Is Boston City Hall a masterpiece or a monstrosity?
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- Boston City Hall: masterpiece or monstrosity? We set up shop in Boston’s City Hall Plaza and chat with residents, visitors, and passersby to get their thoughts on Boston’s famed Brutalist building. We also turn to two architects, Ali Horwitz and Mark Pasnik, who offer their insights into one of Boston’s most iconic - and controversial - structures.
00:00 is that a mistake?
00:15 The Curiosity Desk rolls into City Hall Plaza
00:36 ugliest building in the world?
1:10 brutalist
1:35 the architect who loved concrete
2;00 Victorian architecture
2:25 the people who love - or at least like - Boston City Hall
3:11 Soviet vibes?
4:00 the idea behind the design
4:28 add color?
4;40 more windows?
5;00 brick
5:33 hub of the universe, baby!
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What's your take on Boston City Hall?
Add a public roof garden with trees. Hanging vines. Why not a Rathskeller (Resteraunt Bar) like in city halls in Germany.
The building is fantastic. The public space surrounding it is abysmal.
Am I the only one who loves this building? I find it fascinating 🤷🏾♂️
I love this building. Brutalism, ESPECIALLY prime examples such as Boston City Hall is retro and cool and a throwback to a period in time which give it a ton of character. If it were up to all these people there would be no character in our cities at all, it's the exact reason that massive amounts of beautiful victorian architecture was torn down all over the US in the 1950's because it wasn't "modern" looking. Most people have zero taste and absolutely no clue what they are talking about.. thats why all their home kitchens right now have zero color; white walls, grey wood flooring, white cabinets, Edison bulbs and a live, laugh, love sign 🤣
It has no "character". The 1700 and 1800s were the days where craftsmen worked their magic creativity, and used beautiful materials to bring joy not austerity to peoples lives.
@@viviannedonnelly233 The very fact that it's the pinnacle example of an architectural style of a specific time period gives it character whether you find it appealing or not.
I grew to like this building too! It’s part of our city’s history. Don’t destroy it! It contrasts well with Faneuil Hall’s red bricks!
I absolutely LOVE IT!
i like this building. IT'S DIFFERENT. IT'S UNIQUE. IT'S UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE. why should it look like ALL other buildings?!!!.
so shut up people. who cares if you don't like it !.
How about building a glass pyramid on top, filled with tropical trees and plants. An oasis to escape the winter weather?
I love the city hall! it should be repurposed to a shopping center for the public; imagine it with some
hustle and bustle
Brutalism comes from the art brut movement which basically captures this modernist line of thinking amongst artists that an honest lack of sophistication is both morally and aesthetically superior. That is why brutalist buildings put their building materials on display rather than have facades.
People that use “brutal” and “brutalist” as synonyms don’t know the meanings of the words they use.
Regardless of the building itself, with the glut of office space downtown, I’d like to see city hall move into a vacant high rise nearby and allow this enormous plaza to be redeveloped into a dense populated residential community.
Trying to find your way around inside, the cold, hard, poorly lighted bewildering layout is allegory to the city government.
It puts brutal into brutalist
Jail House
It is a monstrosity.
The ugliest building in the history or architecture. The inside is even worse.
What would you say makes it so ugly -- including the inside?
It was deemed the ugliest building in america. I was born raised in boston beautiful Victorian buildings.
Yep - it's just as ugly as the Hurley Building if not more.
All of those buildings from the 60s, they are so incredibly ugly and dehumanizing. Especially in Boston, couldn't there have been a more open design or point of pride for our history?
Gargoyles are not put on the tops of buildings for esthetics, they are rainspouts. None of these people know anything about art to be given the opportunity to criticize it. It's really easy to criticize
Curious about your take on the building?
you are right. Even the rainspouts were so imaginative and decorative. I confess I have a victorian home that down to its door hinges is covered with floral designs etched into the brass.
Some of the gargoyles should look like Dapper O'Neil and Louise Day Hicks