9 ms·

How Boston City Hall was born

67 points by goles 2y ago

Eumenes 2y ago
Its truly hideous. Old City Hall is beautiful. Why can't we build nice things anymore?
- Spooky23 2y ago
  We don’t have skilled immigrant labor and the post WW2 boom made it difficult to win contracts with high quality building materials and artisans. The Hudson valley of New York had hundreds of brickyards until the 1950s and 60s. Bricks suck because they’re made in like two places, because construction is scaled and needs cheap materials. There’s no good wood because wood < brick and we cut all of the trees down. So now the cheapest path is pumped concrete, so we build giant reinforced concrete and glass structures that will literally crumble in 70-100 years.
- nilptr 2y ago
  > Why can't we build nice things anymore? Well.. first start by defining "beautiful", we're waiting. Also, it's a 50 year old structure.. we stopped building "nice" things after WW2 mostly because costs were astronomical and new materials and engineering opened up all kinds of avenues for more modern construction. I've spent decent amount of time in and around Boston City Hall, the biggest problem with the building are: 1. The plaza in front of it is a damn wasteland. So much could be improved by building over the plaza and reestablishing the street grid here properly. 2. The Congress Street side facing Faneuil Hall is a concrete wall and a garage entrance. You probably can't fix the garage problem easily but the concrete wall with a proper structural engineer could probably reopened up.. of course, it would be expensive. 3. The interior while very interesting architecturally is really quite... I dunno, soul sucking. I kind of love the aesthetic inside but only from a "wow this looks cool" perspective.
  - eber 2y ago
    1. They remodeled City Hall Plaza in 2022 [1], unfortunately not a street grid, but less of a cold wasteland than before. 2. Agreed regarding the Congress St side, though the added playground from [1] adds some interest to that side (before the solid brick wall part). 3. Agreed with the interior. Something like just changing the flooring or interesting lighting would make it feel less cold. The floor is either brick (I assume an homage to Boston's brick) or terracotta tile. As a very rare visitor inside, it's kinda fun to see how the decor/lighting/infrastructure works with all concrete (hanging things from the ceiling instead of nailing to a wall, for example) [1] https://www.sasaki.com/projects/boston-city-hall-plaza-renovation/ https://www.sasaki.com/projects/boston-city-hall-plaza-renov...
    - voidfunc 2y ago
      Aware of the remodel and it is indeed an improvement in nice weather months but it's still pretty lacking and absolutely awful Nov to April which is.. close to half a year.
      - ghaff 2y ago
        I sort of agree. On the other hand, the outside on a waterfront in a northern US city is probably not going to be great for a good chunk of the year in any case. There are nice parks in the area but they're not exactly delightful in the cold weather months either.
  - lucidguppy 2y ago
    Older structures cost more because they lasted longer and were more maintainable. Growth was given priority over tradition - and we've had to deal with the tradeoffs.
    - Spooky23 2y ago
      There’s more to it than that. People were rejecting tradition. How many millions were slaughtered in WW1 and 2? There was a feeling that it was time to discard the old and do something different.
  - deeg 2y ago
    > The interior while very interesting architecturally is really quite... I dunno, soul sucking. I kind of love the aesthetic inside but only from a "wow this looks cool" perspective. Totally agree with this. I enjoy walking through the interior and I like the building overall but I would hate working there.
    - pivo 2y ago
      A friend worked there for years, she said different offices would either be far too hot or else freezing on the same day. There was never a comfortable room. If the interior offices were kept clean and tidy, I can see how it could be kind of interesting in a retro-futuristic way. But given that these are government offices, they're often full of stacked cardboard boxes of files and other mess that ruins the look. At least the building doesn't have drop ceilings (at least as far as I recall.)
  - oceanplexian 2y ago
    > Also, it's a 50 year old structure.. I don’t personally see this a good reason at all. The US had a good run building neoclassical government buildings in the spitting image of the Romans and Greeks, and we already know that when properly done the aesthetic will stand the test of time for thousands of years. As far as the improved materials argument that’s up for debate too. Will Boston City Hall be standing in 2,000 years? If I could put money on it I’d say it’s more likely to end up in a landfill.
    - ocschwar 2y ago
      It will not. I guarantee it. The vehicle emissions worming into the bare concrete are acidic. The water from rain and from the humid air slowly degrades it. The salt air doesn't help. At some point, sooner than you think, the corrosion will reach the rebars inside the concrete. All this could be prevented with sacrificial applications of stucco, but brutalist architects insist on keeping the concrete bare. It takes a lot of work to keep a building like that from crumbling under these conditions, and city hall is not loved enough to get the work done.
      - ghaff 2y ago
        I don't love Brutalism in general but it also just ages pretty poorly. Some of it is about the updating of really crappy interior decor but the renovation of the Boston Public Library brutalist addition really helped a lot--though still, nothing like the original structure.
      - rayiner 2y ago
        I work in the Watergate, and it's in terrible condition after just 60 years. The 1950s post-war mass produced house I grew up in is in better condition. Meanwhile, the Farley Post Office in Manhattan is so gorgeous 110 years later that they built the new Penn Station in it.
      - blacksmythe 2y ago
        Sounds like one solution would be to apply a sealant that looks like bare concrete.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    I mostly agree. The backside is just hideous and the brickyard is unnecessarily a wasteland for most of the year. Boston's climate doesn't help but, certainly at least in the warmer months, there could be more of a welcoming commercial presence there like there is outdoors on the other side of City Hall around Quincy Market. The renovation does help somewhat; I agree with other comments. Rarely down that way any longer. Used to work a few blocks from there.
  - lambdaphagy 2y ago
    If architectural beauty is subjective, that’s an even stronger argument for building stuff that broad majorities find pleasing instead of stuff designed by architects who write manifestos about how much they hate beauty.
  - rayiner 2y ago
    > Well.. first start by defining "beautiful", we're waiting. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Notre-Dame_de_Paris%2C_4_October_2017.jpg/2560px-Notre-Dame_de_Paris%2C_4_October_2017.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/No... https://wmf.imgix.net/images/70_hero_image.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=1920 https://wmf.imgix.net/images/70_hero_image.jpg?auto=format,c... Hundreds of years later, most people from completely disparate cultures find these buildings beautiful.
    - tptacek 2y ago
