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(Boston.com)   Is Boston's City Hall really that ugly? "No one wants to be there. Not even the bricks"   (boston.com) divider line
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    More: Obvious, Russia, Reason, Building, Architecture, History, Soul, Earth, Building material  
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3995 clicks; posted to Main » on 30 Jan 2023 at 7:05 AM (8 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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Sliding Carp [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 12:42:29 AM  
The ventilation bollards, along with the overall design of the plaza and the building, always made me think of the Sphinx in The Time Machine.  Anytime I was in the area, I kept an eye out for Morlocks and kept my mind focused on turning back and getting away if a siren went off.
 
Sliding Carp [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 12:44:32 AM  
And I'll admit it -- I kinda like Brutalism, at least until the concrete gets randomly discolored.  It certainly beats the hell out of whatever you call the crap that hack Gehry pukes out.
 
BigBurrito [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 3:00:52 AM  
Memorable, unlike pretty much all city halls.
 
Uranus [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 4:12:28 AM  
A fantastic bit of brutalist architecture. It must look f*cking amazing at night.
 
GregInIndy
2023-01-30 7:10:08 AM  
It's a seriously awful looking building. If the goal was to actively drive people away from Gov't Center it's been a wild success.
 
alex10294
2023-01-30 7:11:30 AM  
For anyone who likes it, I have an abandoned Soviet lead mining town for sale.
 
CarnySaur [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 7:13:52 AM  
I had to laugh when the movie The Possession of Hannah Grace used it as a hospital location.  I do miss Boston Calling not being at City Hall Plaza.
 
mr_fulano
2023-01-30 7:15:46 AM  
An article about the appearance of a thing without a good picture of said thing. Way to go guys.
 
balko
2023-01-30 7:17:00 AM  

mr_fulano: An article about the appearance of a thing without a good picture of said thing. Way to go guys.


You might want to check your browser settings, boss.
 
Flowery Twats
2023-01-30 7:17:01 AM  

Sliding Carp: And I'll admit it -- I kinda like Brutalism, at least until the concrete gets randomly discolored.  It certainly beats the hell out of whatever you call the crap that hack Gehry pukes out.


Can't say I *like* Brutalism, but a very little goes a long way.

Went to college at UMass/Amherst. It's chock full of that stuff, and while it's probably the cheapest to build, it's not by any stretch the nicest to look at. Very popular in the 60s/70s though, for public buildings.
 
The Brains
2023-01-30 7:20:32 AM  
I am about to go spend time in the Bingham Humanities Building, one of the only examples of brutalism that doesn't suck
 
Gleeman [BareFark]
2023-01-30 7:22:45 AM  
i.pinimg.comView Full Size
 
IRestoreFurniture
2023-01-30 7:25:09 AM  
I don't mind brutalist architecture.

:shrug:


I haven't spent any significant time in Boston since the 90s.


Is it still terribly racist?
 
MBooda [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 7:25:11 AM  
Hell, I don't want to be within fifty miles of it.
 
eyeq360 [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 7:25:43 AM  

mr_fulano: An article about the appearance of a thing without a good picture of said thing. Way to go guys.


Here's a better picture of it.
upload.wikimedia.orgView Full Size
 
Ragin' Asian [recently expired TotalFark]
2023-01-30 7:26:22 AM  
I like it, but I'm not sure if ilI would choose it for a government building.

Here's Wean Hall at Carnegie Mellon which houses most of the science departments. It makes more sense.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Tom Marvolo Bombadil
2023-01-30 7:26:28 AM  

Uranus: A fantastic bit of brutalist architecture. It must look f*cking amazing at night.


I had a feeling that Uranus enjoyed rough, raw finishes.
 
Tom Marvolo Bombadil
2023-01-30 7:27:18 AM  

MBooda: Hell, I don't want to be within fifty miles of it.


Warrants?
 
El_Dan
2023-01-30 7:27:38 AM  
Needs some fake stucco and whatnot to bring it up to modern standards.
 
AppleOptionEsc
2023-01-30 7:33:11 AM  

Tom Marvolo Bombadil: MBooda: Hell, I don't want to be within fifty miles of it.

Warrants?


Naw, Foreigner.
 
TWX
2023-01-30 7:33:52 AM  

eyeq360: mr_fulano: An article about the appearance of a thing without a good picture of said thing. Way to go guys.

Here's a better picture of it.
[upload.wikimedia.org image 850x566]


The problem isn't the detailing around the top.  The problem is the mismatching and protruding sections below, where it looks like the scale settings got randomly changed a few times.

Since it dates to the sixties we know that didn't happen, so it can't be blamed on a software glitch.
 
