Since the overwhelming majority of Americans have proven time and time again that they prefer traditional architecture, why do government agencies force ugly buildings on the American people?
26 Comments on Nearly Three-Quarters Of Americans Are Sick Of Modern Architecture
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Scientists have calculated that there are enough abstract metal sculptures to last until 2670.
The ugliest building on the Berkeley campus was… the architecture building.
That Hubert Humphrey building is dag-nasty. I sure would be happy to never see even a photo of it again.
I call it Soviet architecture, the purpose of which is to degrade and depress. Unlike Classical and other architecture, which attempts to uplift.
In “the business”, we used to call this the “Fuck-you School of Architecture”. The official term is Brutalism. Albrect Speer was really good at it.
MJA -I love and hate you at the same time. You continue to bring up issues that are “triggering” me.
I encourage everyone to look at the Denver public library to tell me what it is they want to portray. If you look at is it, I think you will see, at least three different ideas. A total cluster. Denver continues (and I am sincere in saying this)M to bow to the left. Mayor Hancock is just the latest, but probably the most extreme.
I love Colorado and the mountains, environment, etc. I hate those from Cali who have decided that the government shouldn’t rule them but still vote Democrat.
Go back home. I do not need you to keep ruining my state
Government buildings are ugly to accurately portray the ugly nature of government.
The federal building in downtown Savannah is repulsive and should be demolished. It doesn’t belong in such an amazing downtown.
I used to practice commercial interior design – primarily hospitality design. My clients of hotels, resorts and “wedding palaces” (AKA Banquet Halls) much preferred traditional but with modern building systems. Their attitude was that it should look good “today, tomorrow and 20 years from now”. One of my greatest successes was a resort where the convention hall was “brutalist design” from the late 1970’s. The owners of the resort were from Tuscany, Italy and wanted it to look Tuscan. We put in arched windows, coffered ceilings and elegant staircases (good for bridal pictures). It was a big hit!
Wow, a thread about…architecture. That’s what I do! I am not a ‘registered’ architect BUT I play like one . :>)
@LCD – the ugliest building on the Yale campus was…the architecture building…so bad that when it opened around 1972 the STUDENTS attempted to BURN IT DOWN.
http://brutalism.online/images/joomgallery/thumbnails/buildings_2/rudolph_hall_yale_art_and_architecture_building_new_haven_connecticut_usa_299/rudolph_hall_yale_art_and_architecture_building_new_haven_connecticut_usa_20160404_1637417963.jpg
@Margot – Soviet is a good decription but I would go further and say German. It was called The International Style.
https://www.britannica.com/art/International-Style-architecture
After WWII the above style was chosen for the re-building of bombed out Europe. PRIOR to WWII, the architects FLED Nazee Germany to the west AND the Soviet Union and spread the ugliness and the ideas of socialistic architecture, NOT GOOD.
“Unlike Classical and other architecture, which attempts to uplift.” – 100% agree.
Also, ‘modern’ Americans like Frank Lloyd Wright, took a much MORE ‘organic’ approach with scale and materials.
@RogerF – that is what is called Post Modernism. A style that believe it or not REJECTED the banality of modernism by introducing classical elements, usually in an over scaled way.
If anyone likes architecture look up Henry Hobson Richardson and Louis Sullivan, the fathers of REAL modern architecture and yes, they were Americans. They were the predecessors to FLW.
Also, one more Greene and Greene out of Pascedena, Cali
E Fay Jones from Arkansas is one of the greatest ‘modern’ architects out there:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorncrown_Chapel
Only the Scandanavians came close to the above in quality and design.
There is some well done humane modern architecture, but it’s not really that common…
Ghost
Margot – Some of the Soviet architecture was interesting (if not downright scary). See the Hotel Ukraina. I stayed there in 1999 and was able to to access the roof where the laundry was (of all things). My girlfriend’s son and I explored the “gargoyles”
The College of Wooster in Ohio has one of the best examples of horrific architecture ever!
They tore down a beautiful stone chapel and replaced it with a window-less concrete bunker!
