4 ms·

DC resident chiming in here. DC is full of brutalist government buildings, and sorry but they're all eyesores.

wahern 10y ago
I, too, typically despise most brutalist architecture. But the D.C. Metro is brutalist, and I think it was done exceedingly well. It's one of the greatest pieces of architecture I've personally experienced. And by experience, I mean both the individual stations as well as the stations collectively. Sadly, subsequent modifications fell far short of the original vision, which I couldn't even begin to put into words myself. For example, installation of waiting time displays broke up the cavernous open space. I almost cried when I first saw (after returning to D.C.) how some of the stations had red lights along the platform instead of the original off-white. The lack of color is part and parcel of the brutalist design; adding color gives the same effect as graffiti. The steel and glass coverings over the escalators, while nice in themselves, don't echo the brutalist style, either, though admittedly I have no idea how that could have been accomplished. I'd give the designers an A for effort. The newer extensions don't echo the design faithfully, which really detracts from the overall feel. What made the original design work so well was the repetition--both within each station, and across stations.. If you're not going echo it faithfully, then don't even try. It's like expanding the scene in an existing painting by using crayon and crude shapes. Better to switch to another design altogether so that it's clear you've left one artistic environment and entered another. I think the D.C. Metro is both amazing in its own right, and an example of how brutalism can be used to great effect. The Metro is imposing, yes, but not confrontational; both efficient and inspiring. It's probably not a coincidence that by dint of the architecture being almost entirely underground, both the functional and esthetic elements work in harmony. Most brutalist architecture has horribly poorly functional interiors which were sacrificed for the benefit of the exterior "statement", which makes it suck for everybody inside and outside.
- dajohnson89 10y ago
  Maybe I would appreciate the DC Metro architecture more if it weren't marred by how miserable the experience of using the metro for commuting actually is.

I, too, typically despise most brutalist architecture. But the D.C. Metro is brutalist, and I think it was done exceedingly well. It's one of the greatest pieces of architecture I've personally experienced. And by experience, I mean both the individual stations as well as the stations collectively. Sadly, subsequent modifications fell far short of the original vision, which I couldn't even begin to put into words myself. For example, installation of waiting time displays broke up the cavernous open space. I almost cried when I first saw (after returning to D.C.) how some of the stations had red lights along the platform instead of the original off-white. The lack of color is part and parcel of the brutalist design; adding color gives the same effect as graffiti. The steel and glass coverings over the escalators, while nice in themselves, don't echo the brutalist style, either, though admittedly I have no idea how that could have been accomplished. I'd give the designers an A for effort. The newer extensions don't echo the design faithfully, which really detracts from the overall feel. What made the original design work so well was the repetition--both within each station, and across stations.. If you're not going echo it faithfully, then don't even try. It's like expanding the scene in an existing painting by using crayon and crude shapes. Better to switch to another design altogether so that it's clear you've left one artistic environment and entered another. I think the D.C. Metro is both amazing in its own right, and an example of how brutalism can be used to great effect. The Metro is imposing, yes, but not confrontational; both efficient and inspiring. It's probably not a coincidence that by dint of the architecture being almost entirely underground, both the functional and esthetic elements work in harmony. Most brutalist architecture has horribly poorly functional interiors which were sacrificed for the benefit of the exterior "statement", which makes it suck for everybody inside and outside.

dajohnson89 10y ago
Maybe I would appreciate the DC Metro architecture more if it weren't marred by how miserable the experience of using the metro for commuting actually is.