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Totally Simon Fraser, built around 1965 when Brutalism was still in style. The University of Alberta has many brutalist classics that went up during the oil cr
by Fricken 10y ago
Totally Simon Fraser, built around 1965 when Brutalism was still in style.
The University of Alberta has many brutalist classics that went up during the oil crisis of the late 70s (boom times for Alberta) long after brutalism had gone out of fashion. Edmonton built some nice brutalist courthouses remniscent of Boston City Hall, a brutalist art gallery, and brutalist legislature grounds among other buildings.
I grew up in the north Edmonton suburbs where a brutalist shoopping mall was erected, it was schockingly out of place. At the back was a terraced park plaza that was concrete, lifeless and featured a gigantic fountain (that never worked) that was a labynthine pile of concrete blocks and slabs.
I used to love going there as a kid, it was always desserted because it was so ugly and it served as a generic backdrop and playground to act out my dystopian sci-fi fantasies.
The plaza and fountain has since been torn out and replaced by something less alientating, and now people actually hang out there, which is disappointing.
- ghaff 10y agoWait. Did you just use the word "nice" in a way that was associated with Boston City Hall, even indirectly? AFAIK (and my own experience) Boston City Hall is pretty much universally reviled as Soviet architecture set in a wind-swept brickyard--the latter aspect of which is apparently being addressed to some degree. Speaking of Boston, I must admit that the redone, cleaned-up Brutalist modern wing of the Boston Public Library while, of course nowhere equalling the original Beaux Arts structure, actually feels open, welcoming, and airy. It was truly awful previously.
- batiudrami 10y agoI've never seen it until today but by a quick Googling I think it looks great? Though I too would lose the paving (and admittedly I am a fan of the style).
- ghaff 10y agoThis Internet comment is fairly typical of the general feeling: This building and space feel like something straight out of a Eastern European Soviet bloc country. I think Kim Jong-un would be impressed! It's hard to believe a city so beautiful would chose such ugly architecture for it's government. That said, it's exacerbated by the huge bare surrounding expanse in a northern city that's cold and windy for a significant chunk of the year. There's work going on at the moment. I'm pretty sure I'll never like the architecture but with a reasonable exterior space it may be more tolerable.
- rspeer 10y agoWow. So there's room in the world for all kinds of tastes. Some people enjoy black metal with unintelligible screaming as the lyrics, for example. However, even black metal fans do not usually force everyone in their neighborhood or their workplace to listen to black metal, and if they did it would be seen as unacceptable.