Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
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I could not agree with you more about the architectural style of those buildings and the resulting lack of urbanism.
That being said, it doesn't make sense to tear them down - I'd much rather see the areas around them infill with great, dramatic, soaring architecture and street friendly ground floors.
The important part is to not repeat the mistakes of the passed. And for godsakes - no more Hobby buildings - I don't know what architectural style it is (hodge-podge awfulism?) - but it is even worse than International style.