TWX
2023-01-30 7:35:51 AM  

AppleOptionEsc: Tom Marvolo Bombadil: MBooda: Hell, I don't want to be within fifty miles of it.

Warrants?

Naw, Foreigner.


Journey away then.  Maybe try Europe?
 
keldaria
2023-01-30 7:39:17 AM  
City: we want a city hall that is memorable and will be talked about decades into the future.

Architect: Don't worry, I got you covered.
 
thisispete
2023-01-30 7:41:44 AM  
I used to work in a building that was heavily influenced by Boston City Hall's design. As a piece of architecture it wasn't beloved by staff. The lack of natural light in office areas was a big complaint.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
winedrinkingman
2023-01-30 7:43:31 AM  

El_Dan: Needs some fake stucco and whatnot to bring it up to modern standards.


I hate fake stucco. Well that is not entirely true.  If it is done right you do not really notice it.  Problem is that it is almost never done right and you end up with a building that looks like a giant used the building as his toilet.
 
AppleOptionEsc
2023-01-30 7:55:54 AM  

TWX: AppleOptionEsc: Tom Marvolo Bombadil: MBooda: Hell, I don't want to be within fifty miles of it.

Warrants?

Naw, Foreigner.

Journey away then.  Maybe try Europe?


I was thinking Kansas.
 
poorjon
2023-01-30 7:55:58 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
TWX
2023-01-30 7:56:33 AM  

winedrinkingman: El_Dan: Needs some fake stucco and whatnot to bring it up to modern standards.

I hate fake stucco. Well that is not entirely true.  If it is done right you do not really notice it.  Problem is that it is almost never done right and you end up with a building that looks like a giant used the building as his toilet.


My wife grew up in Boston.  She clarified for this desert-born-and-raised boy that stucco in Boston means that there was something seriously structurally wrong with the building and that the repairs were so invasive that stucco was the easiest way to conceal them.  Ie, don't even think about buying a stucco home in the rustbelt unless it's as a knockdown.
 
McGrits [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 8:01:27 AM  
I never killed super mutants there, so this is all fake news to me.
 
Prof. Frink [BareFark]
2023-01-30 8:11:49 AM  

Uranus: A fantastic bit of brutalist architecture. It must look f*cking amazing at night.


Brutal, but amazing at night? Sounds like a girlfriend I had years ago.
 
OtherLittleGuy [BareFark]
2023-01-30 8:12:13 AM  

Gleeman: [i.pinimg.com image 236x188]


It's even too brutal for him.
 
rat_creature
2023-01-30 8:12:20 AM  
This survey apparently decided that Boston City Hall is the second ugliest building in the US... and yet, it's not even the second ugliest building in Massachusetts.

MIT's Stata Center:
Fark user imageView Full Size


UMass Amherst's Fine Arts building:
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
bostonguy [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 8:18:16 AM  
Just once.
 
AppleOptionEsc
2023-01-30 8:19:41 AM  

rat_creature: This survey apparently decided that Boston City Hall is the second ugliest building in the US... and yet, it's not even the second ugliest building in Massachusetts.

MIT's Stata Center:
[Fark user image image 474x355]

UMass Amherst's Fine Arts building:
[Fark user image image 474x273]


If architects had to build what they design, the world would be a better place.
 
Pestifer [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 8:21:11 AM  
Unfortunately, there's only a small window of time left to tear it down and build something competent. I'm pretty sure in a generation or two people will start to think of it as a beautiful old structure and it'll get landmarked.
 
wildcardjack
2023-01-30 8:25:13 AM  
Ernö Goldfinger was the father of the brutalist design aesthetic, and yes, Ian Fleming hated it.
 
Groupon boob job
2023-01-30 8:27:07 AM  
i.ytimg.comView Full Size



This type of architecture implies government and oppression so much that Jackbox Games used it as the opening screen for "Guesspionage," their government surveillance themed game. Which is my favorite. But the building is terrible.
 
Angry Drunk Bureaucrat [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 8:32:57 AM  

Ragin' Asian: I like it, but I'm not sure if ilI would choose it for a government building.

Here's Wean Hall at Carnegie Mellon which houses most of the science departments. It makes more sense.

[Fark user image 425x318]


Wean is so out of place next to all the old Hornbostel buildings on campus.

That being said, Cyert, Hunt, and Donner are worse.
 
TheRealSecurb
2023-01-30 8:33:36 AM  

CarnySaur: I had to laugh when the movie The Possession of Hannah Grace used it as a hospital location.  I do miss Boston Calling not being at City Hall Plaza.


