#boston city hall

[docileeffects]

[coffinbutch]

I took this when we were downtown this weekend, I loved the way the light was falling over the entrance

[mobydyke]

brutalism enjoyers have entered the chat

(inspired by this bullshit:

[principiumindividuationis777]

[dlyarchitecture]

[irishsaints]

Y'all wanna talk about BRUTALISM?

OKAY!

Williams College, in Western Massachusetts had a CLASSIC example of brutalism when it came to their library- for YEARS. they only finally redesigned the horrid thing in 2016, but for EONS it looked like this:

It was built in the 70s and I remember my mother, father, AND brother all groaning about how terrible looking it was.

Here's another one for you: Trinity College Dublin's Eavan Boland Library is just a fkn CONCRETE BRICK.

Trinity recently (like just this year) finalized the process of renaming the library, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a horrendous concrete block, and the interior is no better. Swear on my life this was one of the most unwelcoming libraries I have ever been into in my LIFE. (No, this is not where the Book of Kells lives- that's the Old Library, in the Long Hall, and what most people think of when they think of TCD.)

More photos of the interior can be found here:

Another pretty well known example is one that I both love and hate in equal measure: Boston City Hall.

I mean, my god. Look at this hideous thing. But here's the deal- Boston City Hall was built this way because the purpose of the building is municipal, and the architects wanted there to be good flow for people to get around it. It's worth noting, by the way, this is a photo from 2012. These days there's a LOT more greenery around it, as part of significant efforts to improve green spaces in the city to help combat ongoing effects of climate change.

Despite it's ugliness, it continues to be regularly talked about when it comes to brutalist architecture, so if nothing else, it's made an impact.

A lot of the most popular or well known Brutalist architecture designs are located in North America, though some are across the Atlantic (as noted with TCD's Boland Library, above)- so have one WAY far from where I am, that I think is actually kinda slick, as the last little treat.

The Genex Tower, or Western City Gate, in Belgrade, Serbia!

Now, do I think covering the entire right side with a Fenty x Puma ad is a great idea? no of course not, but capitalism abounds.

This is a 36 story sky-scraper originally designed in the late 70s by Mihajlo Mitrović , and was meant to act as a sort of "welcoming gate" to visitors of Belgrade, as they arrived from the airport. The tower at the top is a revolving restaurant (apparently the revolving restaurant never become operational), and was the tallest building both in Belgrade, and in all of Serbia, from the time it was built in '79, right up until 2021. It has a sister gate, the Eastern City Gate, which is a set of three, but looks slightly different. The left handed one, the taller of the two towers, is residential, and according to a quick wikipedia search, the right side is now empty, hence the huge ad campaign on it. These days it's considered a cultural landmark in Serbia- but the majority of my info is coming from wikipedia, so if someone here happens to be Serbian themselves, or wants to chime in with more details on this one, please do by all means!

Anyway, thanks for coming to my brief ted talk on brutalist architecture. I think it's weird and mostly pretty ugly but it generally serves a purpose and overall isn't any worse than anything else out there so, you know. there's that!

i feel like we don't appreciate these days how much the twin towers sucked, like, design-wise

they were contemporarily hated for just being these giant grey monoliths

like there probably could've been an easier way to get rid of them, but they probably needed to go either way

[corvidist]

Beantown by night - summer 2024

[whales-are-gay]

just had to ragequit blue osp's brutalism video. he kept putting up pictures of beautiful structures and saying "wow so ugly amirite"

[thebowerypresents]

Ty Segall Shreds the Night Away at Webster Hall

Ty Segall – Webster Hall – April 29, 2024

The rock and roll polymath Ty Segall and his scintillating band came to Webster Hall Monday night and ran the crowd ragged with a 90-plus-minute workout. They opened with the pairing of “The Bell” and “Void,” just as his latest release, Three Bells, does, nearly 15 minutes of nonstop churning of guitars, organ, bass and drums, Segall singing, “To realize, to be alive” as red lights bathed the stage. That first stretch found them evoking at times Pearl Jam, Metallica, Pink Floyd and Yes, featuring everyone in the band and creating a singular amalgam of rock for the giddy crowd.

The new record would be featured prominently all night, heavy and heavier, boot-stomp rhythms, but also music to dance to. “I Hear” was drenched in squealer guitar with an extended two-guitar outro. “Hi Dee Dee” was both clean and dirty, serrated-edge melody with Segall’s voice turning almost sweet. And later in the set, “My Best Friend,” with a contrasting sweetness, nearly funky with bubbles of bass floating up into the crowd. 

Older Segall favorites found their place, fitting right into the setlist. “Love Fuzz,” off 2012’s Twins, was a highlight, the band exploring the limits with an extended section of depths-of-hell guitar dueling. “Looking at You,” off the more recent Hello, Hi album, was Segall at his most noodling, the band stopping on a dime and then restarted, finding a chaotic near-jazz that segued into the set-closing “Denée.” One more banger off the new record, a little more dancing, a spare two-guitar crescendo for those who hadn’t gotten their fill, just another night for Ty Segall. —A. Stein | @Neddyo

(Ty Segall plays Royale in Boston tomorrow night.)

Photos courtesy of Edwina Hay | thisisnotaphotograph.com

[jkbard]

Having grown up and lived most of my life in the GBA I can say it looks much, much worse in real life.

[eopederson]

Government Center, Boston, 1975.

From the days when I was young and enthusiastic about urban redevelopment and modern architecture.

[rainbowcoloredpalmtrees]

The last gift id give Boston City Hall is my own dick and balls smh. Hate that place

thankfully there are way better places to put your dick and balls. personally I’m headed straight to sagrada familia or even the las vegas courthouse to stick to theme (it’s not brutalist but I thought it’d be related). chicago would have to forcefully remove my dick and balls from most buildings.

[tumblasha]

i miss perú. especially the food from my dad's hometown, moyobamba. i want to eat the caldo de gallina from the restaurant by the tarapoto airport. i want to travel to the town an hour away from my grandparents' house to eat majás. i want to make juanes with my grandmother. i want to visit my aunts and uncles and eat around lima. i want to go to my mom's hometown, jauja, and eat cuy. i want to go to a random chicken chain restaurant (rocky's? roxy's? they're literally two different chains that are also the same). i want to eat at bembos where they put fries in the burgers. i'll even take going back to houston (where my mom's family is visiting now) and eat at a peruvian restaurant there. it's the first time Ever that i'm comfortable speaking spanish to all my relatives, none of that "i'm so young and they're so old" fear, none of that language insecurity. i want to go see my family :(

[rabbitcruiser]

George Washington, American general and politician, first President of the United States, was born on February 22, 1732.   

[aiiaiiiyo]

[postcardsfromwanderings]

Old City Hall, Boston