      Yes, those are two buildings people find beautiful. You can find lots more like it if you keep turning the dial all the way to "form" and away from "function".
    - astrange 2y ago
      It seems difficult to fit a city hall in either of them.
  - tacticalturtle 2y ago
    The one nice part of the wasteland plaza is that it can hold large outdoor exhibitions in a way that no other space in downtown area can. Inside the NBA was held live there recently, Boston Calling (the only largish music festival in the area) started there. There’s obviously no massive outdoor parking lot in downtown Boston, and it would be a shame to have packed crowds trample over the common.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      Although Commonwealth Shakespeare has performances on the Common every summer and there's a fairly large underground parking garage there.
- Symmetry 2y ago
  Samuel Hughes at Works in Progress has been writing a bunch on this general topic recently. Most relevant: https://worksinprogress.co/issue/making-architecture-easy/ https://worksinprogress.co/issue/making-architecture-easy/ The big idea is that some art styles are easy to appreciate without training and some aren't, and we probably shouldn't be making public architecture that's hard for members of the public to appreciate. Similarly atonal music isn't objectively bad, I often like it, but I recognize that it isn't appropriate to use in civic functions.
- rayiner 2y ago
  Because architects went from building monuments to God and creation to building monuments to their own narcissism. Notre Dame (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Notre-Dame-de-Paris https://www.britannica.com/topic/Notre-Dame-de-Paris) was meant to be pleasing to God. And by implication, to man, because man was created in the image of God. Boston City Hall wasn't meant to be pleasing to anyone. It's more important to "make a statement" than to make something that is beautiful and uplifting.
  - tptacek 2y ago
    The point of Notre Dame is to be a monument to God. That's not the point of most buildings. Ironically, the other example of a good building you've provided in this thread, the Taj Mahal, is in fact a monument to narcissism.
    - rayiner 2y ago
      The Taj Mahal is covered in arabic inscriptions from the Quran: https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Taj-Mahal/Scriptures-on-the-Taj-Mahal.php https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Taj-Mahal/Scriptures-on... Public buildings historically had a religious significance, and architecture as a field was intertwined with religion. The current british parliament building, for example, is built in gothic revival style, which arises from religious architecture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Revival_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Revival_architecture
      - tptacek 2y ago
        As you obviously know, the Taj Mahal is a memorial to the empress consort to the Mughal emperor.
        rayiner 2y ago
        Yes, but it’s design and memorialization to her are deeply intertwined with religious significance: http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-taj-mahal-enter-thou-among-my.html http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2013/12/th... (“According to Muslim tradition on the Indian subcontinent, women who died in childbirth are regarded as saints. Shah Jahan had all the more reason to revere his beloved wife as a saint when she died giving birth to their fourteenth child. The design of the Taj Mahal reflects the legacy Shah Jahan wished to create for his deceased wife, not only as deceased royalty, but as a saint. Our experience of the Taj and its gardens is not only about grief for a beloved wife, but a foretaste of the paradise that awaits the righteous and a premonition of the final Day of Reckoning as it is described in the Quran.”) It was built by people who feared God and wanted to build something lovely in his sight.
- m0llusk 2y ago
  The old city hall had a decorated cake look, but was a dysfunctional structure. There was nowhere to gather outside except the sidewalk. Entry was primarily through a large set of stairs that limited access. Once inside there was nowhere to gather, only a maze of narrow corridors servicing cramped offices with limited access to light and air. The new city hall makes people angry and generates comments about totalitarianism, but it offers a range of places to gather inside and out and is extremely easy to navigate with internal spaces that have plenty of light and air. Brutalism may be an unpopular style, but the form itself has quite significant benefits.
oldpersonintx 2y ago
[dead]
Finnucane 2y ago
When you walk across the plaza in front of the building, you do get the sense that this is a building with a message. And that message is: We will crush you.
- jrmg 2y ago
  It’s truly a building (and plaza) that has to be experienced in person to appreciate it. It certainly provokes emotion. An amazing place I’m glad to have experienced. But I’m also glad that most of the world is not like it.
  - ocschwar 2y ago
    The one nice thing about the plaza is that when protesters show up there is no questioning their sincerity. You know they're not there for the fun of it.
  - fatnoah 2y ago
    Speaking as a resident of Boston and the neighborhoods near city hall, that plaza is such a contrast from the rest of the area. Everywhere around it has shops, alleys, and interesting things to see, whereas that plaza was an endless sea of bricks. They've dressed it up better now, but it still feels more like a missed opportunity than a useful civic space.
  - phist_mcgee 2y ago
    Think of buildings that are near universally praised for their beauty. Notre Dame, Sydney Opera House, Sagrada Familia, Empire State Building. What do they all have in common? A sense of humanity. Why would we build a civic building that lacks that very thing?
    - akomtu 2y ago
      To drag the humanity in a different direction. Notre Dame and other great architecture is inspired by great archetypes, it's a well crafted expression of those archetypes to the extent it's possible in stone and concrete. Simply looking at it drags us closer to the ideas behind it. But not everyone agrees with that direction. There is a large number of people who would rather take humanity in a different direction, and they build this oppressive architecture of bland geometric forms.
mazugrin2 2y ago
And at least there's this there now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_slide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_slide
- securingsincity 2y ago
  Anytime i've brought my kids to that playground since that incident there is always someone either recreating or showing someone that video. The best exposure for a park really.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
don-code 2y ago
Architecturally, the city of Boston has changed many times. You can more or less pinpoint when a building was built by its appearance. City Hall's architecture is mirrored in most of the transit stops from the 1970s-era expansion. Some of them (e.g. Wollaston, Harvard) have since been rebuilt; others (e.g. Quincy Adams, Malden Center) are still concrete behemoths like City Hall. Anything built within the last ten years is, of course, LEED-chic - the building is a glass box.
- Finnucane 2y ago