The city really screwed that up. It is horrible now at Harvard Field. Before you could go back and forth from the show to Faneuil Hall and the local dive bars between acts. I went to the first Boston Calling at Harvard but haven't been back since.
 
benelane [BareFark]
2023-01-30 8:33:47 AM  
My previous company, who has long since been acquired, also acquired a company in Waltham in the early days. I got sent up for integration. Roundabouts and brick roads, living together at every turn, madness in the streets.
 
Groupon boob job
2023-01-30 8:37:52 AM  

rat_creature: MIT's Stata Center:


My company's main office is about a block away from there; I looked right at it out my office window (before the pandemic turned me into full-time WFH.) I'll argue the MIT buildings aren't ugly, but rather... just... odd. I picture it this way: Ghery created a model of these buildings as a joke after watching Beetlejuice too many times, and had the real design sitting outside the conference room. But MIT thought the proposal was serious and no one wanted to be the person who said, "No, wait-- you're having us on, right?" So they went with it and Ghery just shrugged. The builders were like, "Okay, wow... so we're really doing this?" I mean, how do you even get any of those angles done correctly? Not surprisingly, the answer is they weren't.
 
Groupon boob job
2023-01-30 8:39:33 AM  

benelane: My previous company, who has long since been acquired, also acquired a company in Waltham in the early days. I got sent up for integration. Roundabouts and brick roads, living together at every turn, madness in the streets.


Growing up driving in the Boston area has given me no need to play video games as an adult.
 
unchellmatt [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 8:57:48 AM  
You think it's bad on the outside?

The interior is also a design travesty.

Fark user imageView Full Size


Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Flowery Twats
2023-01-30 8:58:22 AM  

Groupon boob job: benelane: My previous company, who has long since been acquired, also acquired a company in Waltham in the early days. I got sent up for integration. Roundabouts and brick roads, living together at every turn, madness in the streets.

Growing up driving in the Boston area has given me no need to play video games as an adult.


Also learned to drive in Boston. I fear nothing.
 
ProcrastinationStation [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 9:00:23 AM  

benelane: My previous company, who has long since been acquired, also acquired a company in Waltham in the early days. I got sent up for integration. Roundabouts and brick roads, living together at every turn, madness in the streets.


Lemme guess, youre from somewhere that wasn't settled in the 1600s right?

(had a college friend who was absolutely dumbfounded by New England roads and cities.  She was from Denver.  Told her, yeah, your city was created.  Ours just sort of happened and grew up and around stuff that's been there since forever)

Boston City hall is so ugly that I kinda like it.  I do not like all the odd staircases though.
Has fun acoustics for outdoor concerts
 
Flowery Twats
2023-01-30 9:00:31 AM  
UMass/Amherst Campus Center.

The top is a hotel, underneath is the Campus Center. When it rains, the entire (below grade) "ground" floor sprouts trash cans.

umassdining.comView Full Size
 
ProcrastinationStation [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 9:02:04 AM  

Flowery Twats: Groupon boob job: benelane: My previous company, who has long since been acquired, also acquired a company in Waltham in the early days. I got sent up for integration. Roundabouts and brick roads, living together at every turn, madness in the streets.

Growing up driving in the Boston area has given me no need to play video games as an adult.

Also learned to drive in Boston. I fear nothing.


Same.
Boston drivers are notorious for being "bad".  I argue not BAD.  Just fast.  And aggressive.  Very very aggressive.
Rhode Island?  Now those are bad drivers.  Ain't nobody know the rules of the road.
 
EsqueletoAtheist
2023-01-30 9:04:05 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Flowery Twats
2023-01-30 9:06:38 AM  

ProcrastinationStation: Flowery Twats: Groupon boob job: benelane: My previous company, who has long since been acquired, also acquired a company in Waltham in the early days. I got sent up for integration. Roundabouts and brick roads, living together at every turn, madness in the streets.

Growing up driving in the Boston area has given me no need to play video games as an adult.

Also learned to drive in Boston. I fear nothing.

Same.
Boston drivers are notorious for being "bad".  I argue not BAD.  Just fast.  And aggressive.  Very very aggressive.
Rhode Island?  Now those are bad drivers.  Ain't nobody know the rules of the road.


They seem to be getting better. Part of the reason, I submit, is that the roads are always changing. Used to be, you knew what lane you needed to be in. Now, everybody, old hands and newbies alike, have to deal with "pop-up" blockages. What worked last month, doesn't this month. Nowhere more than Logan. Every time I drive there, the layout's different.
 
Gleeman [BareFark]
2023-01-30 9:08:45 AM  
i.redd.itView Full Size

Albany, NY has this gem. Building is square in a square plaza. Haven't been back there in 30 odd years so not sure but apparently it's now an art museum.
 
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