Quote:
Originally Posted by 1ajs
The publicly Unsafe Building
|
It's sad to see
modern and
brutalist architecture so unappreciated and hated for the very concepts they were designed to represent - especially because these buildings are such high-quality, textbook examples.
Calling it "ugly" or "the worst on the Prairies" based on style is just being lazy. It's worth making an effort to study
why architects designed it that way; you'll see how, "worst" as you might think they are, they're representative of their times. They're part of your city's character and history, whether you "like" it or not.
It's exactly the same way how people in the 50s-70s panned buildings of
Victorian and
Chicago school design as excessive or corny or anachronistic before that - many of which were torn down to put up the same modern and brutalist buildings you're slamming now. Ignorant thinking like that (even historic
Winnipeg airport, an obvious modern classic,
isn't safe) is exactly why so many parts of our cities are character-less and dull - or worse, empty parking lots.
(I don't mean anything personal or judgmental with the word "ignorant" - I just mean literally ignorant and unaware of the historical importance and value of all styles of architecture, whatever their popularity at any point in time after they're built.)
Regina once had a textbook example of Victorian architecture in its Old City Hall
(Photo:
Regina: The Early Years)
but of course, as people's tastes change and the design went unappreciated, it was allowed to deteriorate as time went on, and eventually was torn down for something less "ostentatious". Same thing with pretty much the entire Regina Downtown core: you'd be hard-pressed to find any evidence of the original commercial centre, save for a block or two of 11 Av and Scarth St - and even then, it's only bits and pieces of façades here and there.
For "worst building on the Prairies", I would nominate this very special building that doesn't do its location justice - that, at the gateway of Regina's 11 Av skyscraper row, its closest thing to a "glass canyon", places a suburban office box and parking lot. A building that - even worse than being "ugly" - puts no effort towards representing the ideals/concepts of any particular architectural style. A building that reflects no particular design intent, except saving a developer money. Not that being
economical is in any way bad - but being
cheap, that's insulting.
(Anyone who's read my Regina thread posts knows what building I'm thinking of...)
(Photo: me)
(Photo:
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/5...rossingux4.jpg - sorry, don't know who's hosting this)
Prev
:
)
Linear Mode
