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Walter Gropius

from the Similarity Files – Boston City Hall

By Similarity Files

Boston City Hall by Kallmann, McKinnell, and Knowles

The connection here is more than obvious, and not exactly news either, but it is extra-topical in some ways. Just as our very very poor imitation of this building is slated for demolition (it might as well be), so too is the Mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, proposing the abandonment of the Boston City Plaza, Hall and all, and relocating the Government Center to a South Boston site. Read More

The architecture of the automobile

By RANTING

OK, so we have already discussed carsĀ on this site, but that was regarding the ever-expanding girth of both us, and the automotive metal which we wrap around ourselves before hurtling through the landscape at great speed (OK, much less speed through the cityscape…). But what about the relationship between architecture, and the car itself…?

Those of us who are ‘up’ on our history should no about ModernistĀ predilectionsĀ for machine-inspired goodness, and will probably even recall Le Corbusier’sĀ reverenceĀ forĀ CitroĆ«n, naming his Maison Citrohan after that company. Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse is one of the most famous urban schemes that was predicated on the speed and efficiency of the automobile, and he certainly wasn’t alone in the conflation of Modern urbanity with automotiveĀ dominanceĀ – even FLW’s arcadian paradise,Ā Broadacre CityĀ is reliant upon this.

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Corbusier’s dalliance with automotive design for… Read More