  The glass box thing started here too: IM Pei's Hancock tower was one of the first, from the 1970s. And like many architectural wonders, the construction was crap. I can still remember going by and seeing all the boarded-up windows, because the glass kept falling out.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    Though none of the Brutalist IM Pei buildings at MIT were as bad, my understanding that they had to retrofit a revolving door in one of them because the wind tunnel effect could make it really hard to open the doors. https://nowiknow.com/the-curious-problem-with-mits-tallest-building/ https://nowiknow.com/the-curious-problem-with-mits-tallest-b...
- FrontierProject 2y ago
  Funny thing about the glass box. If you look down Tremont Street towards the bay you used to get a beautifully framed view of Old North Church. The sightline was considered a historical landmark (there's even a plaque for it in front of the Omni Parker House hotel). The Government Center station completely obstructed the view to Old North. Allegedly this is one of the main reasons that Government center is a glass box, it was the only way the construction was approved.
katamaster818 2y ago
non paywalled link: https://archive.is/mPF37 https://archive.is/mPF37
light_hue_1 2y ago
> In the 50 years since, architects worldwide have declared Kallmann and McKinnell’s City Hall one of the greatest buildings of the 20th century I despise architecture as a field. This is widely reviled building. I work in a similar building that is extremely user hostile but beloved by architects; every single day, multiple times per day, we run into stupid limitations of the building. And it's particularly nasty for people with disabilities. In engineering we care so much about the end user experience. In everything from building fridges, to roads, to HVAC systems, etc. That these two people see this as a work of art, instead of a practical thing that humans need to interface with, and that the artistic nature of the building is more important than the people, is incredibly selfish. Selfish and shameful.
- bombcar 2y ago
  Architects design what their clients want, and their clients want "a bold statement" because that looks good on the planning documents and photographs. If you want a well-designed building that works for the users, you can find architects to design that. It just won't be as well known because it'll work and do what it needs to do without pissing people off.
- fatnoah 2y ago
  > That these two people see this as a work of art, instead of a practical thing that humans need to interface with As a Boston resident that has had to conduct business at City Hall many times, I couldn't agree with this more. The lower level interior spaces are dark and somehow cavernous and confining at the same time, while the upstairs spaces are more of a warren of rooms and hallways. Nothing about walking in the front door makes you feel welcomed into the space. Either the actual use of the building was totally disregarded in its design, our our standards for how we expect to interact with buildings have dramatically changed since its construction.
7e 2y ago
This is the worst building that exists in Boston at present.
otras 2y ago
> It was in this context that the city decided to demolish the neighborhood known as Scollay Square and build in its place what would come to be called Government Center. It’s interesting (and sad) to imagine what Boston could have been like without the damage of urban renewal. These neighborhoods could have easily become the quaint North Ends people love today. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End,_Boston https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End,_Boston https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scollay_Square https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scollay_Square It’s also eye opening to realize the extent of their plans that didn’t get done: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Massachusetts) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Massachusett...
- ghaff 2y ago
  There's a WGBH podcast about the Big Dig and the first episode I think helps you appreciate why some of the interstate connections and routings around Boston are so weird. https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig
  - recursivecaveat 2y ago
    I'll never forget my first bus ride in Boston: going through a tunnel that suddenly narrowed by 1 lane deep underground, driving 2km past our next stop to reach a u-turn to the other side of the highway.. It has the craziest road infrastructure I have ever seen.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      Although Boston driving can still be a bit crazy in areas you're not accustomed to, the combination of the Big Dig and GPS has taken some of the rougher edges off, especially for the main highways and getting to and from the airport.
- nineplay 2y ago
  People who opposed demolishing the neighborhoods would be called NIMBYs today and would be blamed for the housing crisis. I'm not saying this to be snarky, just that there is a real push and pull there that I don't think is appreciated. There are some beautiful old neighborhoods near me which are at risk of being torn down and replaced with multi-unit dwellings. The residents say 'save our neighborhoods' and the activists cry 'greedy homeowners' and in the meantime the developers are rubbing their hands in anticipation of mountains of cash.
mazugrin2 2y ago
There used to be a neighborhood around it that had architecture similar to what the neighboring North End still has, which is very distinct among the entirety of the Americas. The lack of imagination that existed back then that led to it all being razed to build this and the rest of the garbage of the current West End is stunning.
jcstauffer 2y ago
I always think of the building (and brutalist architecture in general) as absurdist architecture, and I find City Hall to be quite humorous in that light. The general shape lifts up and is trying to appear as if it's floating, in contrast to the material selection. Think of an Elephant ballerina, or Douglas Adams "It hung in the air in exactly the way bricks don't". Another example is the Holman government building a few blocks away - with these ridiculous stairways through a massive open space underneath an imposing bridge of offices. Pure absurdist humor. https://maps.app.goo.gl/KUFh9jFkERjhp7MK9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/KUFh9jFkERjhp7MK9
- unyttigfjelltol 2y ago
  City Hall is absurd in both it's appearance outside and the impracticality of the design and interior. Rooms with giant concrete columns that cut off sight lines, rampant maintenance problems from elevating form over function , and the comfort of a supraterrestrial civil defense shelter.
  - lo_zamoyski 2y ago
    It seems to be intentionally designed to confuse and to disorient; misanthropic, as if designed by a demon.
    - DiggyJohnson 2y ago
      What do you think were the motives of the architects and the design committee that selected this plan? I thought your comment was ridiculous at first until I realized that I agree.
- sdwr 2y ago
  Yeah, it's friendly ugly. I'd be happy going to work there everyday.
- psunavy03 2y ago
  More totalitarian than absurdist. The whole idea seems to be elevating the vision of "The Genius Architect" over the needs and wishes of the people who would actually use the space, with a borderline contempt for what non-architects and even non-Brutalist architects think. I'm reminded of the time I ended up crossing the Empire State Plaza in Albany once in the dead of winter. Such a horrid experience. Surrounded by soulless impersonal concrete with wind and snow blowing and howling. I felt like a freaking ant. It's not the type of architecture that inspires and uplifts in person. It psychologically oppresses and beats down. Compare that to a place like Saint Peter's, which even as a non-Catholic almost took my breath away to experience in person.
