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How Boston City Hall was born

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Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#101

Post by DiggyJohnson »

jcstauffer wrote: post #34

I always think of the building (and brutalist architecture in general) as absurdist architecture, and I find City Hall to be quite humorous in that light. The general shape lifts up and is trying to appear as if it's floating, in contrast to the material selection. Think of an Elephant ballerina, or Douglas Adams "It hung in the air in exactly the way bricks don't". Another example is the Holman government building a…

I’d encourage others to click on that link and do a 360. There are so many architectural styles with 200 yards.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#102

Post by DiggyJohnson »

sandworm101 wrote: post #90
psunavy03 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More totalitarian than absurdist. The whole idea seems to be elevating the vision of "The Genius Architect" over the needs and wishes of the people who would actually use the space, with a borderline contempt for what non-architects and even non-Brutalist architects think. I'm reminded of the time I ended up crossing the Empire State Plaza in Albany once in the dead of winter. Such a horrid experience. Surrounded by…

>> elevating the vision of "The Genius Architect" over the needs and wishes of the people who would actually use the space Otherwise known as all architecture. In a past life I work in the entertainment industry: lots of late nights in venues like concert halls and occasional art galleries. All of them contain expensive architectural elements that serve no need other than to stoke the ego of their designers. Look beh…

Generally human beings value ornamentation quite highly. I think you make an interesting observation, but to say “no other need” is ridiculous. I also have a dim view of a lot of high profile architecture and the high ego architect, don’t get me wrong, but form and function ought to be a balance and not a battle. You’re claiming it’s a battle.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#103

Post by DiggyJohnson »

lo_zamoyski wrote: post #78
unyttigfjelltol wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

City Hall is absurd in both it's appearance outside and the impracticality of the design and interior. Rooms with giant concrete columns that cut off sight lines, rampant maintenance problems from elevating form over function , and the comfort of a supraterrestrial civil defense shelter.

It seems to be intentionally designed to confuse and to disorient; misanthropic, as if designed by a demon.

What do you think were the motives of the architects and the design committee that selected this plan?

I thought your comment was ridiculous at first until I realized that I agree.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#104

Post by ghaff »

tacticalturtle wrote: post #57
nilptr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why can't we build nice things anymore? Well.. first start by defining "beautiful", we're waiting. Also, it's a 50 year old structure.. we stopped building "nice" things after WW2 mostly because costs were astronomical and new materials and engineering opened up all kinds of avenues for more modern construction. I've spent decent amount of time in and around Boston City Hall, the biggest problem with the building a…

The one nice part of the wasteland plaza is that it can hold large outdoor exhibitions in a way that no other space in downtown area can. Inside the NBA was held live there recently, Boston Calling (the only largish music festival in the area) started there. There’s obviously no massive outdoor parking lot in downtown Boston, and it would be a shame to have packed crowds trample over the common.

Although Commonwealth Shakespeare has performances on the Common every summer and there's a fairly large underground parking garage there.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#105

Post by wglb »

kasey_junk wrote: post #97
tptacek wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notre Dame Stadium: a more practical building than Notre-Dame de Paris.

Not been meeting the form lately if winning football is the goal.

I would say drawing crowds is the goal. The crowds that hope and maybe pray that wins manifest.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#106

Post by rayiner »

tptacek wrote: post #73
rayiner wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Taj Mahal is covered in arabic inscriptions from the Quran: https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Taj-Mahal/Scriptures-on... Public buildings historically had a religious significance, and architecture as a field was intertwined with religion. The current british parliament building, for example, is built in gothic revival style, which arises from religious architecture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Reviva…

As you obviously know, the Taj Mahal is a memorial to the empress consort to the Mughal emperor.

Yes, but it’s design and memorialization to her are deeply intertwined with religious significance: http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2013/12/th... (“According to Muslim tradition on the Indian subcontinent, women who died in childbirth are regarded as saints. Shah Jahan had all the more reason to revere his beloved wife as a saint when she died giving birth to their fourteenth child. The design of the Taj Mahal reflects the legacy Shah Jahan wished to create for his deceased wife, not only as deceased royalty, but as a saint. Our experience of the Taj and its gardens is not only about grief for a beloved wife, but a foretaste of the paradise that awaits the righteous and a premonition of the final Day of Reckoning as it is described in the Quran.”)

It was built by people who feared God and wanted to build something lovely in his sight.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#107

Post by tptacek »

rayiner wrote: post #106
tptacek wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As you obviously know, the Taj Mahal is a memorial to the empress consort to the Mughal emperor.

Yes, but it’s design and memorialization to her are deeply intertwined with religious significance: http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2013/12/th... (“According to Muslim tradition on the Indian subcontinent, women who died in childbirth are regarded as saints. Shah Jahan had all the more reason to revere his beloved wife as a saint when she died giving birth to their fourteenth child. The design of th…

You can't bullshit a bullshitter. I'm a practicing Catholic. We've been putting Jesus, Mary, and Exuperius of Toulouse on things for a millennium to Christian-wash monuments to vanity. The Taj Mahal is about the Mughal emperor's bae, not about Allah.

I'm not saying Notre-Dame de Paris is a monument to the ego of Pope Alexander III. But the Taj Mahal is not a monument to the glorification of God. You're not going to win this argument.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#108

Post by tolerance »

tptacek wrote: post #107
rayiner wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but it’s design and memorialization to her are deeply intertwined with religious significance: http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2013/12/th... (“According to Muslim tradition on the Indian subcontinent, women who died in childbirth are regarded as saints. Shah Jahan had all the more reason to revere his beloved wife as a saint when she died giving birth to their fourteenth child. The design of th…

You can't bullshit a bullshitter. I'm a practicing Catholic. We've been putting Jesus, Mary, and Exuperius of Toulouse on things for a millennium to Christian-wash monuments to vanity. The Taj Mahal is about the Mughal emperor's bae, not about Allah. I'm not saying Notre-Dame de Paris is a monument to the ego of Pope Alexander III. But the Taj Mahal is not a monument to the glorification of God. You're not going to w…

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Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#109

Post by tptacek »

tolerance wrote: post #108
tptacek wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't bullshit a bullshitter. I'm a practicing Catholic. We've been putting Jesus, Mary, and Exuperius of Toulouse on things for a millennium to Christian-wash monuments to vanity. The Taj Mahal is about the Mughal emperor's bae, not about Allah. I'm not saying Notre-Dame de Paris is a monument to the ego of Pope Alexander III. But the Taj Mahal is not a monument to the glorification of God. You're not going to w…

[flagged]

Nah. The Taj Mahal was 100% an extravagance, built by the architect of the Peacock Throne. I stand by everything I wrote here, and every implication you might draw from it. I do not "conjecture", but rather assert, that these are expressions of narcisissm.

And, fine. Whatever. The Taj Mahal is cool. But try to host a Notre Dame football game there. You can't do it. Ad majorem Dei glorium.

---

(the drinking thing is weird, but I'm watching the A24 "Stop Making Sense", which reliably keys me up, so if you regard that as an intoxicant, govern yourself accordingly.)

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#110

Post by tolerance »

tptacek wrote: post #109
tolerance wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Nah. The Taj Mahal was 100% an extravagance, built by the architect of the Peacock Throne. I stand by everything I wrote here, and every implication you might draw from it. I do not "conjecture", but rather assert, that these are expressions of narcisissm. And, fine. Whatever. The Taj Mahal is cool. But try to host a Notre Dame football game there. You can't do it. Ad majorem Dei glorium. --- (the drinking thing is w…

[flagged]
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