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How Boston City Hall was born

bostonglobe.com

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Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#81

Post by astrange »

rayiner wrote: post #44
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…

> Well.. first start by defining "beautiful", we're waiting. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/No... https://wmf.imgix.net/images/70_hero_image.jpg?auto=format,c... Hundreds of years later, most people from completely disparate cultures find these buildings beautiful.

It seems difficult to fit a city hall in either of them.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#82

Post by screye »

Boston City Hall is the perfect candidate for an eco-brutalist makeover. Add the SF Hyatt Regency while you're at it.

Europe's eco-brutalist buildings are gorgeous. [1] [2]

Boston City Hall's problem is the windy open plaza. The building stands as the only imposing mass in that area. If there were trees and other shelter, one could admire it. But as it stands today, it intimidates.

All that being said, positives changes are happening. Cop slide is definitely one of Boston's must see attractions.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/may/11...

[2] https://www.archdaily.com/958637/uncovering-the-hidden-gems-...

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#83

Post by recursivecaveat »

ghaff wrote: post #37
otras wrote: post #32

> It was in this context that the city decided to demolish the neighborhood known as Scollay Square and build in its place what would come to be called Government Center. It’s interesting (and sad) to imagine what Boston could have been like without the damage of urban renewal. These neighborhoods could have easily become the quaint North Ends people love today. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End,_Boston https:…

There's a WGBH podcast about the Big Dig and the first episode I think helps you appreciate why some of the interstate connections and routings around Boston are so weird. https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig

I'll never forget my first bus ride in Boston: going through a tunnel that suddenly narrowed by 1 lane deep underground, driving 2km past our next stop to reach a u-turn to the other side of the highway.. It has the craziest road infrastructure I have ever seen.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#84

Post by ghaff »

recursivecaveat wrote: post #83
ghaff wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a WGBH podcast about the Big Dig and the first episode I think helps you appreciate why some of the interstate connections and routings around Boston are so weird. https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig

I'll never forget my first bus ride in Boston: going through a tunnel that suddenly narrowed by 1 lane deep underground, driving 2km past our next stop to reach a u-turn to the other side of the highway.. It has the craziest road infrastructure I have ever seen.

Although Boston driving can still be a bit crazy in areas you're not accustomed to, the combination of the Big Dig and GPS has taken some of the rougher edges off, especially for the main highways and getting to and from the airport.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#85

Post by rsa4046 »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #67

Boston City Hall is objectively beautiful and photos of it are all universally awesome (though it could stand a good powerwashing). The problem that locals experience and cannot escape is that it happens to be located on a giant ugly swath of absolutely not a goddamn thing called City Hall Plaza. So the building itself is grand, but the experience of looking at it in person is pretty bad and ominous purely because of…

I was born in Beantown and remember the site before construction (“Scollay Square”) as being pretty seedy and a place to avoid (still least for an eight year old). The new City Hall and Government Center were a huge improvement, and occurred during a period of rejuvenation for the city (addition to Boston Public Library, Copley Square expansion, final renewal of the city's red light district, aka the Combat Zone). I do remember the controversy of the design and public reaction — yes, it's not for everyone, but I've always had a fondness for the building.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#86

Post by phist_mcgee »

jrmg wrote: post #7
Finnucane wrote: post #4

When you walk across the plaza in front of the building, you do get the sense that this is a building with a message. And that message is: We will crush you.

It’s truly a building (and plaza) that has to be experienced in person to appreciate it. It certainly provokes emotion. An amazing place I’m glad to have experienced. But I’m also glad that most of the world is not like it.

Think of buildings that are near universally praised for their beauty. Notre Dame, Sydney Opera House, Sagrada Familia, Empire State Building.

What do they all have in common? A sense of humanity. Why would we build a civic building that lacks that very thing?

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#87

Post by ghaff »

rsa4046 wrote: post #85
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #67

Boston City Hall is objectively beautiful and photos of it are all universally awesome (though it could stand a good powerwashing). The problem that locals experience and cannot escape is that it happens to be located on a giant ugly swath of absolutely not a goddamn thing called City Hall Plaza. So the building itself is grand, but the experience of looking at it in person is pretty bad and ominous purely because of…

I was born in Beantown and remember the site before construction (“Scollay Square”) as being pretty seedy and a place to avoid (still least for an eight year old). The new City Hall and Government Center were a huge improvement, and occurred during a period of rejuvenation for the city (addition to Boston Public Library, Copley Square expansion, final renewal of the city's red light district, aka the Combat Zone). I…

That whole area of town, aside from maybe tourist-land on the harbor, was a combination of big finance buildings and all the seed along Washington Street. Basically never went there when I was a student in the area.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#88

Post by ghaff »

screye wrote: post #82

Boston City Hall is the perfect candidate for an eco-brutalist makeover. Add the SF Hyatt Regency while you're at it. Europe's eco-brutalist buildings are gorgeous. [1] [2] Boston City Hall's problem is the windy open plaza. The building stands as the only imposing mass in that area. If there were trees and other shelter, one could admire it. But as it stands today, it intimidates. All that being said, positives chan…

Partly, it's definitely the combination of the building and the plaza. I don't know the history but it seems as if commerce (cafes and the like) haven't been especially welcome on the plaza though they'd admittedly only be attractive for 4-5 months out of the year.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#89

Post by idlewords »

tptacek wrote: post #53
rayiner wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because architects went from building monuments to God and creation to building monuments to their own narcissism. Notre Dame ( https://www.britannica.com/topic/Notre-Dame-de-Paris ) was meant to be pleasing to God. And by implication, to man, because man was created in the image of God. Boston City Hall wasn't meant to be pleasing to anyone. It's more important to "make a statement" than to make something that is be…

The point of Notre Dame is to be a monument to God. That's not the point of most buildings. Ironically, the other example of a good building you've provided in this thread, the Taj Mahal, is in fact a monument to narcissism.

The point of Notre Dame is to win football games.

Re: How Boston City Hall was born

#90

Post by sandworm101 »

psunavy03 wrote: post #62
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…

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 behind the veil and you will see the rat's nest of engineering workarounds needed to keep these white elephants upright. Let the engineers draw a building's outline and it may be ugly, but at least it will have sufficient electrical connections, parking, and floor space.

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