In no way does it blend into the Scottish theme of the rest of the campus or fit into the surrounding area nor does it even look like a “church”! Not only that, but to enter it you have go below ground like you’re worshiping Satan!
Then: https://storage.googleapis.com/hippostcard/p/e5a11b76684874a50c1e6b675a78d027-800.jpg
Now: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/COW-McGaw01.jpg/1600px-COW-McGaw01.jpg
One of my ‘things’ is being a fashion and building critic. LOL.
I don’t mean, ‘Ew, look at that bitch and what she’s wearing.’
I don’t assault the person, just the outfit. The way it doesn’t suit the person because of her shape. It’s not her shape, it’s the outfit on the shape. lol. I’ve gone through stores and mentally ‘fixed’ the shit on the racks.
As for the buildings, there are places I have refused to walk into because they were not only ugly, but they didn’t look secure.
That building in the thumbnail hits both points.
OK one more ‘thing’. I’ve seen pictures in travel magazines at the doctor’s office and I’m like- they picked THAT picture??? Really???
Ghosts don’t haunt brutalist buildings.
This is how you get more ghosts into Federal buildings,people.
This is what Wolfe wrote about in “From Bauhaus to Our House”.
Here is Firing Line with William F. Buckley interviewing Mr. Wolfe on the wretched state of American architecture. Mind you, this was almost 40 years ago.
https://youtu.be/etqG4SjoYfg
the feds & many state & local gov’ts, along w/ academia have been going the USSR Concrete Monolith way for a long time
… coincidence?
https://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/lg/public/2015/07/07/fbi-building.jpg
@MJA – not sure exactly where the thumbnail building is BUT have you or anyone else been to Boston? Is your BAAA-ston take away moment this lovely building?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_City_Hall
Like the later Planet of the Apes pics…and that was filmed on locations in 1970? Or the buildings depicted in a crazy movie called Rollerball.
Nihilism comes to mind.
Anyone remember THIS one???
https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14466-will-the-white-house-order-new-federal-architecture-to-be-classical
The Libs in my office went NUTS when they heard about this!
Case in point.
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0671389,-118.3992572,3a,75y,316.56h,95.49t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1soYG-vUAQ6Luede1wivBFoA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DoYG-vUAQ6Luede1wivBFoA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D224.28436%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192
LOL. Ghost. Sorry- I meant the thumbnail image on the front page that is next to this story.
I always thought, (perhaps mistakenly so), that ‘architecture’ was based on the architects’ imagination and directly relevant to whether the money was from a private individual, (company), or from the very deep pockets of the general public, (tax dollars).
Walpurgis- fugly ass utilitarian buildings.
@Walpurgis – NOTE: one of those buildings in that intersection is more or less a COPY of the former World Trade Center.
EXACT type of structure, just 1/15 the size. Minus that huge overhang, some call a cornice…
@jellybean – some architects have BOTH private and public clients, some keep away from the public work because of the beruacracy but the municipalities within their budgets HAVE TO PAY IN FULL.
So yes, to answer your question a sensible reasonable architect or designer needs to respond to both budget and IMAGINATION! Unless you are ‘a MASTER’ and therefore do NOT have to respond to budget!
IF ANY ONE NEEDS a FREE peer review of a project you are doing let me know… @MJA can send you my info.
An inspiring thread this is!
Bruvver Eccles is covering The World Cup of Ugly Churches Chez Les Twittes.
https://mobile.twitter.com/BruvverEccles/status/1318458521772576768
@Jewel – UGLY grey altar.
Is this how we want to worship? OR IF you don’t worship?
Imagine walking in a place like that compare to a Rennaissance type of church??
There is just ZERO comparison…
Johnny Carson once had a famous architect as his guest (I can’t remember his name). Johnny asked him what American city had the ugliest architecture. Without hesitation, the guy blurted out Omaha, Nebraska. Johnny didn’t look pleased about the answer as he grew up in Nebraska. I’ve lived there and the guy was right.
@Hambone – Jake Gardner defended himself in Omaha…and now he is dead.
How does this happen??? In Omaha????
Very very screwed up.
Not that modern architecture DID this, but ‘modernism’ certainly contributed to it…
Going to look up that interview…