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How is it attractive? It looks extremely oppressive. I remember coming by that building while walking through Manhattan by chance and thinking this must be som

by ginko 5y ago

How is it attractive? It looks extremely oppressive. I remember coming by that building while walking through Manhattan by chance and thinking this must be some government surveillance center or something.

quantum_state 5y ago
Indeed it looks very oppressive, reminding people of the Big Brother and other similar regimes in history …
boomskats 5y ago
Attractiveness is entirely subjective by definition. I personally find it a very attractive building. Much like the Barbican Estate or the National Theatre in London.
Lammy 5y ago
I can totally understand why one would dislike it, but personally I'm a huge huge fan. My favorite features: - the lack of glass gives the granite façade lots of space to shine. - the off-center elevator shafts on the building's two long sides prevents the entire building from being disorienting at street-level: https://i.imgur.com/DQdWQ36.jpg https://i.imgur.com/DQdWQ36.jpg - the round-rect vent windows contrast with the sharp lines of the granite they're cut from, echoing an overall theme of natural skin versus high-tech innards just like the granite itself versus all the telecom gear inside: https://i.imgur.com/BQmYnuw.jpg https://i.imgur.com/BQmYnuw.jpg - the re-use of the roundrect windows to hide the former Long Lines microwave horn antennas on the roof of the building, coupled with a Disneyland-style perspective trick where the microwave windows are double the height of the vent windows so they look identically-square when you're on the street looking up: https://i.imgur.com/6TYn6Ug.jpg https://i.imgur.com/6TYn6Ug.jpg Absolutely gorgeous building, probably my favorite in the entire city <3
- AlanYx 5y ago
  The roundrects give the design a deep kind of uncanny valley effect for me. They suggest some kind of human characteristic, either a hooded face or an orifice of some type, depending on the angle that you look at the building. From street level (e.g., your first photograph), it's like a series of six hooded figures, with another six hooded figures towering over those figures or standing on their backs.
  - Lammy 5y ago
    > it's like a series of six hooded figures, with another six hooded figures towering over those figures Yeah I can see it, especially with the "33" street address. Druids love that shit, like 555 Cal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_California_Street https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_California_Street
Barrin92 5y ago
>How is it attractive? It looks extremely oppressive. not really mutually exclusive. More positive description would be that it looks imposing. Also it's in a sense aesthetically honest because it reflects what it does openly, which is rare for surveillance infrastructure and even kind of ironic I find the opposite to be unattractive, which is this sort of Silicon Valley HQ childish design where surveillance and power is hidden behind rainbow colored ping pong tables and so on
kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
It's an equipment shed. Most telephone exchanges are pretty bland boxes. In this case the brutalism is functional rather than a soul crushing architectural circle jerk.
redanddead 5y ago
Although I know that some people prefer brutalist architecture, there's definitely a case to be made about the design of a building meant to house communications in a free nation that prides itself with the first amendment, you would think they would make it transparent or all-glass and even go out of their way to make the corners of the building see through. Maybe something like Mies Van der Rohe's Westmount Square in Montreal could have been explored with an added deep underground level to satisfy the nuclear-hardening requirements. Sometimes buildings and architecture are testaments to the culture of the time that it was built, some might say it was the beginning of the cold war and the rise of secrecy etc.
- Kon-Peki 5y ago
  That would be the Dirksen Courthouse and Federal Plaza https://www.gsa.gov/historic-buildings/everett-m-dirksen-us-courthouse-chicago-il https://www.gsa.gov/historic-buildings/everett-m-dirksen-us-... You can see right through it: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8784431,-87.6293035,3a,37.5y,99.53h,93.29t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYJZJ0HcQRSvC-uQObzmvGw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8784431,-87.6293035,3a,37.5y... The real gem of the Federal Plaza is actually the post office building. When you walk inside you have the feeling of a floating ceiling with no columns (there are well-hidden columns).
  - redanddead 5y ago
    Wow what a gorgeous building! Thank you for showing it to me! My girlfriend has a thing for architecture and is always talking to me about this stuff. Really cool, how do you know so much about architecture?
0xdeadb00f 5y ago
It looks oppressive yes but in an attractive, clean, minimalist way.

by ginko 5y ago

quantum_state 5y ago

Indeed it looks very oppressive, reminding people of the Big Brother and other similar regimes in history …

boomskats 5y ago

Attractiveness is entirely subjective by definition. I personally find it a very attractive building. Much like the Barbican Estate or the National Theatre in London.

