__________________ New York City,The City That Never Sleeps,The Capitol Of The World,The Big Apple,The Empire City,The Melting Pot,The Metropolis,Gotham
Buildings Over 200 Meters 62 Completed 20 Under Construction 50 Proposed 0 On Hold
This is from a 16x20 inch gelatin silver print in my collection that I found in an antique store. There are a couple buildings under construction in the photo.
The full print.
Original photo by S. W. Christopher, probably working for the Navy.
It still looks alright from the air. It's from the ground (and inside) where it looks like crap.
Naw, I love UIC from ground level. I just wish I could see it undisturbed with all of the walkways remaining. Ironically I find Brutalism to the be most playful of all architectural styles to the pedestrian. Its a constant stream of columns, towering concrete geometries, and open spaces.
Now from the inside, that is where UIC is truly ugly. They need to gut rehab most of the buildings there.
How'd they get that Mercantile Building out of the ground in 1942, right in the middle of WW2? I always thought next to nothing was constructed domestically during this time.
The story I heard was that R. L. Thornton, who owned and ran the bank, had powerful friends in Washington who were able to "help". Later became mayor of Dallas and they named a freeway after him.
Naw, I love UIC from ground level. I just wish I could see it undisturbed with all of the walkways remaining. Ironically I find Brutalism to the be most playful of all architectural styles to the pedestrian. Its a constant stream of columns, towering concrete geometries, and open spaces.
Now from the inside, that is where UIC is truly ugly. They need to gut rehab most of the buildings there.
They are rehabbing the buildings, albeit one at a time. Gone is the awful concrete and in its place is a traditional glass and aluminum facade. Last time I was there they were working on the 3rd classroom building. I do hope they leave the Behavioral Sciences building as-is, it's the most confusing maze of a building I've ever been in it's that's kinda of awesome in that one way.
However, Brutalism is not something I celebrate generally. It exemblifies the schism between architects and the public. What architects view as playful, most people view as oppressive. It is what you get when a group of intellectuals get together and think up something theoretically perfect without getting external feedback.
Then again, I might just be overthinking things myself. Perhaps celebrating concrete is just an inherently risky thing to do and very few people have the ability to do it right.
They are rehabbing the buildings, albeit one at a time. Gone is the awful concrete and in its place is a traditional glass and aluminum facade. Last time I was there they were working on the 3rd classroom building. I do hope they leave the Behavioral Sciences building as-is, it's the most confusing maze of a building I've ever been in it's that's kinda of awesome in that one way.
However, Brutalism is not something I celebrate generally. It exemblifies the schism between architects and the public. What architects view as playful, most people view as oppressive. It is what you get when a group of intellectuals get together and think up something theoretically perfect without getting external feedback.
Then again, I might just be overthinking things myself. Perhaps celebrating concrete is just an inherently risky thing to do and very few people have the ability to do it right.
I know what they are doing to UIC and I think it is a crime. Completely destroying the continuity of the campus in the same way that architects in the 1960's skinned the ground floors of all sorts of wonderful classical or Chicago school buildings and covered them in shitty glass facades.
I don't think that is the case with Brutalism at all. I think Brutalism is just in that age where it is just starting to come down from the apogee of its "30 years later" unpopularity. There hasn't been a single new style of design in history that wasn't rejected 30 or 40 years later, Brutalism is no anomaly representing the idealogical failures of artsy types. I won't dispute there are some absolute disasters like Boston City Hall, but there are also some wildly popular Brutalist designs like the Barbican in London or the Humanities Building in Madison. Yes people may find some of the interiors confusing and inefficient, but have you ever been in a building built around 1900? They are just as bad. People don't realize that Wright was just about the only person to build a logical interior in a building up until the last 20 years or so. Up until then everything was just a series of connected chambers.
There are plenty of people around today who love concrete and, I would argue, if it was in style once, it will be again.
IMO Detroit looked better without the RenCen but awesome pictures.
Second that.
__________________
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."-President Lyndon B. Johnson Donald Trump is a poor man's idea of a rich man, a weak man's idea of a strong man, and a stupid man's idea of a smart man. Am I an Asseau?
__________________
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."-President Lyndon B. Johnson Donald Trump is a poor man's idea of a rich man, a weak man's idea of a strong man, and a stupid man's idea of a smart man. Am I an Asseau?
I like the Ren Cen as a complex by itself, but it would have been nice to see the towers stand on their own within the downtown core. Oh, what could have been...
Well, that's pretty much construction of almost all the buildings in downtown Detroit except for the really old buildings. And really none of the newer buildings that were built in the last 20 years. Hmm.
To perhaps revive on of my all-time favorite threads on SSP, I do have a few more photos from several of Houston's projects during the 70's and 80's. They were presented on highlight pages for an exhibition that was held at Architecture Center Houston in 2009... one I apparently missed!
It was called "Behind the Building", and each of the photos is from the selected project pages.