botswana99 2y ago
I like brutalist architecture. And I am not the only strange one: r/brutalist has 174K members and the original fuckyeahbrutalism on tumbler. Think of it like being a fan of 486 PCs or pixel art. I do hate this architecture, though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowellism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowellism
- genter 2y ago
  I like to think of it like a car wreck: no one actually enjoys looking at one, but you still have to look.
- munk-a 2y ago
  I really appreciate how functional the building is. It's extremely visually distinct while having really engaging vertical elements (I've always thought it evoked waterfalls) and lacking the functional flaws I've seen with other highly visible architecture (I'm especially thinking of the Gehry Building at MIT - that's whimsical in appearance but an absolute nightmare of usability with awkward unusable interior spaces and a long legacy of mold and maintenance issues). It's especially amusing that Boston City Hall is within a stone's throw of the only block that survived the fire of 1872 and throws a shadow over Faneuil Hall.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    Stata at MIT has sort of grown on me from an abstract architectural perspective. But it cost a lot and I've never really heard good things about it from people who actually use the building though I've never been in it myself aside from the ground floor. It was also sort of justified as a landmark northeast entrance to campus but was soon pretty much literally overshadowed by a lot of newer construction in the area.
    - lo_zamoyski 2y ago
      It looks like something that has survived an earthquake, but not left unscathed.
rayiner 2y ago
How Boston City Hall was born: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Frankenstein-film-by-Whale https://www.britannica.com/topic/Frankenstein-film-by-Whale
MiddleEndian 2y ago
I like Boston City Hall. Compare it to 28 State St, right next to it: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jjHpGGuPkxgjXiPT7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/jjHpGGuPkxgjXiPT7 28 State St is kinda ugly, but bland and forgettable. Boston City Hall is so hideous and frightening that people outside of Boston know about it. Its appearance is a recurring topic in the news. That is impressive.
- mlinhares 2y ago
  Yeah, if you're going to make it ugly, make it newsworthy ugly. That thing is such an eyesore.
  - MiddleEndian 2y ago
    In the same vein, I am jealous of Maryland's flag. Some state flags have some nice patterns, but most state flags are forgettable with seals. But the Maryland flag is so garish that it's recognized by pretty much everyone.
jcalabro 2y ago
[2012] it took me a second when they said "Mayor Thomas M. Menino" rather than "former Mayor Thomas M. Menino"
BugsJustFindMe 2y ago
Boston City Hall is objectively beautiful and photos of it are all universally awesome (though it could stand a good powerwashing). The problem that locals experience and cannot escape is that it happens to be located on a giant ugly swath of absolutely not a goddamn thing called City Hall Plaza. So the building itself is grand, but the experience of looking at it in person is pretty bad and ominous purely because of the surrounding environment.
- chrisdalke 2y ago
  The whole plaza should be grass and trees, agree it would change the entire look.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
  I love it. It's an underdog of expression surrounded by bland forgettable towers. Maybe that says more about the neighbors but the contrast is striking.
  - lo_zamoyski 2y ago
    There is a third way between bland boxes and horror show.
- lo_zamoyski 2y ago
  > Boston City Hall is objectively beautiful This opinion puts you in a very small minority, to put it very kindly. It is a poster child for the dystopian, a cubist insult to anyone who has the misfortune of laying eyes on it. "Abandon hope all ye who enter here".
  - BugsJustFindMe 2y ago
    > This opinion puts you in a very small minority... Statements like this always make me think about how the majority of americans believe that buildings can be haunted by spirits or demons or that ESP or telekinesis are real. https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2018/10/16/paranormal-america-2018/ https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2018/10/16/paranormal-am... I think we need to be honest about the low merit of appealing to how well the average person's brain works. The building itself is stunning. Look at every ground-level photo of it ever taken that doesn't include the plaza. But the feeling of standing next to the building has always been devastated by the blight of the plaza, and people are mostly incapable of separating the two. It only feels ominous looming conspicuously over a barren wasteland. This has been quite improved relatively recently by plaza renovation (https://www.sasaki.com/projects/boston-city-hall-plaza-renovation/ https://www.sasaki.com/projects/boston-city-hall-plaza-renov...), but that project was only completed at the tail end of 2022 so most people who have capital O "Opinions" about the building have never actually seen it in a less blighted context.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
screye 2y ago
Boston City Hall is the perfect candidate for an eco-brutalist makeover. Add the SF Hyatt Regency while you're at it. Europe's eco-brutalist buildings are gorgeous. [1] [2] Boston City Hall's problem is the windy open plaza. The building stands as the only imposing mass in that area. If there were trees and other shelter, one could admire it. But as it stands today, it intimidates. All that being said, positives changes are happening. Cop slide is definitely one of Boston's must see attractions. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/may/11/eco-brutalism-when-angular-concrete-meets-the-wonder-of-nature-in-pictures https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/may/11... [2] https://www.archdaily.com/958637/uncovering-the-hidden-gems-of-brutalism-in-madrid https://www.archdaily.com/958637/uncovering-the-hidden-gems-...
- ghaff 2y ago
  Partly, it's definitely the combination of the building and the plaza. I don't know the history but it seems as if commerce (cafes and the like) haven't been especially welcome on the plaza though they'd admittedly only be attractive for 4-5 months out of the year.
walrus01 2y ago
People interested in Boston City Hall should also visit the campus of Simon Fraser University, should they ever find themselves in the metro Vancouver area.
- ldx1024 2y ago
  Check out the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus, too, about 60 miles south of Boston
spcebar 2y ago
The buildings across the street from the city hall plaza are an interesting counterpoint or maybe complement to brutalism. They're the same cement architecture but the concave areas of the faces are filled with brick, so it looks like a blending of the architectural styles of older Boston neighborhoods (like adjacent Beacon Hill) and the brutalism of many of Boston's municipal buildings. It's a lot easier on the eyes. There's plenty of brutalist architecture around Boston and Cambridge, though none is as pronounced as city hall, in its massive open square, which in winter keenly acts as a powerful wind tunnel to smite those who would walk through the plaza.

