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I used to go to Brasilia 3-4 times a month for work. If you got on a Tuesday morning flight you could rub shoulders with congressmen, top-level cabinet minister

I used to go to Brasilia 3-4 times a month for work. If you got on a Tuesday morning flight you could rub shoulders with congressmen, top-level cabinet ministers, supreme court justices and so on. Many would easily engage you in conversation, too; maybe because I didn't open with political subjects and mainly complained about having to go to Brasilia. The first problem with Brasilia is that it's horribly located. We did avoid the Stockholm fate of having our historical cities razed, but moved the seat of power to the middle of nowhere. I know that overpaid lower-ranking bureaucrats have houses in the outer rings, near the lakes; but no one who has an actual choice lives in Brasilia. I don't know if it fully qualifies as a city. If the capital ever moves, it will be a ghost town in three weeks and start crumbling (bad architecture and bad construction) within the year.

Spooky23 5y ago
If you ever find yourself in or near Albany, New York it’s worth looking at the state government complex and university to compare and contrast. The capitol complex really settles the arguments. You have the NYS Capitol, which is an amazing expression of the excess of 19th century monumental building. Across one street is a circa 1910 replica of a Greek temple turned office building, with a gross 1950s addition in the rear. Across the park is an Art Deco mid rise, and then you have the Empire State Plaza, which is an interpretation of Brasilia in the US. It’s designed as an over proportioned Roman forum built on a parking garage and mall-like concourse, but the buildings themselves are bizarre. Full of little warrens, and dependent on chaulk and constant maintenance to endure. The architects sold the place based on the modernist form, but the building interiors are really not designed for their intended use. Function always follows form in these sorts of buildings.
- rayiner 5y ago
  I took my bar admission oath in Albany. The NYS Capitol is so beautiful. Then I came across Empire State Plaza and thought I had entered some Star War set.

Spooky23 5y ago

If you ever find yourself in or near Albany, New York it’s worth looking at the state government complex and university to compare and contrast. The capitol complex really settles the arguments. You have the NYS Capitol, which is an amazing expression of the excess of 19th century monumental building. Across one street is a circa 1910 replica of a Greek temple turned office building, with a gross 1950s addition in the rear. Across the park is an Art Deco mid rise, and then you have the Empire State Plaza, which is an interpretation of Brasilia in the US. It’s designed as an over proportioned Roman forum built on a parking garage and mall-like concourse, but the buildings themselves are bizarre. Full of little warrens, and dependent on chaulk and constant maintenance to endure. The architects sold the place based on the modernist form, but the building interiors are really not designed for their intended use. Function always follows form in these sorts of buildings.

rayiner 5y ago
I took my bar admission oath in Albany. The NYS Capitol is so beautiful. Then I came across Empire State Plaza and thought I had entered some Star War set.