City Halls in Texas

El Paso's City Hall

City Hall in Austin, Texas

City Hall in Dallas, Texas

Three absolute failures.

Koolhaas - Seattle Central Library

Perhaps it isn't ugly, just imposing.

Chaplets

This is a "chaplet" (chapel-et, get it?) of artist Marjorie Schlossman (with contributions from architects and contractors). A handful of chaplets were made and put in random locations. Part of their purpose was to create a "sacred space."

Was this goal realized? Well, nothing says sacred like the parking lot behind Sears. (See photo.) I can imagine the bums and prostitutes will put it to a good use.

Luigi Bocconi University

Luigi Bocconi University

Luigi Bocconi University is a private university in Milan. Around a year ago, this building was named the World Building of the Year at the inaugural World Architecture Festival. Judges called it a "magic subterranean realm," whatever that means. These judges have less credibility than an ordinary citizen, who can likely see for himself that the building is ugly, imposing, and unwelcoming.

Brasilia

Brasilia Cathedral

Supremo Tribunal Federal Brasília

Brasilia is a World Heritage site, described by UNESCO as, "a landmark in the history of town planning." Brasilia was planned and developed in the 1950s by planner Lucio Costa, and the city's architect was Oscar Niemeyer.


The city's design emphasizes both the need for easy transportation and the necessity of transportation. In other words, the city is designed around the car, for the car. Uses are separated, making the city unwalkable. The city's modern architecture is uninviting and bland and sterile. Brazil's capitol is a futuristic concrete wasteland, a contradiction of it's own character and people. There may be no greater failure of modern city planning and of modern architecture.

Brasilia Museu Nacional da República



National Library in Brasilia

Indiana University Art Museum

Another ugly concrete building designed by Pei & Partners.

Los Angeles - LAPD Headquarters

And yet another ugly modern building in Los Angeles, this time courtesy of the LAPD. The palm trees are there for show, not for function. The reflection off the glass is supposedly blinding. Slits for windows, angles that destroy any sort of relationship with the street. Give it ten years before the community starts to say WTF was LA thinking?