Lammy 5y ago

I can totally understand why one would dislike it, but personally I'm a huge huge fan. My favorite features: - the lack of glass gives the granite façade lots of space to shine. - the off-center elevator shafts on the building's two long sides prevents the entire building from being disorienting at street-level: https://i.imgur.com/DQdWQ36.jpg https://i.imgur.com/DQdWQ36.jpg - the round-rect vent windows contrast with the sharp lines of the granite they're cut from, echoing an overall theme of natural skin versus high-tech innards just like the granite itself versus all the telecom gear inside: https://i.imgur.com/BQmYnuw.jpg https://i.imgur.com/BQmYnuw.jpg - the re-use of the roundrect windows to hide the former Long Lines microwave horn antennas on the roof of the building, coupled with a Disneyland-style perspective trick where the microwave windows are double the height of the vent windows so they look identically-square when you're on the street looking up: https://i.imgur.com/6TYn6Ug.jpg https://i.imgur.com/6TYn6Ug.jpg Absolutely gorgeous building, probably my favorite in the entire city <3

AlanYx 5y ago
The roundrects give the design a deep kind of uncanny valley effect for me. They suggest some kind of human characteristic, either a hooded face or an orifice of some type, depending on the angle that you look at the building. From street level (e.g., your first photograph), it's like a series of six hooded figures, with another six hooded figures towering over those figures or standing on their backs.
- Lammy 5y ago
  > it's like a series of six hooded figures, with another six hooded figures towering over those figures Yeah I can see it, especially with the "33" street address. Druids love that shit, like 555 Cal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_California_Street https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_California_Street

Barrin92 5y ago

>How is it attractive? It looks extremely oppressive. not really mutually exclusive. More positive description would be that it looks imposing. Also it's in a sense aesthetically honest because it reflects what it does openly, which is rare for surveillance infrastructure and even kind of ironic I find the opposite to be unattractive, which is this sort of Silicon Valley HQ childish design where surveillance and power is hidden behind rainbow colored ping pong tables and so on

kevin_thibedeau 5y ago

It's an equipment shed. Most telephone exchanges are pretty bland boxes. In this case the brutalism is functional rather than a soul crushing architectural circle jerk.

redanddead 5y ago

Although I know that some people prefer brutalist architecture, there's definitely a case to be made about the design of a building meant to house communications in a free nation that prides itself with the first amendment, you would think they would make it transparent or all-glass and even go out of their way to make the corners of the building see through. Maybe something like Mies Van der Rohe's Westmount Square in Montreal could have been explored with an added deep underground level to satisfy the nuclear-hardening requirements. Sometimes buildings and architecture are testaments to the culture of the time that it was built, some might say it was the beginning of the cold war and the rise of secrecy etc.

Kon-Peki 5y ago
That would be the Dirksen Courthouse and Federal Plaza https://www.gsa.gov/historic-buildings/everett-m-dirksen-us-courthouse-chicago-il https://www.gsa.gov/historic-buildings/everett-m-dirksen-us-... You can see right through it: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8784431,-87.6293035,3a,37.5y,99.53h,93.29t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYJZJ0HcQRSvC-uQObzmvGw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8784431,-87.6293035,3a,37.5y... The real gem of the Federal Plaza is actually the post office building. When you walk inside you have the feeling of a floating ceiling with no columns (there are well-hidden columns).
- redanddead 5y ago
  Wow what a gorgeous building! Thank you for showing it to me! My girlfriend has a thing for architecture and is always talking to me about this stuff. Really cool, how do you know so much about architecture?

0xdeadb00f 5y ago

It looks oppressive yes but in an attractive, clean, minimalist way.