Posted on 09/17/2024 1:54:59 PM PDT by TexasKamaAina
Why are buildings today simple and austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately ornamented? The answer is not the cost of labor.
(Excerpt) Read more at worksinprogress.co ...
The Italians got it right...good for one thing....front stoops.
Beats tent encampments
I visited Chicago for the first time. I was surprised how nice the downtown area is. Lots of old buildings made of brick and stone with the detailed motifs - even way up high where nobody will see them.
Back in the day when the builders and workers took pride in their work and it was a real craft. Lots of nice new buildings too with interesting designs - but not the detailed little things that I really enjoy.
Great article, but I will have to take it in stages.
I like the Boston city hall.
FLW was not wrong.
Yeah, Boone T. Pickens paid my mom $30k for a spot to put one of those pads plus a ROW for the lines to go out. He never did anything, decided it wasn’t worth it apparently. Don’t know how many pads he paid for but there are a lot of Wind Turbines near there. Mills County.
Oh, I beg to differ. The cost of artisanry is incaculable, as is that of good taste and common sense.
Yep, it was Brutalism, among others. The soul crushing design style that flourished amid these soul crushing times.
looks like a 70’s Catholic church.
someone should quote Scruton here.
Very interesting. Thanks for posting!
The Boston shot looks like a Sci Fi horror movie set.
When you walk up to the Pantheon you walk down about 4 feet to enter because that’s how much dust and dirt has built up since it was built.
Well Played……
Yeah but stupid phone fat thumb typo. Clement = cement.
My favorite high-rise in Los Angeles was the Richfield Building, which featured ornate artwork and gardens. It was topped with a tall derrick. I wish they had preserved it, as they did the Chrysler Building in NYC, but they scrapped it in 1969 and replaced it with the simple, austere and ugly Arco Towers, which look like two giant cubes.
“Vaillancourt Fountain,San Francisco, designed by Canadian Frog”
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How will they know when it falls down?
Or has it already?
To prevent the walls (and the dome) collapsing under their own weight, they used lighter and lighter aggregate the higher the walls got. At the base they used a limestone called travertine. The aggregate in the top level is volcanic pumice, which weighs about the same a popped popcorn.
At upper left, you can see brickwork arches incorporated into the walls, which they used to transfer the load onto reinforced columns so the concrete beneath the arches could be less robust.
Built in 609 AD, it remains the largest unsupported concrete dome on earth.
Top one is Robocop "OCP Headquarters" building.
Bottom one is Dallas city hall, from which it was made using matte painting.
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