I agree Mich - when done right brutalism can be interesting. But unfortunately the vast majority of brutalist structures are cheap, ugly fortresses drained entirely of any spirit.
In Lansing's case, the bare cement element to the designs were very much economic over ascetic decisions. It was cheaper than brick, stone, wood or tile. It was "nice cement" with shinny stones embedded [like Spartan Studium today] just way too much of it. My building at 920 S. Washington has some successful "brutalist" elements like the breezeways that have the cement bricks with a rectangle opening design that is repeated on the balconies, so it can be done well. The downtown library is another example of a thoughtful application of brutalist technics. I think in many cases like the Boston City Hall, which I thought was so cool when it was built, brutalist buildings have not aged well and the Boston City Hall is now a very unpleasant crazy looking "for the sake of it" building. With that building like the Michigan Avenue bridge, it might be a good idea to just start over. The bridge should be a gateway to downtown and have some kind of river view.
I always notice that in these old photos the streets seem to be paved so nicely. Somehow during the Depression, the city managed to keep the streets in much better condition than today. What was their secret?
This is I believe the Mid-'70's judging by the cars, that is a '72 Chevy Vega[?] turning down S. Washinton Ave. Also those cement flower planters are from that era.
I remember when this idea was printed in the LSJ. If you take a look at it the "mall" behind the Capitol it resembles this plan except for the obelisk! Thank goodness they did not take down the Capitol Building to build this. The movement to the modern away from the old was understandable in some ways. People had just "had it" with old cold leaky buildings with bad plumbing and wiring from the last century, and saw little value in spending a lot of money to rehabilitate the old structures. I believe the "hippy-back to earth" type movements of the late '60s and '70s that found beauty and value in old houses and buildings is when the "knock it down and build something new" attitude started to change. Just in time for our old Capitol! Now it looks better than ever!
I kinda like the designs, as long as the Capitol building is kept. Scheme C, with the obelisk and senate and house office buildings within the complex is nice. There is also some nice and unique designs, even though they are so brutalist. One of these designs reminded me of the capital of Brazil, https://www.phaidon.com/resource/brasilia-congresso-nacional-05-2007-221.jpg
It would be nice to have the branches of government within the same complex whereas right now they are in office buildings across the street from the Capitol. I do like how the Hall of Justice frames the end of the complex, but I wish we could have skipped all of the surface parking and built more underground parking as these designs had envisioned. Thanks for the link Sabatoa!
Wow, that Kentucky building had some good design features, I think they could have rehabilitated that one. Lansing City Hall is a much better example of Mid-Century design, it would be a shame to lose it and have replaced it with something like the above.
Back in the day here in Lansing, it became a popular idea in the legislature that there was too much investment in downtown Lansing which was kind of an anti-Lansing bias that developed. The big plans were cut and cut until we found ourselves with about half of what was going to be developed with that was the cleared land destined to become surface parking lots. it is true that many of the buildings and departments that were built in the Secondary Complex may not have been a good fit for downtown but I think they could have found appropriate locations in the City of Lansing to build the secondary buildings. We are the Capital City and today I think it is so great that the Capitol Complexe looks pretty good and there are funds to take care of the buildings. I wonder if there will come a day when the State will want to build on those parking lots that we are so famous for?
Looking at the old versus new complex for Kentucky is depressing, the older one was actually interesting, the replacement looks as generic as you could get. This is the kind of building I suspect would be built if City Hall were replaced and part of why I'm totally against the city selling the building.
Wow the Forever Park in that linked document is awesome, really a game changer. Combine that with reduced automobile lanes and more multimodal lanes around the complex and we really could have a forward-thinking downtown. It's sad that these ideas were proposed so long ago and nothing was ever done with them.
Comments
It would be nice to have the branches of government within the same complex whereas right now they are in office buildings across the street from the Capitol. I do like how the Hall of Justice frames the end of the complex, but I wish we could have skipped all of the surface parking and built more underground parking as these designs had envisioned. Thanks for the link Sabatoa!
Back in the day here in Lansing, it became a popular idea in the legislature that there was too much investment in downtown Lansing which was kind of an anti-Lansing bias that developed. The big plans were cut and cut until we found ourselves with about half of what was going to be developed with that was the cleared land destined to become surface parking lots. it is true that many of the buildings and departments that were built in the Secondary Complex may not have been a good fit for downtown but I think they could have found appropriate locations in the City of Lansing to build the secondary buildings. We are the Capital City and today I think it is so great that the Capitol Complexe looks pretty good and there are funds to take care of the buildings. I wonder if there will come a day when the State will want to build on those parking lots that we are so famous for?
There's an option that leaves most of the parking and one that get rid of all of it. I also found this: http://nfe-engr.com/projects/state-of-michigan-capitol-complex-master-plan-0 I'm not sure if that's related to the newer study or something earlier.
Looking at the old versus new complex for Kentucky is depressing, the older one was actually interesting, the replacement looks as generic as you could get. This is the kind of building I suspect would be built if City Hall were replaced and part of why I'm totally against the city selling the building.