Soulless Skyscrapers
 

We have all seen and lamented them: Those tragic cases of architectural nihilism whose only distinction is height. Offensively inoffensive; bland; mercilessly mediocre; perhaps adding insult to injury with superficial artistic flourishes that add absolutely nothing to the overall effect of the building or the beauty of the city. Post buildings like this that have particularly irritated you here in this thread: Skyscrapers that are the architectural equivalent of pastel print-paintings in a dentist's office - the shallow, bitterly phony images of architecture meant only to make your eye NOT notice them.

Thank Jeebus these buildings will not be remembered a few weeks after they're ultimately torn down - which they will, as no historical commission on the planet is going to designate them as landmarks - but at least bring them to light here so we can enjoy ridiculing them.

^ maybe the most boring buildings i ever seen spread in this world. At least they have parks green in between to not be such horrible like in rio De janeiro Ipanema and Copacabana is, which also have similars horribility, to not mention the many comic blocks in Europe. Why they don't paint some in green, others in blue, red, yellow, pink to have they more colorful and renewed cheap? nice the Rainbow there.

Well the WHOLE Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario skyline is practically soulless.

^ Yeah - about the only thing the twins had going for them was their size.

And their popularity after the fact was akin to a President getting killed and then temporarily getting 80% approval ratings.

This.


Also, 97% of the office towers in Ottawa, Ontario (land of the reflective blue glass boxes ad nauseum).

I am going to nominate almost every skyscraper built after the 40s.

damn you really hate modern architecture :sly:

You could take it from a very literal standpoint. Many of the older, more labor intensive buildings prior to the depression required a lot of immigrant labor as well as artists and skilled draftsman to produce the elaborate designs you see. Alot of blood sweat and tears went into the constructing those buildings brick by brick. Modernism brought manufacturing of standard components into the field...built by machine. Probably what I'm saying is a stretch and could be debated, but you may see what I'm getting at.

That ugly Verizon building with no windows in Manhattan is really ugly. Needs to be DEMOLISHED in my opinion.

is being recladded heres a pic

http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/image/Verizon.jpg
http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/image/Verizon.jpg

OH WOW!!! That looks A LOT BETTER. Can't wait to see it completed.

Yeah, I can see it out of my window and it hasn't even begun to begin being re-clad.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3555/...5d141d53_o.jpg
Taken from here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=166939

It's not bad architecture, but for the city's tallest, it's not spectacular. Nobody's proud of it, but nobody's ashamed of it, either. The other two 50+ stories here are also pretty bland.

LDS Church Office Building: Not just soulless, but soul-sucking.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/63...ea756973_b.jpg
jpstanley's flickr http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/63...ea756973_b.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/t...nVideos412.jpg
Highrise_Mike http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/t...nVideos412.jpg

^^^
I actually love those types of buildings, they are just so massive and just pow in your face solid. Im glad they arent building them anymore though, one per city or less is good.

Now that building in Salt Lake City is terrible, I cant stand buildings like that, they are completely soulless and every last one needs to be reclad.

^The Long Lines building really works with its lack of looks. The big vents/openings at the top and the weathered facade make it look like a giant machine. At least it doesn't bother looking like something else.

Post #5: The world Trade Center were beautiful simple clean buildings, nothing wrong with their architecture, mainly cause was office very functional to be used for their time, the 70ies years. Soulless is much more those horrible small skyline in front of them. Have they also be destroyed for a beautiful nature promenade near water with trees and so on, instead? That is a horrible architecture. It is because many of those buildings in New York, why i don't appreciate much the city.

Post #14: Actually both are impressive good. I rather like the old facade of clean concrete. I think the glass one made it lose to be what is most today of midrises everywhere. Its character was gone.

Post #21 & #22: Both are very beautiful simple and functional office buildings of the old decades. I see nothing wrong with them. I am surely in United States has many more horrible decandent things to be compared as soulless, dirty, with all grafitti like it has in whole North and South America and even European cities. Those in other hand were nice kept interesting facades. I would like if the cities we live would have cleaned buildings like those, nothing wrong with them. And I agree all buildings shown in Post #23 are horrible, at least outside. I don't know inside whatever. The second photo of Post #22 shows an interesting very spread good neighborhood instead, it seems. I don't know in person. Better than what is found in whole Africa, which is already in medieval times and in Italy, France and East Europe.

This soul-sucking sourpuss skyscrapper from London (Ontario):

http://www.jmclawyers.ca/images/jmc-courthouse.gif
jmclawyers.ca

The London Courthouse building. Vile banality, incorporated.

ok you win...that thing is just horrible.....i think im depressed now.....:(