67 points by goles 2y ago

Eumenes 2y ago

Its truly hideous. Old City Hall is beautiful. Why can't we build nice things anymore?

Spooky23 2y ago
We don’t have skilled immigrant labor and the post WW2 boom made it difficult to win contracts with high quality building materials and artisans. The Hudson valley of New York had hundreds of brickyards until the 1950s and 60s. Bricks suck because they’re made in like two places, because construction is scaled and needs cheap materials. There’s no good wood because wood < brick and we cut all of the trees down. So now the cheapest path is pumped concrete, so we build giant reinforced concrete and glass structures that will literally crumble in 70-100 years.
nilptr 2y ago
> Why can't we build nice things anymore? Well.. first start by defining "beautiful", we're waiting. Also, it's a 50 year old structure.. we stopped building "nice" things after WW2 mostly because costs were astronomical and new materials and engineering opened up all kinds of avenues for more modern construction. I've spent decent amount of time in and around Boston City Hall, the biggest problem with the building are: 1. The plaza in front of it is a damn wasteland. So much could be improved by building over the plaza and reestablishing the street grid here properly. 2. The Congress Street side facing Faneuil Hall is a concrete wall and a garage entrance. You probably can't fix the garage problem easily but the concrete wall with a proper structural engineer could probably reopened up.. of course, it would be expensive. 3. The interior while very interesting architecturally is really quite... I dunno, soul sucking. I kind of love the aesthetic inside but only from a "wow this looks cool" perspective.
- eber 2y ago
  1. They remodeled City Hall Plaza in 2022 [1], unfortunately not a street grid, but less of a cold wasteland than before. 2. Agreed regarding the Congress St side, though the added playground from [1] adds some interest to that side (before the solid brick wall part). 3. Agreed with the interior. Something like just changing the flooring or interesting lighting would make it feel less cold. The floor is either brick (I assume an homage to Boston's brick) or terracotta tile. As a very rare visitor inside, it's kinda fun to see how the decor/lighting/infrastructure works with all concrete (hanging things from the ceiling instead of nailing to a wall, for example) [1] https://www.sasaki.com/projects/boston-city-hall-plaza-renovation/ https://www.sasaki.com/projects/boston-city-hall-plaza-renov...
  - voidfunc 2y ago
    Aware of the remodel and it is indeed an improvement in nice weather months but it's still pretty lacking and absolutely awful Nov to April which is.. close to half a year.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      I sort of agree. On the other hand, the outside on a waterfront in a northern US city is probably not going to be great for a good chunk of the year in any case. There are nice parks in the area but they're not exactly delightful in the cold weather months either.
- lucidguppy 2y ago
  Older structures cost more because they lasted longer and were more maintainable. Growth was given priority over tradition - and we've had to deal with the tradeoffs.
  - Spooky23 2y ago
    There’s more to it than that. People were rejecting tradition. How many millions were slaughtered in WW1 and 2? There was a feeling that it was time to discard the old and do something different.
- deeg 2y ago
  > The interior while very interesting architecturally is really quite... I dunno, soul sucking. I kind of love the aesthetic inside but only from a "wow this looks cool" perspective. Totally agree with this. I enjoy walking through the interior and I like the building overall but I would hate working there.
  - pivo 2y ago
    A friend worked there for years, she said different offices would either be far too hot or else freezing on the same day. There was never a comfortable room. If the interior offices were kept clean and tidy, I can see how it could be kind of interesting in a retro-futuristic way. But given that these are government offices, they're often full of stacked cardboard boxes of files and other mess that ruins the look. At least the building doesn't have drop ceilings (at least as far as I recall.)
- oceanplexian 2y ago
  > Also, it's a 50 year old structure.. I don’t personally see this a good reason at all. The US had a good run building neoclassical government buildings in the spitting image of the Romans and Greeks, and we already know that when properly done the aesthetic will stand the test of time for thousands of years. As far as the improved materials argument that’s up for debate too. Will Boston City Hall be standing in 2,000 years? If I could put money on it I’d say it’s more likely to end up in a landfill.
  - ocschwar 2y ago
    It will not. I guarantee it. The vehicle emissions worming into the bare concrete are acidic. The water from rain and from the humid air slowly degrades it. The salt air doesn't help. At some point, sooner than you think, the corrosion will reach the rebars inside the concrete. All this could be prevented with sacrificial applications of stucco, but brutalist architects insist on keeping the concrete bare. It takes a lot of work to keep a building like that from crumbling under these conditions, and city hall is not loved enough to get the work done.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      I don't love Brutalism in general but it also just ages pretty poorly. Some of it is about the updating of really crappy interior decor but the renovation of the Boston Public Library brutalist addition really helped a lot--though still, nothing like the original structure.
    - rayiner 2y ago
      I work in the Watergate, and it's in terrible condition after just 60 years. The 1950s post-war mass produced house I grew up in is in better condition. Meanwhile, the Farley Post Office in Manhattan is so gorgeous 110 years later that they built the new Penn Station in it.
    - blacksmythe 2y ago
      Sounds like one solution would be to apply a sealant that looks like bare concrete.
- ghaff 2y ago
  I mostly agree. The backside is just hideous and the brickyard is unnecessarily a wasteland for most of the year. Boston's climate doesn't help but, certainly at least in the warmer months, there could be more of a welcoming commercial presence there like there is outdoors on the other side of City Hall around Quincy Market. The renovation does help somewhat; I agree with other comments. Rarely down that way any longer. Used to work a few blocks from there.
- lambdaphagy 2y ago
  If architectural beauty is subjective, that’s an even stronger argument for building stuff that broad majorities find pleasing instead of stuff designed by architects who write manifestos about how much they hate beauty.
- rayiner 2y ago
  > Well.. first start by defining "beautiful", we're waiting. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Notre-Dame_de_Paris%2C_4_October_2017.jpg/2560px-Notre-Dame_de_Paris%2C_4_October_2017.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/No... https://wmf.imgix.net/images/70_hero_image.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=1920 https://wmf.imgix.net/images/70_hero_image.jpg?auto=format,c... Hundreds of years later, most people from completely disparate cultures find these buildings beautiful.
  - tptacek 2y ago
    Yes, those are two buildings people find beautiful. You can find lots more like it if you keep turning the dial all the way to "form" and away from "function".
  - astrange 2y ago
    It seems difficult to fit a city hall in either of them.
- tacticalturtle 2y ago
  The one nice part of the wasteland plaza is that it can hold large outdoor exhibitions in a way that no other space in downtown area can. Inside the NBA was held live there recently, Boston Calling (the only largish music festival in the area) started there. There’s obviously no massive outdoor parking lot in downtown Boston, and it would be a shame to have packed crowds trample over the common.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    Although Commonwealth Shakespeare has performances on the Common every summer and there's a fairly large underground parking garage there.
Symmetry 2y ago
Samuel Hughes at Works in Progress has been writing a bunch on this general topic recently. Most relevant: https://worksinprogress.co/issue/making-architecture-easy/ https://worksinprogress.co/issue/making-architecture-easy/ The big idea is that some art styles are easy to appreciate without training and some aren't, and we probably shouldn't be making public architecture that's hard for members of the public to appreciate. Similarly atonal music isn't objectively bad, I often like it, but I recognize that it isn't appropriate to use in civic functions.
rayiner 2y ago
Because architects went from building monuments to God and creation to building monuments to their own narcissism. Notre Dame (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Notre-Dame-de-Paris https://www.britannica.com/topic/Notre-Dame-de-Paris) was meant to be pleasing to God. And by implication, to man, because man was created in the image of God. Boston City Hall wasn't meant to be pleasing to anyone. It's more important to "make a statement" than to make something that is beautiful and uplifting.
- tptacek 2y ago
  The point of Notre Dame is to be a monument to God. That's not the point of most buildings. Ironically, the other example of a good building you've provided in this thread, the Taj Mahal, is in fact a monument to narcissism.
  - rayiner 2y ago
    The Taj Mahal is covered in arabic inscriptions from the Quran: https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Taj-Mahal/Scriptures-on-the-Taj-Mahal.php https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Taj-Mahal/Scriptures-on... Public buildings historically had a religious significance, and architecture as a field was intertwined with religion. The current british parliament building, for example, is built in gothic revival style, which arises from religious architecture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Revival_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Revival_architecture
    - tptacek 2y ago
      As you obviously know, the Taj Mahal is a memorial to the empress consort to the Mughal emperor.
      - rayiner 2y ago
        Yes, but it’s design and memorialization to her are deeply intertwined with religious significance: http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-taj-mahal-enter-thou-among-my.html http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2013/12/th... (“According to Muslim tradition on the Indian subcontinent, women who died in childbirth are regarded as saints. Shah Jahan had all the more reason to revere his beloved wife as a saint when she died giving birth to their fourteenth child. The design of the Taj Mahal reflects the legacy Shah Jahan wished to create for his deceased wife, not only as deceased royalty, but as a saint. Our experience of the Taj and its gardens is not only about grief for a beloved wife, but a foretaste of the paradise that awaits the righteous and a premonition of the final Day of Reckoning as it is described in the Quran.”) It was built by people who feared God and wanted to build something lovely in his sight.
m0llusk 2y ago
The old city hall had a decorated cake look, but was a dysfunctional structure. There was nowhere to gather outside except the sidewalk. Entry was primarily through a large set of stairs that limited access. Once inside there was nowhere to gather, only a maze of narrow corridors servicing cramped offices with limited access to light and air. The new city hall makes people angry and generates comments about totalitarianism, but it offers a range of places to gather inside and out and is extremely easy to navigate with internal spaces that have plenty of light and air. Brutalism may be an unpopular style, but the form itself has quite significant benefits.

