Quote:
Originally Posted by The North One
Not sure how a few cherry-picked examples in Chicago somehow dissolves the fact that the vast majority of our development today is hideous hemogenous garbage but there seems to be a grasping at straws all over this post.
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It's not cherry picked, I could have posted dozens of buildings here from that era. The point is that Modernism doesn't have to be and, for quite a while, wasn't "hideous hemogenous (?) garbage". You want some lesser known examples that are also awesome?
IBM Building - Mies Van Der Rohe
Marina City - Bertrand Goldberg
Astor Tower - Bertrand Goldberg
John Hancock Center - SOM
Dewitt - Chestnut Apartments - SOM
Sears Tower - SOM
53 E Jackson (Continental Center) - CF Murphy
Time-Life Building - Harry Weese
SR Crown Hall (and the entire IIT Campus) - Mies van der Rohe
Federal Center and Post Office - Mies van der Rohe
17th Church of Christ, Scientist - Harry Weese
First National Plaza - CF Murphy
444 W Jackson - SOM
Etc Etc Etc
And that's just sticking to buildings I can list off the top of my head in the immediate downtown area by notable architects. These buildings offer an incredible amount of aesthetic variety as well. Sure Mies gets repetitive, but so did the historic buildings in the past, we just don't notice it because to us each one is a fascinating unique property when in reality they were cranked out en masse often reusing the same plans over and over again. Again, the problem is not style, it's quality of materials, detailing, and poor execution. In another 100 years many of the buildings built poorly during our time will be demolished and mainly only the jewels will remain (if we preserve them). At that point people will long for what we built in the middle 1900's and wish they could get back the examples they threw on the trash heap of history.