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By H+H (registered) - website | Posted July 27, 2011 at 12:12:22
I'm not against corporations being downtown. What I'm not keen on is what I did refer to as "generic corporate architecture", the kind of buildings that are usually put up by a developer with a prime tenant in mind. This is the kind of thing that Rudy Reimer has done along the QEW. The buildings are not exactly great architecture. More engineering than architecture.
City Hall and the Education Building were built by and for the client. The materials used were selected to make a statement. Concrete had been used for years in construction when both of these buildings were put up, but they were not clad in concrete. Higher quality materials were used and all elements were "designed" or selected by the architects. For example, mosaic panels on City Hall, and copper panels on the Board of Education building.
We can disagree on whether we like the finished object.
As for a dearth of modern architecture downtown, I agree. That's because nobody is building anything in our downtown. Now, when a public institution of higher learning says we'd like to build something, they choose to destroy first and build second. They choose a grand civic building AND they ask us to help pay to tear it down and build its replacement. The empty parking lot behind the BOE building is owned by the BOE. Even McMaster isn't committing to building there any time soon.
It seems to me that digging on an empty lot is much cheaper than tearing a building down and dumping it as landfill. Not to mention the utter lack of environmental leadership shown by our home-town institution of higher learning.
Once again, Hamilton is about to get it wrong. It's very frustrating. If at first you don't succeed, lower your goals.
gcrawford
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