity. It's not quite the same experience as when I first experienced it in the late 1990s.