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Originally Posted by Austin55
Im Kinda soso with ya there. I dont think Burnett has much of one being away on the edge of town and on the edge of the park. Carter+Burgess definitly has no scale,and has no street level appeal,but it does look nice from the street level looking up almost everywhere in the city. The CC towers both have a futuristic feel to the base,with the crazy shape and glassed in escalotors and the huge Metel columns. I thing its street level is great,its just different. I know it wanst mentioned,but The Tower's has improved greatly since the tornado,it fits in yet stands out.
My problem with all of these is their utterly massive parking garages
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Burnett Plaza's a piece of junk, always has been, but what really rankles about it was that they tore down the Medical Arts Building, a GORGEOUS 18-story '20s tower that engaged the street like an urban building should and was much more gracefully massed to avoid smothering the area with giant slab-osity. That area's a dead zone *because* of Burnett Plaza's presence.
C+B is deadly dull, and the only redeeming quality of it is that it's finally getting some proper street-level outward-facing retail retrofitted onto it, in the form of a new restaurant called Grace. Of course, they also tore down some outstanding historic buildings with proper street interaction to build that slab of modern dreariness - the Aviation Building, an awesome Art Deco tower, and the old Palace Theater, which was Streamline Moderne.
The City Center Towers actually bother me most at ground level. I loathe the pedestrian experience around those buildings. Those pods that drop down, and all the pitch-black nooks and crannies - it's awful urban design. Thank Paul Rudolph, who is a strong contender for the title of Worst Architect In American History.
I would have torn down the Tower as well, prior to its makeover. Now, it's a fine member of the streetscape.