T E A R _ I T _ D O W N ! ! !

[stranger]

Two buildings I'd love to see destroyed in Norman, OK:

(1) The Physical Science Center. Unfortunately, I don't have a link. It was built when everyone was fearing riots so the first four floors have no windows and are made of a disgusting concrete mix.

(2) Sarkeys. It is very hard to make an all-brick high-rise building look good:


http://www.exteriorconsulting.com/im...larg_shake.jpg

[MolsonExport]

Chunking Mansions (Hong Kong). oogly. but fascinating, nevertheless.

[America 117]

Originally Posted by ametz

The RR Donnelly building on the Chicago river leaps to mind. It doesn't make me want to throw myself off a bridge or anything, but I think it's garrish...kind of like 'Vegas gone corporate". It's also a tall building that seems short....A dissapointing building in a prominent location.

are you joking!!!!!!

the building looks great on the river.
i would never tear down a building like that.

[Patrick]

^I agree, the RR Donnelly Building (now United Building) is one of my favorites and a Chicago classic!

[trvlr70]

Originally Posted by Scruffy

OH GOD. I hate the Marriot Marquis in Times SQ. The Front and the rear are atrocious! The sides are ok but extremly dated. Be gone with it.

While you're at it, go ahead and tear down the Chicago Marriott which is an architectural abomination.

[Atomic Glee]

Originally Posted by texcolo

I love Fort Worth, and I love downtown Fort Worth, but they rolled a '1' when it came to skyscrapers.

Only the more modern stuff. Our historic skyscrapers are frankly as good as any you'll find. I know it's not as thought of on a site that has such high emphasis on shiny super tall things, but the Sinclair Building, the Waggoner Building, 714 Main, the Electric Building, the Burk Burnett Building, etc. are all outstanding historic towers.

I will say that the Pier 1 tower is pretty good - the site plan is garbage, though.

[Avian001]

Originally Posted by JMancuso

that building is awesome.

You should see it when it rains. Long, dark, concrete stains.

Really adds to the ambiance of a gray day.

Not to mention the fact that the colored panels have long since faded to pastels. It was actually quite striking when it was new. To its credit there are 1,300 apartments ranging from Section 8 to luxury units, thus attaining its goal of providing a true economically-mixed community.

I guess, ultimately, I don't have a problem with its form. Just its finishes.

[Cirrus]

The two that immediately came to mind were Metlife in NYC (already mentioned a page or two ago) and Boston City Hall:


picture from wiki

[Austinlee]

^Oh god; As if the brutalist structure weren't bad enough, there is the horrible empty wind-blown plaza.

[Uptowngirl]

Another I.M. Pei disaster.

[neilson]

Nobody knows about the Louisville building?

[Lecom]

Keep Boston's City Hall, at least as a peculiar yet unique piece of architecture. Reuse it somehow, maybe make it into a museum. Move the actual city hall to a different location though, like the mayor wanted a while ago.

[Uptowngirl]

A museum of what? Boston's attempt at Stalinism revival?

[Avian001]

Originally Posted by Uptowngirl

Another I.M. Pei disaster.

Or, as I like to call him sometime, "I.M. Overpaid."

[Lecom]

In one interview, when asked about his high asking prices, he joked about that, "Well, my name is I.M. Pei, not I.M. Free"

[CGII]

First, the RR Donelly in Chicago is one of the finest buildings to emerge from postmodernism.

Second, Boston City Hall is awesome but with two big nags. One, the accompanying, useless dead plaza space destroyed a remarkably unique and vibrant mass of old Boston. Second, the building hovers above the ground and suggests, to me at least, that the city government within is high out of reach of the public and reigning down.

[Austin55]

Dont forget dallas city hall

[Lecom]

Actually I bet that condos at Boston City Hall building could sell for a pretty penny, especially if they liven up the plaza and maybe add retail/public space on the lower levels of the building.

[slide_rule]

NOT that i'm defending the boston city hall, and i certainly will not agree with the idiot 1960s attitudes towards tearing down supposedly outdated buildings.

but the city hall itself isn't nearly the worst thing around. architectural tastes are fickle, and demolishing the unloved yet functional present city hall isn't that much different than demolishing the old scollay square.

as for what i'd want demolished; it's not the architecture that's a problem, it's the infrastructure. all those pretty neoclassical houses with the gables and white picket fences built out in greenfield exurbia and dependent on the car for everything are a much more sinister force.

the brutalist city hall isn't stalinst. stalin had kicked the bucket by the time brutalism came into style. stalin was into neoclassical stuff, with the wedding cake monumental aesthetics. well, you know, not to be a jerk, but i don't want anyone to sully stalin's refined aesthetic sensibilities.

[neilson]

I am surprised. Nobody on here has posted a picture of the building in Louisville that's quite possibly the ugliest around.