oldpersonintx 2y ago

[dead]

Finnucane 2y ago

When you walk across the plaza in front of the building, you do get the sense that this is a building with a message. And that message is: We will crush you.

jrmg 2y ago
It’s truly a building (and plaza) that has to be experienced in person to appreciate it. It certainly provokes emotion. An amazing place I’m glad to have experienced. But I’m also glad that most of the world is not like it.
- ocschwar 2y ago
  The one nice thing about the plaza is that when protesters show up there is no questioning their sincerity. You know they're not there for the fun of it.
- fatnoah 2y ago
  Speaking as a resident of Boston and the neighborhoods near city hall, that plaza is such a contrast from the rest of the area. Everywhere around it has shops, alleys, and interesting things to see, whereas that plaza was an endless sea of bricks. They've dressed it up better now, but it still feels more like a missed opportunity than a useful civic space.
- phist_mcgee 2y ago
  Think of buildings that are near universally praised for their beauty. Notre Dame, Sydney Opera House, Sagrada Familia, Empire State Building. What do they all have in common? A sense of humanity. Why would we build a civic building that lacks that very thing?
  - akomtu 2y ago
    To drag the humanity in a different direction. Notre Dame and other great architecture is inspired by great archetypes, it's a well crafted expression of those archetypes to the extent it's possible in stone and concrete. Simply looking at it drags us closer to the ideas behind it. But not everyone agrees with that direction. There is a large number of people who would rather take humanity in a different direction, and they build this oppressive architecture of bland geometric forms.

mazugrin2 2y ago

And at least there's this there now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_slide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_slide

securingsincity 2y ago
Anytime i've brought my kids to that playground since that incident there is always someone either recreating or showing someone that video. The best exposure for a park really.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

don-code 2y ago

Architecturally, the city of Boston has changed many times. You can more or less pinpoint when a building was built by its appearance. City Hall's architecture is mirrored in most of the transit stops from the 1970s-era expansion. Some of them (e.g. Wollaston, Harvard) have since been rebuilt; others (e.g. Quincy Adams, Malden Center) are still concrete behemoths like City Hall. Anything built within the last ten years is, of course, LEED-chic - the building is a glass box.

