[Syndic]

I'm not a fan of international style architecture or Modern architecture as a whole (I prefer Beaux-Arts and Neotraditionalism, personally). It's usually just featureless boxes. I understand that there's some attachment to it because it's reflective of the era it was built in. And I like that it's mixed-use. It actually creates a nice feel at street level. But the fact remains that it's on The Main Street of Texas, Congress Ave, and we could probably do better with a new building. I'd probably be okay with keeping it if they tore down that little abandoned, single-use mid-rise section next to it. That just destroys the whole continuity of the pedestrian environment.

That's my main beef with the international style and Modern architecture as a whole; the lack of mixed-use and the disregard for urban environment. It's permanently linked with an era of car-centric suburbanism and ghost town inner cities; a time when we thought it was okay to create surface level parking lots and single-use urbanism, if there is such a thing.

Actually, though no one may want to admit it, and it may even be blasphemous to say it, Congress's real bugaboo is One Congress Plaza and 100 Congress. I agree that they're beautiful, and they carried the load for Austin's skyline for a long time, but they destroy walkability more than any other two buildings. One Congress Plaza, in particular. It's more of a business park than anything else. I think this will become more noticeable once JW Marriott is built and people start wanting to walk that block.