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To: Libloather

Was that Hilton designed by a North Korean?


5 posted on 01/15/2024 1:16:21 AM PST by chrisser (I lost my vaccine card in a tragic boating accident.)
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To: chrisser
Good jibe and accurate. The style is known as Brutalist and is an extreme form of modern architecture that emphasizes sharp angles, structural elements, and bare concrete or brick without decorative touches.

The Brutalist style was common in communist countries and where socialists were power in Western Europe, and, for a time, in the US when a leftist architect got control of a building project. The style is now out of favor though for inescapable reasons.

While an isolated building in the Brutalist style can be striking, cities dominated by such architecture have a dull and dispiriting sameness. Worse, even more so than the rest of modern architecture, Brutalist buildings tend to have structural and maintenance issues and be poorly adaptable. That can make them a poor investment.

Oddly, what are now an occasional older Brutalist building in a city can be both familiar and striking. Nevertheless, the Brutalist style is a dead end because of its formal rigidity and deliberate offense to the human craving for style, beauty, and visual coherence.

18 posted on 01/15/2024 2:20:37 AM PST by Rockingham (`)
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To: chrisser
Was that Hilton designed by a North Korean?

I stayed in that hotel years ago. Didn’t realize it was the same one in the article until I saw the picture. I was attending a huge wedding reception at the Empress of China restaurant, which was right across from the Hilton. The Empress of China was a famous restaurant that had been visited by many celebrities, including several presidents, over the decades. I understand it closed for good within the last several years, and now the hotel could close as well. That city really is coming apart at the seams.

37 posted on 01/15/2024 4:04:13 AM PST by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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