Finnucane 2y ago
The glass box thing started here too: IM Pei's Hancock tower was one of the first, from the 1970s. And like many architectural wonders, the construction was crap. I can still remember going by and seeing all the boarded-up windows, because the glass kept falling out.
- ghaff 2y ago
  Though none of the Brutalist IM Pei buildings at MIT were as bad, my understanding that they had to retrofit a revolving door in one of them because the wind tunnel effect could make it really hard to open the doors. https://nowiknow.com/the-curious-problem-with-mits-tallest-building/ https://nowiknow.com/the-curious-problem-with-mits-tallest-b...
FrontierProject 2y ago
Funny thing about the glass box. If you look down Tremont Street towards the bay you used to get a beautifully framed view of Old North Church. The sightline was considered a historical landmark (there's even a plaque for it in front of the Omni Parker House hotel). The Government Center station completely obstructed the view to Old North. Allegedly this is one of the main reasons that Government center is a glass box, it was the only way the construction was approved.

katamaster818 2y ago

non paywalled link: https://archive.is/mPF37 https://archive.is/mPF37

light_hue_1 2y ago

> In the 50 years since, architects worldwide have declared Kallmann and McKinnell’s City Hall one of the greatest buildings of the 20th century I despise architecture as a field. This is widely reviled building. I work in a similar building that is extremely user hostile but beloved by architects; every single day, multiple times per day, we run into stupid limitations of the building. And it's particularly nasty for people with disabilities. In engineering we care so much about the end user experience. In everything from building fridges, to roads, to HVAC systems, etc. That these two people see this as a work of art, instead of a practical thing that humans need to interface with, and that the artistic nature of the building is more important than the people, is incredibly selfish. Selfish and shameful.

bombcar 2y ago
Architects design what their clients want, and their clients want "a bold statement" because that looks good on the planning documents and photographs. If you want a well-designed building that works for the users, you can find architects to design that. It just won't be as well known because it'll work and do what it needs to do without pissing people off.
fatnoah 2y ago
> That these two people see this as a work of art, instead of a practical thing that humans need to interface with As a Boston resident that has had to conduct business at City Hall many times, I couldn't agree with this more. The lower level interior spaces are dark and somehow cavernous and confining at the same time, while the upstairs spaces are more of a warren of rooms and hallways. Nothing about walking in the front door makes you feel welcomed into the space. Either the actual use of the building was totally disregarded in its design, our our standards for how we expect to interact with buildings have dramatically changed since its construction.

7e 2y ago

This is the worst building that exists in Boston at present.

otras 2y ago

> It was in this context that the city decided to demolish the neighborhood known as Scollay Square and build in its place what would come to be called Government Center. It’s interesting (and sad) to imagine what Boston could have been like without the damage of urban renewal. These neighborhoods could have easily become the quaint North Ends people love today. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End,_Boston https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End,_Boston https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scollay_Square https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scollay_Square It’s also eye opening to realize the extent of their plans that didn’t get done: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Massachusetts) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Massachusett...

ghaff 2y ago
There's a WGBH podcast about the Big Dig and the first episode I think helps you appreciate why some of the interstate connections and routings around Boston are so weird. https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig
- recursivecaveat 2y ago
  I'll never forget my first bus ride in Boston: going through a tunnel that suddenly narrowed by 1 lane deep underground, driving 2km past our next stop to reach a u-turn to the other side of the highway.. It has the craziest road infrastructure I have ever seen.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    Although Boston driving can still be a bit crazy in areas you're not accustomed to, the combination of the Big Dig and GPS has taken some of the rougher edges off, especially for the main highways and getting to and from the airport.
nineplay 2y ago
People who opposed demolishing the neighborhoods would be called NIMBYs today and would be blamed for the housing crisis. I'm not saying this to be snarky, just that there is a real push and pull there that I don't think is appreciated. There are some beautiful old neighborhoods near me which are at risk of being torn down and replaced with multi-unit dwellings. The residents say 'save our neighborhoods' and the activists cry 'greedy homeowners' and in the meantime the developers are rubbing their hands in anticipation of mountains of cash.

mazugrin2 2y ago

There used to be a neighborhood around it that had architecture similar to what the neighboring North End still has, which is very distinct among the entirety of the Americas. The lack of imagination that existed back then that led to it all being razed to build this and the rest of the garbage of the current West End is stunning.

jcstauffer 2y ago

I always think of the building (and brutalist architecture in general) as absurdist architecture, and I find City Hall to be quite humorous in that light. The general shape lifts up and is trying to appear as if it's floating, in contrast to the material selection. Think of an Elephant ballerina, or Douglas Adams "It hung in the air in exactly the way bricks don't". Another example is the Holman government building a few blocks away - with these ridiculous stairways through a massive open space underneath an imposing bridge of offices. Pure absurdist humor. https://maps.app.goo.gl/KUFh9jFkERjhp7MK9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/KUFh9jFkERjhp7MK9

unyttigfjelltol 2y ago
City Hall is absurd in both it's appearance outside and the impracticality of the design and interior. Rooms with giant concrete columns that cut off sight lines, rampant maintenance problems from elevating form over function , and the comfort of a supraterrestrial civil defense shelter.
- lo_zamoyski 2y ago
  It seems to be intentionally designed to confuse and to disorient; misanthropic, as if designed by a demon.
  - DiggyJohnson 2y ago
    What do you think were the motives of the architects and the design committee that selected this plan? I thought your comment was ridiculous at first until I realized that I agree.
sdwr 2y ago
Yeah, it's friendly ugly. I'd be happy going to work there everyday.
psunavy03 2y ago
More totalitarian than absurdist. The whole idea seems to be elevating the vision of "The Genius Architect" over the needs and wishes of the people who would actually use the space, with a borderline contempt for what non-architects and even non-Brutalist architects think. I'm reminded of the time I ended up crossing the Empire State Plaza in Albany once in the dead of winter. Such a horrid experience. Surrounded by soulless impersonal concrete with wind and snow blowing and howling. I felt like a freaking ant. It's not the type of architecture that inspires and uplifts in person. It psychologically oppresses and beats down. Compare that to a place like Saint Peter's, which even as a non-Catholic almost took my breath away to experience in person.

botswana99 2y ago

I like brutalist architecture. And I am not the only strange one: r/brutalist has 174K members and the original fuckyeahbrutalism on tumbler. Think of it like being a fan of 486 PCs or pixel art. I do hate this architecture, though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowellism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowellism

genter 2y ago
I like to think of it like a car wreck: no one actually enjoys looking at one, but you still have to look.
munk-a 2y ago
I really appreciate how functional the building is. It's extremely visually distinct while having really engaging vertical elements (I've always thought it evoked waterfalls) and lacking the functional flaws I've seen with other highly visible architecture (I'm especially thinking of the Gehry Building at MIT - that's whimsical in appearance but an absolute nightmare of usability with awkward unusable interior spaces and a long legacy of mold and maintenance issues). It's especially amusing that Boston City Hall is within a stone's throw of the only block that survived the fire of 1872 and throws a shadow over Faneuil Hall.
- ghaff 2y ago
  Stata at MIT has sort of grown on me from an abstract architectural perspective. But it cost a lot and I've never really heard good things about it from people who actually use the building though I've never been in it myself aside from the ground floor. It was also sort of justified as a landmark northeast entrance to campus but was soon pretty much literally overshadowed by a lot of newer construction in the area.
  - lo_zamoyski 2y ago
    It looks like something that has survived an earthquake, but not left unscathed.

rayiner 2y ago

How Boston City Hall was born: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Frankenstein-film-by-Whale https://www.britannica.com/topic/Frankenstein-film-by-Whale

MiddleEndian 2y ago

I like Boston City Hall. Compare it to 28 State St, right next to it: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jjHpGGuPkxgjXiPT7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/jjHpGGuPkxgjXiPT7 28 State St is kinda ugly, but bland and forgettable. Boston City Hall is so hideous and frightening that people outside of Boston know about it. Its appearance is a recurring topic in the news. That is impressive.

mlinhares 2y ago
Yeah, if you're going to make it ugly, make it newsworthy ugly. That thing is such an eyesore.
- MiddleEndian 2y ago
  In the same vein, I am jealous of Maryland's flag. Some state flags have some nice patterns, but most state flags are forgettable with seals. But the Maryland flag is so garish that it's recognized by pretty much everyone.

jcalabro 2y ago

[2012] it took me a second when they said "Mayor Thomas M. Menino" rather than "former Mayor Thomas M. Menino"

BugsJustFindMe 2y ago

Boston City Hall is objectively beautiful and photos of it are all universally awesome (though it could stand a good powerwashing). The problem that locals experience and cannot escape is that it happens to be located on a giant ugly swath of absolutely not a goddamn thing called City Hall Plaza. So the building itself is grand, but the experience of looking at it in person is pretty bad and ominous purely because of the surrounding environment.

chrisdalke 2y ago
The whole plaza should be grass and trees, agree it would change the entire look.
2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
I love it. It's an underdog of expression surrounded by bland forgettable towers. Maybe that says more about the neighbors but the contrast is striking.
- lo_zamoyski 2y ago
  There is a third way between bland boxes and horror show.
lo_zamoyski 2y ago
> Boston City Hall is objectively beautiful This opinion puts you in a very small minority, to put it very kindly. It is a poster child for the dystopian, a cubist insult to anyone who has the misfortune of laying eyes on it. "Abandon hope all ye who enter here".
- BugsJustFindMe 2y ago
  > This opinion puts you in a very small minority... Statements like this always make me think about how the majority of americans believe that buildings can be haunted by spirits or demons or that ESP or telekinesis are real. https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2018/10/16/paranormal-america-2018/ https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2018/10/16/paranormal-am... I think we need to be honest about the low merit of appealing to how well the average person's brain works. The building itself is stunning. Look at every ground-level photo of it ever taken that doesn't include the plaza. But the feeling of standing next to the building has always been devastated by the blight of the plaza, and people are mostly incapable of separating the two. It only feels ominous looming conspicuously over a barren wasteland. This has been quite improved relatively recently by plaza renovation (https://www.sasaki.com/projects/boston-city-hall-plaza-renovation/ https://www.sasaki.com/projects/boston-city-hall-plaza-renov...), but that project was only completed at the tail end of 2022 so most people who have capital O "Opinions" about the building have never actually seen it in a less blighted context.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

screye 2y ago

Boston City Hall is the perfect candidate for an eco-brutalist makeover. Add the SF Hyatt Regency while you're at it. Europe's eco-brutalist buildings are gorgeous. [1] [2] Boston City Hall's problem is the windy open plaza. The building stands as the only imposing mass in that area. If there were trees and other shelter, one could admire it. But as it stands today, it intimidates. All that being said, positives changes are happening. Cop slide is definitely one of Boston's must see attractions. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/may/11/eco-brutalism-when-angular-concrete-meets-the-wonder-of-nature-in-pictures https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/may/11... [2] https://www.archdaily.com/958637/uncovering-the-hidden-gems-of-brutalism-in-madrid https://www.archdaily.com/958637/uncovering-the-hidden-gems-...

ghaff 2y ago
Partly, it's definitely the combination of the building and the plaza. I don't know the history but it seems as if commerce (cafes and the like) haven't been especially welcome on the plaza though they'd admittedly only be attractive for 4-5 months out of the year.

walrus01 2y ago

People interested in Boston City Hall should also visit the campus of Simon Fraser University, should they ever find themselves in the metro Vancouver area.

ldx1024 2y ago
Check out the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus, too, about 60 miles south of Boston

spcebar 2y ago

The buildings across the street from the city hall plaza are an interesting counterpoint or maybe complement to brutalism. They're the same cement architecture but the concave areas of the faces are filled with brick, so it looks like a blending of the architectural styles of older Boston neighborhoods (like adjacent Beacon Hill) and the brutalism of many of Boston's municipal buildings. It's a lot easier on the eyes. There's plenty of brutalist architecture around Boston and Cambridge, though none is as pronounced as city hall, in its massive open square, which in winter keenly acts as a powerful wind tunnel to smite those who would walk through the plaza.